Listening to Streams

Deliberation is one of the qualities of God

Throw a dog a bit of something.

He sniffs to see if he wants it.

Be that careful

Sniff with your wisdom-nose.

Get clear then decide.

Constant, slow movement teaches us to keep working

like a small creek that stays clear,

that doesn't stagnate, but finds a way

through numerous details, deliberately

.

Mathnawi, III, 3494-3516 translated by Coleman Barks

This little stream is on the way to a friend's cabin in North Georgia. We were a carful on our way back from supper one evening and as we drove past, the falling light transformed its simpleness into something very special. At the time I was taken by the beauty of the mirror created on its surface by the twilight. It was only later going through my pictures, that I noticed the stream bed was crisscrossed by a wire fence.

I had been saving this little poem from Rumi for awhile now. I wanted to use it with a picture of a stream and I had already taken several of a little creek near my house. Somehow, it didn't seem to be the one to use. So I put it aside. I have driven by this stream numerous times over the years visiting my friend, but until this evening had never been struck by its beauty and grace and therein of course, lies the real gift. Its wonderful how love how life creates these kinds of connections.

I have been thinking a good deal lately about deliberation; about making choices and decisions that impact our lives big or small. Among my friends and children, the conversation often turns to what they are considering and all the reflection arriving at a conclusion requires. It is not easy work. Rarely are the pathways clearly marked in the beginning. In fact, it seems that the deliberative process is not unlike the course of a stream. Water, despite all our attempts to dam it up or divert it or contain it, is only tolerating our false sense of control. It is ultimately its own power. I am wondering if this process of deliberation is the same way. We may we say we don't know what is best for us, or what we should choose, or make decisions only in a superficial way without consulting our insides. It is a bit like putting a fence across a stream bed. The stream, the part of us that really does know what we want, or is needed, simply keeps on moving along. Sometimes it changes course to go around some excuse we put in the way, or seeps under an imaginary restriction or on occasion blasts a path through some obstruction we have put up, but it keeps moving forward and taking us with it until eventually, the light hits the water just right and we see.

I am wondering if in those times that we are most confused, the most overwhelmed about the next step in our life, if that is the time to remember this little stream. Perhaps we can reassure ourselves that soulful living does require deliberation and sorting and sifting and remember that illumination and clarity arrive most often after we have allowed ourselves the time and space to do them.

When the flute players

couldn't think of what to say next

they laid down their pipes,

then they lay down themselves

beside the river

and just listened.

Some of them, after a while,

jumped up

and disappeared back inside the busy town.

But the rest--

so quite, not even thoughtful--

are still there,

still listening.

Mary Oliver , "There is a Place Beyond Ambition" from RED BIRD