1. Paddling up & downstream metaphor : an analogy for the journey of life

Elyon: Greetings my friends, Elyon here to join in your spirited conversation and offer a few thoughts to add to this thought stream. In your discussion of the advantages of going with the flow you rightly observe that there is a flow and that it is moving and that you are subject to this flow. You also realize in your observation that to attempt to resist the flow one must expel a great amount of energy. This flow is often seen as change, the other force that you identify as being pervasive.

Most all of you have had the experience of both attempting to paddle upstream and floating downstream and in this experience you realize firsthand that it is a rather overwhelming force that comes against you which must be challenged in order to paddle upstream in an attempt to go against the flow. Alternatively when you have had the opportunity to go with the flow and float down the stream, you realize that it is not necessarily all about simply letting go and being a non-participant for there are obstacles in the flow which must be encountered and navigated around.

There are different forks in the flow which necessitate choosing, there are rapids present which necessitate having some control or command over your vessel else they will prove quite difficult and upsetting. This indicates that it is indeed necessary, even when going with the flow to maintain a hand on the paddles which steer you in the direction of your intention and while a great amount of effort is required to paddle upstream just to maintain your position, a much smaller amount of effort is required to use your paddle to guide and steer when you are in motion as a result of going with the flow.

Simply dipping your paddle in will change your direction and using your paddle as a rudder you may navigate your way down the stream of life to your best advantage as a result of your sincere intentions. If you were to simply give up and not participate you might find that your canoe will strike an obstacle and be tossed about in the rapids and your journey would not be as comfortable as if you are to maintain your hand on the rudder of your vessel. With small simple movements, the rudder is able to steer the vessel with almost no significant effort but with the definite involvement and intention of the one whose vessel is in question.

Even to the extent of the illustration suggested of the waterfall, if you were merely laying back in your canoe allowing the river to take you as it will you might very well be caught unprepared and unaware that there were such obstacles ahead to be navigated. If you are present in your vessel albeit the general direction is toward the obstacle or waterfall, your presence and willingness to be involved in the direction of your vessel would mean you would be able to perceive upcoming obstacles and direct your intentions to navigating safely around such obstacles without having to necessarily endure the full magnitude of such hardships.

Rather you might gently guide your canoe to the shore and decide it may be your best course at this time to portage around such a challenge and re-instigate your journey after having wisely determined that such a challenge was not appropriate for you at this point in your journey. This all happens as a result of your being focused and present as you are merrily and gently floating and guiding your vessel. Even the occasional rapids may turn from a fearful experience into a thrilling experience if you are in command.

I will point out to you that at certain times, when encountering a rapids, perhaps there may be additional effort required and one may desire to pick up the paddles and gain a little momentum as a result of your awareness that such an action would be beneficial. Having traversed rapids before, there may be the wisdom acquired that in order to shoot through the rapids with the greatest of success there must be momentum for the challenge. There is presented an opportunity for you to propel yourselves downstream as well as to use the natural forces to successfully navigate and even enjoy yourself even when the waters are turbulent and the rapids surround you.

As you know I am always in favor of these analogies that may be used to gather around and identify with as they are common experiences in the brotherhood of man. It is a pleasure to be a part of this mornings discussion and I would now allow an opportunity for others to be involved.

Cathy: [Unidentified] In regard to the analogy presented of floating gently down the stream, another aspect can be considered. You have the ability to guide your vessel inside the flow of the stream. This guidance is by use of your freewill choices. Also involved in this journey are rest stops and flotillas of connection with others on a similar journey. You have the capacity to enhance your journey while in transit. Every journey is enlarged by the fellowship with local residents and other travelers.

Monjoronson: Greetings, I am Monjoronson enjoying this gentle float down the soft stream with you. Let's float a little further and consider that this never ceasing stream of growth, of change, of discovery may seem at times to be demanding in that it does not stop. This flow of universal energy and life force goes on every hour of every day and there may arise the feeling of the ones floating that this movement is incessant. They may from time to time feel pressured by this momentum but I would point out that there are many fine beaches to rest on, there are many points where you may direct your vessel into an eddy which is still part of the stream but the water is not bound to the same laws as the majority of the water heading downstream.

There are always eddies and places to pull into of quietness and calmness where the rush of life and the constant flow may be forsaken for a time, perhaps while you rest, perhaps while you process and digest all that has transpired in the journey thus far. At any point you may guide your vessel to the shore and simply take a break and so this constant movement becomes the background of your awareness. Just that this is so provides you with the context of your journey and then you determine whether you steer your vessel into the fast moving waters and through the rapids or whether you choose the slower moving arm of the stream or even the pool of quiet placid surroundings that you find in the eddy on the side.

Perhaps you will choose to park it and put your feet out on dry land occasionally just to allow yourselves the experience of the contrast and the time to gather your thoughts and understandings around you to make sense out of the journey to that point. But then there is the call of the river once again and you know that you are about taking this journey and that there will be no ultimate distractions that will pull you away from such a journey but you are allowed to take this at your own pace as a result of your own choosing, how to steer your vessel at any one moment or hour or day.

You are learning however that the more enjoyable journey is had when you go with the flow and you use your efforts wisely and intelligently to guide, gently direct your vessel but there is much more enjoyment had when you are going with the flow and so you waste very little energy in turning your vessel about and pointing it upstream with all the effort required to do that; rather you acknowledge that the true direction is downstream and your intentions embrace this direction and allow for this experience with greater and greater ease.

It is certainly easy when discussing an analogy such as this to make it seem so simple and so easy and in fact you could argue it truly is in its basic essence just this simple, this natural and this easy but all this is occurring simultaneously with a great many distractions happening all around you and it is so easy to be directed in an alternate direction without even your awareness that this has occurred. So while the basics are easy and simple, keeping to them may be the difficult part for in your minds and in your hearts you may know this all to be true and right, but as you navigate your vessel there are so many considerations before you that you are easily distracted from this wisdom of the flow and how easy and natural it should be.

That may be summed up as the experience of life, both at once easy and natural and simple and at the same time, complex, complicated, difficult of discernment and challenging. I am grateful once again for the opportunity to be invited to participate with you in these discussions of matters of spiritual significance. I will now allow this forum for use to others.

Philip: I would just like to ad one thing, that everything discussed is about going downstream. I am sure there are those who would like to go upstream to discover the the source of this river of life and they have found ways of navigating against the current by going near the shore where the current is less severe and perhaps even portaging around a dam and finding a lake where going up or down requires some effort.

Monjoronson: Thank you for this contribution. If we might investigate this thought stream as well; I have mentioned that this is a natural, easy and simple route to be taken and that one could strive to simply relax into it and use the wisdom of their awareness to steer their vessel. But you point out, there are a number of faiths and thought constructs which direct people to actively paddle upstream using various methods in order to find the source, the godhead, the originator of the stream and these different obstructs of thinking would have their subscribers do many active things to attempt to paddle their way upstream such as devoted meditations, devoted diets, the elimination of many worldly and frivolous things, the fasting to bring yourselves to some enlightened state, the challenging of yourselves physically to arrive at this point.

All these are methods of paddling upstream as you refer to are not without some reward for there is always some manifestation as a result of any human effort. But I will point out that human effort alone is not the dominant controlling factor on this gigantic universal flow. You may very well make progress with some rather intense effort at paddling upstream in your effort to find its source but the overall design is not meant to mean that all the participants must invest great amounts of efforts to gain any reward.

Sometimes this concept of working very hard for what you achieve is a distraction from simply allowing and achieving while other times it may be useful to attempt to make it happen as a result of great effort. This is not necessarily going with the flow because even if you apply great effort an manage to make your way some distance upstream, there will come a time when you realize this to be an unsustainable effort and having reached some point of your satisfaction in the amount of effort that you donate, you will eventually have the desire to give in to the flow and to relax and ride down the stream of your efforts for if life was nothing more than an uphill climb or an upstream paddle how many would endure for the long experience?

There must be some feeling of letting go, giving in and allowing this stream to take you at some point. All allowances are certainly made for those who wish to go upstream for as long as they wish to go upstream but the eventual goal is to end up downstream after having traversed the experience and collected to yourselves the wisdom of how to navigate this enduring stream. All methods are valid and acceptable and if it is ever your desire to turn your vessel and paddle upstream so that once more you may relive a part of the stream then you may invest your efforts to do that.

But eventually, with greater awareness comes this understanding that the stream flows in a direction for a purpose and that the sooner we understand that this is so, the more relaxed our journey may become, the more ease you may have with it, even the more thrilling and fun we might have if we are prepared to work with the forces of the universe and as such become part of this force of the universe. That may be as close to oneness as it is possible to feel in this realm. Thank you for your comments.

Light: I would take the opportunity once again to join with you, I am Light and I would discuss one more aspect of being light that may be integrated into this thought stream as well. You know that when your vessel is light, that it does not ride very deep in the stream and therefore it is possible for you to make your way over many obstacles that would present a real challenge for a heavier vessel. But if your vessel is light it is easily maneuverable and it will easily be navigated through the challenging parts of the river as it will float on top and bob up and down like the cork.

The heavier your vessel, the more laden and burdened with the aspects of your experience which you insist on carrying with you, the deeper water you must find in order to have safe passage, and many a rock will present itself as a challenge and an abrasion. The lighter your load, the easier it is to guide and steer, the heavier your load, the more prone you are to capsizing when the waves rise. I encourage you all to look at your vessels with this in mind. Are you light and therefore easily maneuverable and fleet or are you burdened with many rocks that you carry of your past experiences or conceptions which weigh you down and cause you to drag bottom and impact on many a rock that is just under the surface.

Attempt to toss aside all unneeded cargo as you make your way down the stream for you will find that your efforts are made easier and lighter when there is less encumbering your vessel. Just a few more thoughts on light and its characteristics as it pertains to your journey. Thank you and farewell.

END