The Waterfall

This morning when I was in the shower I could hear water. Well, duh, you say.

No. Really. I could hear water but what was weird was I heard a lot more water than was splashing out of the shower-head. A lot more.

I listened and I realized it sounded like I was at the bottom of a waterfall in the mountains. No. It was bigger. It was a waterfall in Hawaii. It got louder and louder and wider and bigger.

I was in awe.

I was at the base of a huge waterfall that was growing before my eyes and ears. The more I listened, the bigger it got.

I asked myself what all this water was. I wondered if it was as big as Niagara Falls. Victoria Falls? I wondered if I was in danger.

It was deafening at first. Then the sunlight started to glow and the water sparkled and it grew quiet. There at the bottom of this massive waterfall with immeasurable gallons of water flowing over me, I felt safe.

More than that, I was stunned when I realized what all this water was:

It was all the knowledge in the world. It was wisdom. It was life.

And it was pouring over me in great abundance.

There is no way any one person could assimilate the totality of these vast riches.

It occurred to me that we can only experience the water that touches us where we are at that moment in space and time. It is this, our immediate proximity, for which we are responsible and which we must experience.

We can move to a different spot and different water will flow over us, different knowledge, but it is the water we ourselves are touching that is our time and place in life.