Becoming the Sea
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Lao Tzu
There is an old Sufi story about a doll made entirely of salt who had wandered the earth searching for meaning. One day, it came upon the vast, shimmering ocean.
The doll was amazed. “What are you?” it asked.
“I am the sea,” replied the water.
“I wish to know what the sea is,” said the salt doll.
“Then step into me,” said the sea.
The doll hesitated—how could it possibly enter without losing itself? But at last it placed one foot into the waves. Immediately, it began to dissolve.
“What is happening to me?” the doll cried.
“You are becoming part of me,” the sea answered.
The doll stepped deeper, and as it melted away, it finally whispered, “Now I know what I am.”
And it was gone.1
We are all salt dolls—shaped by our histories, identities, and the stories we carry. We move through life thinking our solidity is what keeps us safe, not realizing that the truest knowing comes not from holding ourselves apart, but from letting go enough to be joined with something greater.
This is the paradox of surrender: the more we dissolve into love, into the Sacred, into the web of life, the more we discover our deepest truth. Surrender is not a soft escape—it is a courageous unbinding from the illusions that we can save ourselves by staying intact.
In these days, the call to dissolve is not only personal—it is collective. The forces of our time would have us believe that isolation is safety, that borders are salvation, that dominance is strength. But we are being summoned to another truth: no wall will save us, no hierarchy will heal us, and no single person or group will find wholeness until we all do. Justice begins in this knowing—that my liberation is bound up with yours, that the same waters carry us all.
To step into that ocean is to risk the undoing of the false divisions that keep some safe at the expense of others. It is to resist the performance of dominance with the practice of belonging. It is to join our voices, our bodies, our resources, our very selves to the work of mending the great tear in the fabric of humanity.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you being invited to “step into the sea” and risk losing your familiar form?
What boundaries—personal, social, political—might love be asking you to dissolve for the sake of the common good?
A Prayer for the Day
The Courage to Dissolve
Holy Mystery, dissolve my fear. Let the waters of Your love wear away my walls. Make me unafraid to belong fully—to You, to my neighbors, to this aching world. Where I have hardened myself against the cries of the suffering, soften me. Where I have held back my love for fear of losing control, free me. Dissolve my small self into the vastness of Your justice and mercy, until my life becomes one with the sea that holds us all. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Salt and Water
Find a small bowl and fill it with water. Hold a pinch of salt in your palm. As you look at it, think of one fear, prejudice, or false certainty that keeps you separate from others. Speak it aloud.
Then, slowly release the salt into the water. Watch it dissolve, grain by grain. Notice that the water does not reject it—it welcomes it, changes it, makes it part of something larger.
As the salt disappears, imagine your own edges softening, your belonging deepening. Close with these words: I am part of the sea. We are part of the sea. The sea will carry us all.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
September 4, 5:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
SHIFT OF DATES - Now October 23, 30, November 13, 20 2025, 7pm ET - In Search of a New Story: Reimagining What Comes Next, A 4-Part Online Series with Dr. Matthew Fox, Cameron Trimble, Ilia Delio, Diana Butler Bass and other Special Guests. We are living through the unraveling of many old stories—about who we are, why we’re here, and how we are meant to live together on this Earth. As these inherited narratives collapse under the weight of climate crisis, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, the question becomes clear: What story will guide us now? REGISTRATION OPENING SOON!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Anthony de Mello, The Song of the Bird (Image: 1984), 98.
Thank you. My favorite thinking that you are engaging here:
"Surrender is not a soft escape—it is a courageous unbinding from the illusions that we can save ourselves by staying intact."
We have the illusion that safety lives in staying intact. Truly, it lives in the Surrender, and the letting go of who and what we put together, so carefully.
We are all experiencing the dissolving now through the Wisdom that knows us far better than we have known ourselves, allowing all misconceptions of separation to vanish in the one ocean of beingness.