The transformatory cycle

"The stream is never so pure as at its source, its clarity and humility never so sparkling; never so delightful as it rambles over rock and sand, throu woody glades, drifting over the enchanted land. But as it gathers energy so it transforms into a river and that early limpidity is lost in the confusing swirl of waters entering from streams each with its own unique source.
"So the river becomes a mighty army on the march, placid in repose but uncontrolable once aroused. For the wise person it's a magnificent servant – sustaining, irrigating, scouring: for the careless person a flooding, drowning deluge.
"From the certainty and joy of your first steps in the spiritual life you develop as spiritual gravity leads; but this gravity doesn’t draw you downward, rather, it draws you on throu deeper spiritual dimensions as you are willing and able to follow. On the way many tributaries enter your consciousness but, tho they flow into you of themselves, they’re influences you attract. Make sure your energy attracts only positive healthy confluences not turbulent, polluted or irrelevant ones, lest your consciousness be overwhelmed or pulled off course by a stronger tide.
"As you grow bigger and more confident there comes a loss of intimacy, many people will come to draw water from you: your course is no longer uncertain, the current sweeps you onward in a direction hollowed out by millions upon millions before you. Invisible to those who stand uncommitted on the bank it flows and nourishes all things like a river of stars in the sky.
Glory in each hour of the day. Perhaps beyond you the course is unclear, hidden in morning mist? Relish the cool mystery of dawn as much as the glorious noonday, trust the current to bear you onward in spite of your frantic paddling. (If you can't see clearly, how do you know which way is downstream?)
"Maybe you think the sun will never rise? Have you ever known it not to?
"Has the midday heat become unbearable – wasn’t it for this you longed in the frosty dark? Seek shade but praise God for the balance in all things.
"Do you lament the growing shadows? Yet night transforms existence, allowing for renewal of body and mind and for their intimate connection with their own timelessness.

"All this the river sees, all this the river is, all this you are. And when it is your time to merge into the vast ocean of those who traveled before carry with you into this strange, tumultuous environment all the energy, joy and freshness of your conception. For when you’ve rested, the transformatory cycle will begin again: you’ll rise to the clouds as spirit/vapour, and so be discharged onto the earth once more to assume your role in the interaction of all things."