The Bowl

Here's metaphor I thought up. No claim for originality, but I can't remember if I ever heard or read this before.

Imagine a bowl. Firstly, an empty bowl. Then fill it with the world and all the objects of perception. Then add all the objects of conception. Add some sensory experiences like smells and taste and touch. For spice, some subtle emotions, maybe even love.

Now some of the objects in this bowl is your idea and feel of you. There's an arm, there's some hair, a brain and kidney, a tip of the nose. There's a memory of years past and hopes for the future. There's a feeling of fullness after a Thanksgiving meal. There's a heartache when you lose someone you love. The richness of a life, of everybody's life is there in bowl.

When sleep comes, the bowl is emptied to be filled again with a dream life.
And then the dream life is emptied from the bowl, to be filled with a waking life again.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, the bowl is what some call Awareness, the Self, Consciousness, etc.

And you are the bowl. The mistake is to think you are just some of the objects in the bowl, instead of being the bowl.