Walking the
World:
As the River Runs
|
...Reflecting upon this tragedy
of the destruction of the Rhine, I'm struck by the parallel between our attempts to control Nature and the river, and our efforts to control ourselves, our own behavior and even consciousness itself. It seems to me that nowhere does this similarity come out more strongly than in our approach to what we think of as the quiet mind or meditation... |
|
Thought, inherently unable to grasp the whole, cuts
down the forest upon which the health of an entire watershed depends, thereby fragmenting the weave of the natural order. It then, unaware of what it has done, goes on in endlessly futile attempts to control the fragments. With the river, straightening and reinforcing its banks; with the mind, disciplining it into a confused image of a harmonious, unitary flow. And once we have made this wrong turn, the momentum builds and acquires all the force of inevitability behind it. The result, of course, is both a dead river and a dull mind. And yet, sooner or later, the natural energies of both the river and the mind move to free themselves, breaking through the arbitrarily imposed limitations, which is then promptly answered by an even greater effort to control. Clearly, this is but one and the same movement, one which is destructive in a largely unnoticed and insidious way because one is caught in the illusion of creating order while, in fact, the very opposite is the case. As I walk these mountains, I sense in my heart that there is also the possibility of one vast movement of healing of both the river and the mind. It is really a necessary unity. For if the mind is free, so too will the river run. |