Adi Shankaracharya 8th Century mystic - Advaita Vedanta

“The wave belongs to the ocean, never the ocean to the wave.”

Commentary: The waves emerge briefly as a separate entity; however, just as quickly the wave merges back into the ocean of which it is a part. Human beings are very much like the waves of the ocean. We briefly surface and display a uniqueness that cannot be duplicated; some more spectacular and grander than others. Ultimately, they are all swallowed back by the source. The separate existence that we feel is an illusion drawn from a limited perspective. The ocean of consciousness gives birth to new waves who ultimately have their Interbeing as the ocean.