I went on a hike to my favorite river in Maryland which is located 20 minutes drive from my parents’ house. I noticed how all the trees reach to the source (Water). All their roots grounded in what resources are available, while their branches reach down for the source of potential.
The river is flooded from all the snow melt. With is roiling waters it is murky and unclear. When our flow isn’t restrained but we must above all costs reach our destination with speed, we can be murky and unclear in explaining our intentions to others for fear of possibly being derailed from our path.
There is no wind today. The trees are yin and the waters are yang. The trees are in quiet contemplation over the roiling waters, unconcerned over what goes on below and only concerned over their own plans. Wood can be quite single minded its own ideas and can fail to consider what is going on around it.
Water goes down to total yin, away from Heaven, towards depth. It is pulled up by the Yang of Wood to manifest as life. The energy of water finds the path of least resistance, whereas wood grows up through resistance. There seems to be an urgency to water until it reaches its depth. Whatever amount of gravity is allowed to it, it will take it. You give a water constitution person a foot, and they will take a mile. This is not so with wood. Wood will grow in its own time and in proportion to its season and chosen plan. It will push through obstacles that stand in its way, whereas water will simply move around the next obstacle without any direct confrontation until it has found its resting place.
As the snow melts the ground is waterlogged and even the earth cannot exert its controlling power over it. When our minds are flooded we often have difficulty feeling grounded and contained. Our boundaries become meaningless as we overcome everyone with the force of our will. The melt takes all the nutrients away and washes them out. Having no time to seep deep into the soil, our reserves are never contained, are squandered and are washed away by whatever latest flood or catastrophe has taken over our lives.
The river was like an unleashed torrent – raging, roaring, and forcing its way against the rocks that say in the middle of the river. Once the obstacle was overcome, the river once again become peaceful and unencumbered from its low. The water roils in possibilities of different directions, trying to find the path of least resistance. Yet it is still determined in its path. The boundaries created by the rocks are still, watchful and seemingly unassaulted by the danger rolling around them. They quietly guide the raging river down towards their destiny. Anything less solid than the self-assured rock would be in grave danger if you got in the way of the water. Still, water has a way of wearing you down over time.
If we’re overflowing like a raging river, everything is pummeled and beaten. Our judgement and discrimination is murky, unruly, unfocused, and unclear. We will go where we want regardless of what or who is in our way. Our thoughts flow, and flow, and flow into every corner of our mind as we’re unable to contain ourselves and take rash actions in the face of dangers or obstacles. Fantasy and reality intermingle as our nervous system keeps us on constant alert.
The waves and ripples on the surface of the river illustrate the changing state between activity and inactivity, of advance and withdrawl, gathering in and rushing forth. The wisdom of the timing and knowing of when it is appropriate to withdraw and when it is appropriate to move forward is innate in the water element. Only when we cultivate this wisdom in ourselves will we not be squandering our resources when it's inappropriate to move forward, or when we do not have enough strength.
The qualities of movement of a stream and of a river are quite different. The smaller the body of water, the lighter the sound, the gentler the flow. Less effort on the part of plants and animals needs to be risked to tap into its flow. There is less to risk, and less to lose. When our resources are low our ability to sustain life is weak. When our rivers are wide and full, all of nature thrives at our riverbanks. People are attracted to those who have power, money, and skill.
Life gathers to the river much like people gather to the resources of others for security and ‘ability’. Ability and money are the highest prized possessions. He who has spiritual, mental, and financial resources becomes the focus of everyone’s attention. And he who has access to resources ‘wins’. Wars are fought over resources. This is the unstoppable and primal will and instinct of nature towards self-preservation. All skills are born out of this element. They are currencies of exchange. Nature competes constantly for the best pool of resources. Trees strangle other trees, one pack of lions will drive out another pack of lions from the watering hole, and if the lions are hungry all they need to do is hang out around the watering holes until their prey is thirsty. He’s who’s strongest, fastest, most clever, and conniving wins.
As a culture we do not know what it takes to bring all the food and abundance into our grocery stores and all the services and products we take for granted. We’ve lost the ability to truly know how to struggle for our own survival when everything has been catered for us. As a result, we squander the resources we have because we never appreciate what it took to acquire them. Someone’s blood, sweat, and tears toiled the land, irrigated the plants, and picked their fruit to bring the food to the table. The huge expenditure of resources to bring food from farm to fork is hidden in the spread-out cost of a few bucks it took to buy the ingredients at the store.
We go to work to expend our water (resources: time, energy), to turn it into water (resources: money), so we can secure our existence (resources: food, sleep, vacation time). Majority of our life is in transacting our internal water for the internal water of others and of the waters of the land.
In our culture of getting and acquisition we see how the same story line of nature is repeated in the reality TV shows all focused at the acquisition of money, beauty, power, notoriety, material possessions, cars, iPods, houses. Everything is acquired and everything is transacted. The same game of getting hasn’t fundamentally changed since the dawn of time.
Our bladder is the manifestation of the frenetic energy which we direct towards the acquisition of external resources as we interact with the world. The meridian runs from the eyes which see the object of our desire and flows down to the feet which giving us the ability to stand erect and move forward towards what we’ve seen as the goal of our pursuit. It is our longest meridian, irrigating our whole being with the energy necessary to go and get our potential.
Likewise the kidney is the manifestation of our deep reserves what are most precious and worth protecting in us. This might be symbolized by the kidney meridian which runs down the front of our chest and abdomen and down the inside of our legs, as allowing us to curl in and protect ourselves against all potential danger should our deepest reserves be threatened.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment