Sweet Water

I returned home yesterday from a week at the retreat center. One of the new staff members has added a few side dishes to the usual delicious fare served in the dining hall. One of these was several pitchers of maple sap. Sweet water. Slightly sweet water. Delicious!

(It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.)

Sap composed of minerals from the earth and rain water from the sky passes directly into my body. Earth minerals are part of the earth. They pass into my body, but i cannot really call them "mine." Rain water fallen to earth passes into my body, but i cannot really call it "mine." Soon enough, i will pass water into the toilet. Soon enough, i will return my own earthy solid waste into the toilet.

Earth and water--from the tree, from the earth--are loaned to me for a short while. Then i pay the loan back into the toilet. Coming and going. Entering and leaving. Where is the "me" in this process? If this body is composed of earth, water, and wind, then Who Am I?