NdukuOutLoud

I was listening to a podcast the other day. You know the gist “stretch your mind” , “learn new stuff” , block out office gossip , laugh and whatever other reason for deciding to tune into one. This one was the kind that stretches the mind, a reminder that learning is a lifelong dance. Most of it was engaging, some of it challenged me in ways I’m grateful for. But one phrase lingered long after the episode ended :

“water rises to its own level.”

To those familiar with the phrase and the principle-kudos to you. Just like I said. Learning is a lifelong dance. And I learnt this recently.

It is a principle that describes how fluids naturally settle at a common horizontal level when at rest, regardless of the shape or size of the containers they occupy. It’s a consequence of Pascal’s Law: pressure exerted on a confined fluid is transmitted equally throughout. Science class dismissed.

But then it began to unfold.

This phrase, as I have come to find out, is uses to describe how people, ideas, or energies tend to find their own equilibrium. ” Birds of a feather,” “like attracts like”-the familiar refrains of social gravity. But what if it can go deeper than that? Than social circles or shared values?

What if water rising to its own level is also a quiet truth about life itself?

Life flows. It adapts. It expresses itself through each of us, regardless of the vessel. We are all shaped differently-physically, emotionally, spiritually- and yet life doesn’t discriminate. It pours itself into every form, every experience , every moment. The shape may differ, the flow may vary, but the essence remains the same.

And that’s the beauty.

Just because my vessel-my beliefs, my values, my ways of being-doesn’t align with yours, doesn’t mean life’s expression is wrong or lesser. It’s simply different. And in that difference, there is richness. There is truth. There is the quiet miracle of existence.

We prep, we hope, we pray, we ask. But life just is. It moves through us, not because we deserve it or control it, but because we are here. And that is enough.

So maybe the next time we ourselves feel out of place or want to judge or misunderstand, we can remember this. We are all just different expressions of life.