The River Flows

 Rivers fascinate. And rivers are like thoughts. Not the other way around, as we’ll discuss. 

(What follows was inspired by, and is based on, part of a discourse by Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, also known as the Mitteler Rebbe.)

First, some facts about rivers: Rivers always flow downhill. They begin in mountains or, paradoxically, spring from underground. Rivers begin in hidden places.

And rivers flow in ways we don’t usually consider. We see the river flowing in its channel, between its banks. What we don’t see is the river flowing beneath the substrate, the bottom of the  river (where the ground seems to hold it in place. What we don’t see is the river flowing beneath the ground of its own banks. The area where the water flows between the crevices and rocks is call the hyporheic zone. (The word comes from two Greek words, meaning “flow below.”)

Sometimes rivers flow swiftly; sometimes they form eddies, whirlpools - and waterfalls. Sometimes they surge; sometimes they cascade; sometimes they run their course; and sometimes they drift in a lazy rhythm. Sometimes a river is rapid, sometimes it meanders.

Rivers collect rivulets.

Rivers change constantly. They change the land through which they flow. 

Rivers can erode the land, pulling rocks, soil or vegetation from its land channel and transporting it down stream. When the river slows down and can’t carry the extra non-water stuff, it drops - or deposits it. 

And as rivers change the land (waterfalls, canyons, flood plains) through which they flow, they change their own course, find new channels in which to flow.

And thoughts: They also flow. They flow “downward,” from the inner resources of our minds, from our souls. Thoughts flow downward into speech, and then action. And there is much beneath the flowing thoughts that we don’t “see,” don’t realize is there. 

Where do our thoughts come from? For they exist in the “subconscious,” in a mental - or spiritual “hyporheic zone” - and emerge into our awareness. Thoughts spring from hidden resources of mind and soul, cascading from the higher “mountains” or emerging from the underground “springs.”

Sometimes thoughts flow swiftly, like rapids, chaotic. Sometimes, thoughts overwhelm us, so that we are awed by what has appeared in our minds - like watching a cascading waterfall. Our thoughts cut deep channels into the “landscape” of our being, creating the canyons and flood plains of our interactions and reactions.

And our thoughts can change course. They do find new channels. Sometimes the change is rapid; sometimes the change meanders - takes its time. But our thoughts are redirected - by our experiences, yet also by our conscious choices: we can gather the rivulets and carve out the canyons - the deep commitments - and flood plains - the actions with which we engage and transform the world. 

Rivers have long been a symbol of life. But when they overflow their banks, they can wipe out all that has flowed from and through them, all the life - vegetable, animal, human - that depends on them. Thoughts, too, give life. But when they overflow their “banks,” when our thoughts overflow with the negative character traits and destructive emotions, our thoughts can destroy all that depends on us - all those who depend on us.

We can control our thoughts, re-channel them, give them a new course to follow. For Will - our soul-directed desire - is higher than thought. No, it’s not easy. Rivers are stubborn things. They have their passages. They are conduits - and they narrow. After all, “narrows” refers to a channel connecting two bodies of water.

Still, just as G‑d directs rivers, we direct our thoughts.

And that’s why rivers resemble thoughts, not the other way around - even though we make the analogy the other way around.

Creation mimics the human form, metaphorically. That’s because is a setting, as it were, the background for a narrative - the narrative of our moral choices. The cosmic struggle between good and evil reflects our personal struggle.

How flows your river?