Mind Afloat
Do you ever stare into a flowing river? Slip into a dream upon the ripples of a stream? Allow the turmoil of the flowing water to calm your mind and carry away the turmoil of your thoughts? Lose yourself in the flashing interplay of sparkling light upon the surface of a running brook?
Water is endlessly fascinating. Before birth, we float. Many cultures have deep-running river mythologies and beliefs tied to the importance of water. For the ancient Greeks, the River Styx was a boundary between the living and the dead, and its waters held mystical powers. In Abrahamic traditions, the River Jordan has powerful religious associations, both as a water to be crossed and a place of cleansing by baptism. The Ganges River is sacred to Hindus, with powers for cleansing and healing. Chinese mythology includes several rivers, perhaps none more important than the Yellow River, source of their civilization.
To sit beside a stream and stare into its flowing water is to face the demon Chaos, look directly into it, and allow it to enter the mind, drive out the control of orderly thoughts, and sweep away cares and concerns. The troubles of life that plague our minds, the debts and doubts and worries, can be washed away, at least temporarily, in the hypnotic flow of the water. It is mesmerizing, enthralling, enchanting, spellbinding. Water has the power to seduce the mind, persuading it to surrender control and give in to soothing, restful calm. To simply float, free of distractions. To cleanse the mind and heal the heart.
The ancients were not wrong about the power of water to heal and cleanse. But it needn't be the great rivers like Styx, Jordan, Ganges, Tigris, Euphrates, or Yellow. A mind can be cleansed and a heart healed even by a small flowing stream.