A Pause for Beauty:
An inspirational art journal.
. . .
Rivers on a journey in search of the sea
Nothing in the world is weaker than water
but against the hard and the strong
nothing outdoes it
for nothing can change it
the soft overcomes the hard
the weak overcomes the strong
this is something everyone knows
but no one is able to practice.
- Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78 as translated by Red Pine
Hsuan-Tsung (712-762 Chinese emperor, poet and calligrapher, Taoist and Zen scholar) comments:
The nature of water is to stay low, to not struggle, and to take on the shape of its container. Thus, nothing is weaker. Yet despite such weakness it can bore through rocks. Rocks, however, cannot wear down water.
Chu Ti-Huang (1885-1941 Ch'ing dynasty official and early revolutionary, student of Buddhism and philosophy) comments:
We can alter the course and shape of water, but we can't alter its basic nature to descend, by means of which it overcomes the hardest and strongest things.
. . .
Ospreys shrieking through early morning mist
Loons on wilderness lakes at sunset
Wild rivers, wild waters inhabit dreamworlds
Lakes that empty into rivers that empty into other rivers
That empty into lakes.
Camped by a river, canoe pulled up
Turned over and tied to a tree
Sitting on shore, sipping tea, listening to loons
Peace sneaks up and enters your heart
And at night, dreams of rivers.
Grasses on the river bottom
Sway gently in the current, pointing downstream
Easy to get lost on this river
A maze of marshes, beaver ponds and islands
Between the rapids
Only river grasses point the way.
My travels down this river take me on a linear path
Surrounded though, and aware of the cycles around me
Cycles of wind and rain and sun
Cycles of birth, life, and death.
I'm just passing through
Only temporarily a part of this world
An imposter in a sense, here for what some would call recreation
Life out here is too hard for full time
It's either too hot, too cold, or bugs, or bears
Trying to eat your stuff.
Water, a mysterious substance
Wild water especially so
Life nurturing, it attracts life
Wild rivers are alive
They carry you along their world.
A sensory smorgasbord
Sight – colors of blue, green, white
Sound – bird songs, and the roar of rapids ahead
Smells – wildflowers, new life, decaying life
Sense of touch – the cold water, the wind,
The spray (or crashing waves) of rapids.
The water in us
Connects with the river, its wild cousin.
Capable of great force
Capable of gentleness, softness.
Agents of change
Rivers were here before us, and will be after us.
Rivers are on a journey
In search of the sea, the great waters beyond
And in that way, they resemble all life.
Even so you can't take them for granted
Conduits of great energy
They take the over-confident, careless river-traveler down
Even the wary, experienced river paddler
Can meet misfortune on the river
Unpredictable sometimes, and overwhelming in their force.
A world of contrasts, of boundaries
The river surface a separation between the underwater world
And our world
Rivers are easy to ignore if you want
They travel through the peripheries of our lives, unobtrusive
but if you embrace them, they open themselves to you
And bring peace.