Along the pitted roads out in the Chonburi province forest region, you will very often see lotus flowers rising out of the muddy water.
Some are in full bloom, others still waiting to bud, some covered in mud and others as clean and as vibrant as ever.
The lotus flower represents life as we know it.
In order for it to grow, it needs a dark and muddy environment.
As humans, our environment is also essential for our personal and spiritual growth.
We all have free will, we can choose to live in the darkness, the mud and the mire and simply exist, drinking in the toxins of life.
Or, we can gain courage and strength and learn to rise above.
We have this one life, whatever it may look like.
It is rich with lessons and learning and transformation.
Without mud there is no lotus. Without struggle, there is no transformation.
That is the law of the lotus.
