Stone and Stream

“It seemed to him that whoever understood this river and its secrets would understand much more, many secrets, old secrets.”–Siddhartha, Herman Hesse A magical thing about a swift, clear river is the ability to see plainly the dynamics between stones and current. Swift against still, glass against granite, these interactions can be calm, violent, or a beautifully elegant blend of both. A buried cause, invisible power and surface manifestation all take shape before the eyes: boulder, green flow, white foam. We tend to think of the concept of unstoppable force versus immovable object as a moment of cataclysm and destruction, but in a wild river it manifests instead as beauty continually in motion, with an enduring order amidst the constant change, continually dissolved and recreated.