Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2013-03 - AMORC

Life Is A River
by Abaan Abu-Shumays
iFE is a self-sustaining river. Such a
comparison between life and a river may
sound superficial, but let’s look more closely
at the sojourn of the river and the sojourn
we call life. Like life, the river is a teacher
who holds many answers for those who observe, listen
and learn from its rushing waters.
The classic story Siddhartha by Herman Hesse,
illustrates this point in a vivid manner. It relates the story
of a young man called Siddhartha (based on the life of
Gautama Buddha) who meets a ferryman living by the
river. Siddhartha has spent years searching for the answers
to life’s truth and purpose. The ferryman encourages him
to listen to the river and find its secrets. Siddhartha learns
from the river “how to listen, to listen with a still heart,
with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire,
without judgement, without opinions”.
He once asked the ferryman: “Have you also learned
that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time”
The ferryman replied: “Yes, the river is everywhere at the
same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at
the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains,
everywhere, and in that the present only exists for it, not the
shadow of the past, not the shadow of the future.”
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The Rosicrucian Beacon -- March 2013