Thus Spoke The River To Me

Waimea Canyon, Kauai

"Be still, calm, at peace!" Of course, that message wasn’t new, but
the river put a different spin on it now, one that I was not aware of.
"To be at ease, to let it be," these were easy words to say, but difficult
to practice. In the past, I took them seriously, perhaps too seriously!
I went as far as to isolate myself on mountains and in dense swamps,
but the results were always less than satisfying. If fact, it got so bad
that upon hearing those words repeatedly, it got to a point where I simply
shrugged them off as just another "hip culture blurb."

When I came to this canyon I wanted to get away from life's everyday
distractions. I was pursuing my own self-interest. For me, sojourning
spiritually was not even a consideration. In the past year or so, my
religious quest had suffered a considerable loss of prestige. Now,
after hearing the river, I found myself back on track. According to
the river, "You flowed, but you didn't get caught. You accommodated,
but you didn't convert. You remained constant, yet you kept rolling
along. You were all you could be without being one barleycorn more,
and, as such, harmony was attained." Thus spoke the river to me.