There was once a stream who passed through every type of land – mountains, valleys, countryside; that is, until it got to the desert. In the desert, the water ran straight into the sand and could do nothing else.
The stream was convinced that its purpose was to cross the desert, but a voice rose from the sands and said, “You cannot cross in this form.”
The stream did not want to accept that. “I have crossed mountainsides, valleys, and the country, why should I not be able to cross the desert?”
“You will only disappear into the sand if you keep trying to cross in this way,” replied the voice.
“I will cross the desert,” replied the stream.
“If you are so determined,” replied the voice, “then you must change the form in which you travel.”
“What do you mean?” replied the stream.
“If what you really want is to cross the desert, you must give up your current form and allow yourself to be absorbed by the atmosphere. You will be reformed in a cloud and let out in rain across the desert, thereby forming a new stream.”
“But I wouldn’t be myself!” replied the stream assertively. “And furthermore, how can I trust that will happen?”
“You are always yourself, regardless of the form in which you reside; that is the way it has always been,” said the voice. “Letting go is difficult, but in the end, it is the only way.”
What the stream did next was up to the stream. But legends to this day continue to say: “That is why it is said that fate is written in the sand.“
We will all be the stream at some point. We will all cross the desert. Whether we fight to remain in our current form or not, our ultimate fate, it seems, has been written in the sand. Let go on your own volition or be forced to let go against your will, but the only certainty is change. Teachings from all the lands that have been passed down for generations say that we will all take on a different form at some point; but they also say that we will all, in one way or another, be okay. In fact, transforming, we might just be whole lot better than “okay.”