The Ease of Seeing the Bigger Picture
"Imagine a picture frame in which there is a painting of a gray cloud. But the painter made the cloud bigger than the frame that they had. So all you have is gray in a frame. And you look, and you say 'What's that?'"
"But if you used either a little bigger frame or painted a little smaller cloud, you'd see that there's a little blue sky around the edge of the cloud."
"And you'd say 'Oh, a cloud! What do you know? All the time, I thought the universe was gray.'"
"The cloud is the grief. The cloud is the self-pity. The clouds are the models. And that little blue sky becomes the space. The meditative techniques are designed to give you that space. And the minute there's that spaciousness... 'Ah, it's just another cloud.'"
– Ram Dass
Becoming Nobody
This imagery from Ram Dass has been a helpful way to remember the 'ease of seeing the bigger picture' in my practice. In autopilot, it's easy to forget that this moment is, in fact, somehow framed in the mind—that our reality or sense of identity has constricted out of clinging to something pleasant, pushing away something unpleasant, or simply a momentary lack of awareness. Yet, recalling this image can help deconstruct this limiting frame. By remembering to gently pan back from a tightly-cropped view, we see the fluidity of even the conditions in which we feel most stuck, as well as the spaciousness, softness, and mystery shimmering around the edge of every experience.
Reflecting on this image has also introduced curiosity about areas in which I've grown quite fond of building elaborate frames around my experience. Specifically, it's been an excellent way to explore my tendency to tense against uncertainty, scrambling to keep life tucked into tidy edges while sometimes unknowingly closing myself off to the greater wisdom of letting go, of not knowing all the answers.
It might be worth pausing, even now, to ask, "How is this moment being framed?" Not looking for anything particular, just allowing whatever internal response or felt sense arises—then moving on to ask, "What might I be missing just outside this frame?"
What do you notice? Is there some recognition that the stream of internal storytelling tugging at your attention isn't the only thing happening in this moment? Is there more life in your immediate surroundings, in the people nearby? Is there space here for the subtle joy of fully showing up? Or gratitude for the simple things that are easily ignored? What's here to reengage with that, just moments ago, had been temporarily cropped out?
More from Ram Dass
I was introduced to Ram Dass through his book, Be Here Now. I can still distinctly remember sitting on my porch, reading it cover to cover in one sitting with rapt attention—at once uncertain of my understanding yet sure there was immense wisdom in what I was reading. It's a classic and a worthy addition to your shelf if it doesn't already live there. Buy it from Bookshop to support local bookstores.
I was inspired to draw the images in this post after hearing Ram Dass's words in the documentary, Becoming Nobody. In addition to the film, his teachings are now also available as a documentary series and an audiobook.
For more information about the inspiring life and teachings of Ram Dass, visit ramdass.org.
Illustrations and notes by Devin O’Guin
