I recently heard a Buddhist scholar compare the existence of a human being to that of a hurricane. The hurricane isn’t really one thing, is it? It’s a collection of warm air, moisture, wind, etc. It arises out of disparate elements to become what we recognize as “a hurricane,” blows hard and fierce as it moves, and then eventually dissipates again and goes back to not being a hurricane anymore. The speaker pointed out that we even give hurricane’s human names. Imagine if a hurricane were conscious, it would probably feel like it was a solid, permanent being, just like we do. But like the hurricane, our consciousness arises from disparate phenomena, and eventually peters out and disappears forever. Even if the same elements came together again in exactly the same way, it wouldn’t really be “us” again, anymore than one hurricane is the same hurricane as the last.
The metaphor works on other levels, too. The hurricane picks up indiscriminately as it goes. So does an un-mindful consciousness. The hurricane has a whole in the middle of it. It doesn’t have a center. Neither do we! Alternatively, the hurricane has a calm center and that’s what we should strive for.
I like thinking of myself as a hurricane. Plus it reminds me of the song from Hamilton:
In the eye of the hurricane there is quiet/
for just a moment.
The Vulcan Buddha 