Many Rivers Lead To One Ocean
There are so many metaphors to express the idea that there are a multitude of practices and paths that lead to more depth in our lives. Some of these paths are religious, some spiritual experience, some questioning, some testing, some risking. Today, as we move through the cycles of death and birth, hibernation and recuperation and preparation, it might be a good time to reflect upon what it truly the most important in our lives and in our society.
Is what we are doing now leading to love, care, relationship, positive change, possessions of real and lasting worth? Or is what we are doing now leading in other directions? There are so many ways to move forward and, like any stream there will be eddies and backtracking and drought and flood. How can we keep moving forward, headed to the ocean, as we finish this year and move to new opportunities?
There is, in my opinion, way too much busy-ness, and way too little be-ing-ness all around. What is simple, durable, generative, valuable?
These are thoughts that will be on my mind over the next few weeks.
How about you?
"There are many ways to kneel and kiss the ground." ~ Rumi
"I have come to see our many faiths as so many great rivers, which are all flowing toward the same vast ocean of the mystery of God. To reach that ocean you must get your feet wet, you must dive into one of the rivers and swim. Standing on the shore, testing all the waters, looking for the one perfect river, will get you nowhere. I know that I have become a better Christian through all my years of living with Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Christians from other denominations. I hope they are better swimmers in the rivers of their traditions for having lived among those of us who are called Christians." ~ Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude, p. 10.
"I am in every religion as a thread through a string of pearls." ~Bhagavagita.
"Many paths lead from the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single, bright moon." ~Ikku, Zen-Monk Poet
"Mysticism has been called the great spiritual current which goes through all religions." ~Mystical Dimensions of Islam
"Infinity can never be captured by formulas...this shows that the number of possible truths is infinite." ~ John Barrow, The Infinite Book.
