Merrimack River, Haverhill MA

In this post, Aaron discusses the true state of nature, and likens a river to time and consciousness.

It is in nature where I am reminded of the only true authority in this world, which is nature itself. All of our human constructs, of morality, justice, the idea of evil, or even the idea of time itself, all of that is erased when you find yourself awake in nature. One of the reasons the river has been a staple of our stories and lessons throughout history is because it exemplifies this authority. The river is untainted by human consciousness, and because of that, it becomes an objective mirror in which to view our world. The river is always flowing. It ebbs and flows, but always is. The river has no opinion on the trout swimming upstream to spawn and it has no malice as it actively works against the trout. One cannot say of the river that it is evil because a child drowned within its waters, or because it harbored the alligator that torments a village. The river has no sense of time, either. When one is rafting down a river, you cannot plead passionately to the river to get you to your destination faster, the river would just say, “We’ll get there when we get there.” The natural world only is, it does not carry with it all the constructs that human consciousness places on it in order to make sense of the world. The river has in it a paradox that is incompatible with human constructs, in that the river is changing constantly but also never changes. We can point to a specific part of the water, but by the time your hand is raised, that water will be gone, and in its place, different water, but we still know it is the river. It is this paradox, that is not exclusive to the river, that reminds us of God and his mysterious ways, and why so many people have found spiritual awakenings at the river, or in the forest, or at the Grand Canyon, etc. To awaken in nature is to embody this paradox, to realize your personal insignificance in this universe while at the same time realizing that you are one with the very same universe.