Caramel Apples

Caramel Apples

During my meditation I started thinking about caramel apples. The kind that you get at a county fair. These caramel apples came up in the context of trying to get at the true essence of something. For example, if I asked you to give me the true essence of what it means to be an apple you couldn’t really take an apple and carve it up or cook it in a certain way that gave an accurate representation of what it means to be an entire apple. You wouldn’t whittle it down to some small, little, inner perfect piece to show someone what being an apple means.

An apple is irreducible any smaller than a whole apple. You may look for a perfectly ripe, unblemished, unbruised apple at the absolute peak of harvest, straight from the tree, the perfect specimen of an apple and that would be an apple.

Which brings me to those caramel covered apples at the fair. Not only can you get a caramel covered apple, but you can get them with nuts or no nuts, chocolate covered, or candy covered or chocolate and caramel covered. The combinations are endless. However, the apples that are used are really not very good apples by themselves. They are generally fairly large apples so they look good sitting in the window covered in caramel or chocolate and covered in nuts but when you actually bite into them you realize the apple is really not the best tasting apple at all. It is not the type of apple you would choose to eat on it’s own, but in this case, it’s not about the apple. It is about those coatings and toppings. Those coatings and toppings make up for the sub par apple on the inside.

Which got me thinking, if I asked myself what is the true essence of me, what can I remove or peel away until I get to that irreducible apple that is “I”. Am I trying to show up and be a perfectly ripe apple at the peak of harvest or am I being an okay apple and using some caramel or chocolate coating to make people not really care how good the apple is inside? Am I allowing others to dip me in caramel sauce and roll me in nuts when I don’t want to be covered in caramel or nuts at all.

Because here is the thing about caramel apples. They look so good sitting in that window and so I buy one and I have a bite or two, but they are so rich and sweet I don’t think I have ever finished one. In fact, after a few bites the rich, sweet combo starts to make me feel a little nauseous and I remember why I only try one every few years, and I throw half the apple away.

But, that perfectly ripe apple pulled straight from the tree at the peak of ripeness, I always finish that apple and then I reach up and pluck another.