"I wandered lonely as a cloud, That floats on high o'er vales and hills" - William Wordsworth

"The Master's name, Xu Yun, is translated into English as "Empty Cloud", a translation which often confuses people. We all know what a cloud is, but what, we wonder, is meant by "empty"? [...]
A person can reach out and try to grab the mist, but no matter how hard he tries to snatch it, his hand always remains empty. Yet, no matter how desiccated his spirit is, the Empty Cloud will envelop it with life-giving moisture; or no matter how his spirit burns with anger or disappointment, a soothing coolness will settle over him, like gentle dew." Empty Cloud: The Teachings of Xu Yun - A Remembrance of the Great Chinese Zen Master

These kinds of descriptions of a human's existence are often inspiring and appealing to us, but are they as distant and mysterious - relatively unobtainable - as many classical writings would make out?

Since our bodies are apparently no different from a cloud's, in terms of atoms and molecules created from the same elementary particles, then, existentially speaking, and reactively speaking, we are precisely the same thing - an almagamation of potentially very reactive molecules. From a deterministic perspective, we could say that everything we do is on a par with a cloud - just atoms reacting in the way they are predisposed to do by the laws of physics/nature. As such, can we really "wander lonely as a cloud" - become more cloud-like physically?

It seems by recognising our chemistry - the physical forces which determine us - we can surrender ourselves to what we really are by letting go of any ideas of grandeur - beyond being a chemical cloud which can be dispersed by the wind or sunshine at any moment - and live more efficiently in reality. It seems, however, that we are too often inserting delusions into the science which connects us to the empty clouds, all too often siding with the 'glass half empty view' of what Life does, even though the glass is also apparently always half full.

Why don't people more often let go fo their bodies and float like a cloud; surrendering to their chemistry? Paranoia that the glass is more empty than it is, perhaps?