This is a phenomenon which occurs naturally. I could say everyone who had seen a large body of water, had definitely seen the ripple effect. Can you remember the days where we used to skip a flat rock, on the surface of the water, and which created ripples of waves, across the surface of the pond. Ultimately fading away. Of course, the stone did end up in the bottom of the pond even before the ripples go away. And this is a good example to illustrate some observations happening in our minds.
Ripple Effect.
In short, ripple effect is the phenomenon which happens in a complex system. Similar to the butterfly effect, or the chaos theory, ripple effects have the ability to propagate increasingly larger proportions of the system. Hence, with time, there will be more disturbances visible although the initial causative factors are no longer there. This ripple effect affects, many more things than a surface of water. It is explained in economy, and even in social science. And there is a good example given as the Rise of me-too movement.
In 2017 according to Newyork times, some allegations were made against a famous film producer, and many had come forwarded following. And this initial incident had created a rippling effect across the so-called elite society that many had come forward against similar sexual misconducts in following years. And it is given as an example for the rippling happening in our social environment. And it seems natural.
Rippling effects in life.
If we look at our life, we can see ripple effects. In mindfulness we can see rippling is a good way to look at how things happen inside the mind. We can understand this with an example.
Imagine you hear a sound (mindful listening). You hear a motorcycle pass across your Neiborhood with a loud Noice. And this observation happens in a few seconds. Compare this to what happens when you skip a stone on the surface of water. After the initial contact, it will create some disturbances in the surface of the mind, and there will be thoughts. From the stone these ripples will become more and more, and if not checked, they will eventually be overwhelming. You would shout in anger and try to blame the careless driver. But what you have to understand is the ripples are just there in your own mind. Really speaking, all what happens is ripples. We just create ripples in our mind day in and day out, according to what we encounter throughout the day.
Sometimes these ripples can be there, for a long time. Then we call them 'memory'. They will come back, once bounced from the walls of the surface. And create new ripples on the water.
I can elaborate more on similarities of the rippling with our mind. As an example. Same event can produce different ripples in different surfaces. It all depends on the depth and the density of the water body. Just like inherent differences in our minds. Some create more 'happy' ripples. Some create 'sadder'. Some create more 'dangerous' ripples. And what happens with mindfulness. I would say, it will harden the surface. It will eventually make the water like the surface of the oil. Once you know how to identify the ripples they will just disappear, and stones will still skip on the surface but without any rippling. Even if they are there, they would create no harm as they are kept on check.
This is what we mean when we talk about becoming a hydrophobic leaf.
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