Allegory

Pretend with me for a few moments of illusion.

Let’s pretend each of us is a leaf that has just dropped from a tree. We gently settle into a trickling brook where we will float with the current for a long distance to a vast and magnificent ocean. We may choose the type of leaf we’d like to be: Maple, Oak, Birch, big leaf, small leaf, and we have a consciousness and awareness as we float the cataracts of experiences to the tidal Source.

Imagine the beauty we will see along the way. We start our journey in the newness of a clear mountain stream. We can look from side to side and up to puffy clouds festooning the sky as we float the channeled paths of water’s ease. We are thrilled with the calliope of water’s sound and the rapid swirls and whirls of deep rocky cuts and the eddy’s of circling drifting rest.

There is an easy passage through the currents of collected pollution that man has tossed to nature to clean, but since this is a fantasy we are not deterred, hampered or harmed by the poisons we pass. We do, however, mark the memory for later evaluation of not right choices before we became a leaf.

The water upon which we ride feeds the valley farms and garden patches all along the way. It sates the thirst of the wild and passive beasts and fowl and freely gives its nourishment away.

We pass tiny hamlets, small villages, towns and big cities sensing the joy that people glean from life at the water’s edge. Laughter and creative conversations ripple across the water’s surface until the rocks and rips send the sound back as a peace of mind and heart to those on shore who choose to listen to the echoing healing message.

There’s fish below and birds above. There’s beaver, muskrats, frogs and insect species in the millions; all call the water home and give it a sentient life. In our descent to the sea there are stony glens and waterfalls, contributing creeks and streams and lingering ponds and always the slow passage by mega-cities where still water runs deep in man manipulated channels.

Through the savannas of quiet, under bridges of commerce and transportation, comes a time for us to meditate and embrace the unconditionality of the water’s pure love and feel the essence of a liquid spirit much greater than ourselves. It is a force of indescribable power and beauty, a passive energy and peaceful comfort constantly flowing, calling us to the Source, to the sea.

The awareness of the living water gets stronger as we get closer to the salted tides and the fanning water veins of the river deltas with the sea just beyond. It is then we realize that all through our floating journey we’ve had abundant choices exploring individual paths upon the flow of water’s life.

When our bubble of pretend bursts we return to our natural life knowing there is no - one way - to the source; all ways take us there.

I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.