Flow and Divides

by Richard Reeve on December 31, 2008

in @CCSeed

Illinois River Watershed, Arkansas and Oklahoma
Image by supercooper via Flickr

“Things have ends and beginnings…” ~ Ezra Pound

My friend Doug and I often talk about the spiritual implications of divides, those lines you can trace on a map that define the location of watersheds (One the map pictured here, the divide is the outline of the colored in area). Once you get a rough sketch of them in your mind, it changes the way you travel through the landscape.  This evening for instance, our group traveled on RT 17 back and forth over a divide that separates the Delaware and the Susquehanna River watersheds.  While we slipped over that ridge on the highway, my mind drifted down the very different paths water might take from that hilltop to reach the ocean.

Which brings me to the sense of temporal divides and the annual turning of the calendar.   I will stumble writing 2009 when it’s time to pull out the checkbook for the next few times. Then there will be a period of a few weeks where each time I go to write the date, hesitation will proceed each mark, at least until it becomes a habit of acceptance. The point is…after a few locating experiences, the water begins to flow in a new direction.

I always look with anticipation as to where the flow of the next year will take me.  More then plans, lists, or resolutions, my sincere intention is to remain open to the unexpected opportunities that will cross my path throughout the upcoming year.

Wishing you good flow in the coming year, and thanks for reading Catskill Cottage Seed.

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  • Doug

    In 1962 when I was 18, I drove to the West for the first time in my life. We crossed the Continental Divide at Loveland Pass, Colorado. (That was before the tunnel.) My mind was quite obsessed with performing at the top of the pass a certain bodily function which would celebrate for me the separating of the waters. The summit, however, was an open public place, so I never acted out my obsession. Nevertheless, to this day, I can still make that association with the Continental Divide.

    Later, however, other divides have come into my life. For example, there is a long divide separating the Mississippi and St. Lawrence watersheds. It starts in northern Minnesota and ends in Pennsylvania. For many miles, it passes almost unnoticed through populated places like Chicago and Akron. Millions of people live very close to it. Discovering meaning from divides like this one has become a special part of my life. Happy New Year!

  • Divided paths but the same destination. Paying attention to the flow and fall of our lives. Wendell Berry says "A river is shaped by loss." It cuts away the soft stuff; the harder bank remains. As we move into the new year, what we leave behind will shape what we carry forward.

    <abbr>sid parham´s last blog post..Social Life, Social Media, and Business</abbr>

  • Very well said indeed, echoing "tedspeed"...and "not getting attached to the outcome" is a great one though the actual implementation gets tricky for me sometimes:)

    For 2009, may there be not any "divide" for humankind.

    Happy Everything to you always!

  • Well said. I will strive to be open to the year that unfolds before me. "Relinquish my attachment to the outcome" has become my mantra as of late. May your year unfold in surprisingly beautiful ways.

    <abbr>tedspeed´s last blog post..New Horizons</abbr>

  • Jay

    The year's divide. I love the visual that gives. This year is about heart. I will follow it, listening to all the great things it tells me, and ignoring the pesky ego that gets in the way every time. Happy New Year!

    <abbr>Jay´s last blog post..It is All About Humanity- New Year’s Resoultions for a Better World</abbr>

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