The Graze V.148: Flow

Dear Friends,

This is the time of year, that while walking through the woods, you can hear and smell and feel 'flow': The trickling water that melts in the midday sunlight; The “clink, clink, clink” of sap falling into buckets as sugaring season begins (see this great article about our neighbors at Bourdon Maple Farm); The rush of water that has found freedom in the river. The temperatures still fluctuate between freezing and thawing - so there is a tangible (and auditory) sense of anticipation in the air.

In ancient sacred texts, a river can be a symbol of the abundance or flow from God to humanity. There is a sense that if we can be mindful of our actions and intentions, we will open the faucet, as it were, to receive the divine flow into the world. Another way to see it is that the flow is always there, but through awareness (some say prayer and meditation) we become more conscious and appreciative of it.

I was re-introduced this week to the book:The River of Light: Spirituality, Judaism, Consciousness, by Lawrence Kushner. In this beautiful meditation, Rabbi Kushner explores the nature of consciousness–the river of light that pervades the cosmos–as perceived in Midrashic myth, theology, and scientific inquiry.

“In Jewish mysticism, the river is a metaphor for the Holy Oneness that unifies all creation. Just imagine it: a sacred stream, luminous and ubiquitous, a river of light.” - Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

The Ottauquechee River that flows just outside the Vicarage kitchen window, reminds me that time and life are always flowing and ever changing. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “No one ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same person.”

May you discover the flow of the river anew,

Lisa+