Stone or Water February 14, 2008
Posted by tobeme in Uncategorized.trackback
“While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in men’s hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism”
~Sadhu Sundar Singh~
This is such an interesting quote, I love the analogy of the stone that has been in the water for all that time, yet is not penetrated by the water. If we stop at the river bank and pick up a stone out of the water, we know that only the outside of the stone will be wet, while the inside will be dry, untouched by the water. We also know that if that same stone is left in the river that over a long period of time that the stone will be worn down by the water and that eventually it will become no bigger than a pebble of sand. The stone has no choice does it, it cannot choose to allow the water inside of it or to pass through, the stone simply must sit there and be worn away by the steady stream of water. Now the water on the other hand is fluid and can hit and move around the stone and continue flowing.
As I think on the stone and the water, I have to ask myself, which one am I, am I the stone, rigid, impenetrable, for the most part static, except for when moved by the water or am I the water, consistently flowing, making my own path, flowing over and around obstacles like the stone, giving life to all that need me for nourishment, changing form and recreating myself along the journey? Am I the immersed or the one immersing all that I touch?
I choose to be the water! For that is my purpose, to be like the water is to be spirit-centric! At times in my life, I have been the stone and I must say that I was never my authentic self in the role of the stone. I love being the water!
Which are you? What state are you in? Do you find that even now, in some ways you’re the stone? If so, what needs to happen for you to become more like the water?
My business agent charted my stars and he said I was fire and water. There is a fine line and I feel pulled in both directions, sometimes I think I must be teetering on insanity.
Hmmm….and I wonder if we aren’t all stones really and if we have much choice but to wait over the millenia until we are worn down into little grains of sand so fine that we become the river…
….or if we get a really lucky, blessed life someone comes along and cracks us open before then.
Happy Valentines Day!
Hi Mark,
Very interesting post.
I am the water crashing against the rocks.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY FRIEND!
It is a truly important experience for a man to feel like a stone. I assume you think of a certain type of character.
To be like the water is more refreshing and intense. Good choice. Thank you for your inspiring post.
You are the water creating awareness and touching people. I don’t know what i am. Like you said in an other post (Iwasn’t able to comment on that It didn’t let me in) we can’t change people and their opinions.What you can do is give them a warm heart , a smile, a bit of love. When you are in a good mood you pass it on to other people. I think that is a bit par of religion as well.
WOW… this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone quote or even mention Sadhu Sundar Singh. I have many good memories of my mother reading his autobiography to me. He was a great and wise man. Thanks so much for bringing back this memory to me.
Hey to your comments in my blog… don’t mention it. You write well. Keep it up!
I was a stone …moved by water (unbeknownst to me).
Then I was a million particles flowing in the water
.
….. now I am water (sometimes smooth, sometimes not).
I cried when I read your words…from happiness.
Thank you dear one for sharing your heart with us.
This is an incredible analogy. Personally, I’m working on resisting comparisons and labels. My journey is endless. Once a seeker reaches inside himself (or herself), the treasures present themselves in unexpected ways. Each form or state of mind is simply a stopover.
This evening, I read something related in Eastern philosophy:
“when the water falls on the rocks, the rock disappears and becomes sand–sooner or later. It is only a question of time…” Some great strength is always found in an unknown source. Everything is impermanent, no matter what one’s presumed form.
I strive to be free flowing water…..as open as I can be with myself and with others. Like you, I spent a couple of years lost in that inpenetrable rock and at the time, I didn’t even know it.
Now? Well you can’t hold me back…..the river journey is where I want to be.
Great quote Mark.
I’ve had a relatively busy week………and havent been able to reply to the dialogue on “fear…..” but have enjoyed the discourse.
Enjoy your day.
I think there is stone in all of us… perhaps like the gravel and silt at the bottom of the river…caught up and moved, transformed by the water, and then I think of pumice or lava, full of holes and channels to let the water in. But then perhaps I digress from the analogy - changing it to my own ends? Lovely quote, thank you,
Insightful quote!
I’ve been raised in a family of rocks. I have learned I formless as water, but it remains hard to leave behind preconceived rock state. Flowing more freely everyday. Thank you.
I have never heard that quote before, but I feel I must try to remember it. It is so insightful. Thank you.
Rachel,
Only teetering on insanity, ha! Thanks for your thoughts.
Delilah Girl,
Both thoughts are very interesting. Thanks for adding your perspective!
Rachel,
Happy Valentines day!
Alexys,
Thanks for your thoughts and happy Valentines Day!
Rainer,
Thank-you for you thoughts. Keep flowing!
Marja,
Yes, we cannot change others, only they can change. We can influence change, we can be love, which is the most powerful energy of all. Thanks for your thoughts.
Dave,
Glad that you enjoyed the quote and that it resonated with you and brought you back to a beautiful moment in your journey. Thanks for sharing.
Andrew,
Thank-you very much!
Gypsy Heart,
I love your process!
Ah, happy tears, they are so precious, thanks for sharing!
Liara,
Great point about labels and comparisons. I too avoid lables and comparisions. Analogies such as this though, help me to sort out where I have been, where I am, and give me a little insight to where I may be heading.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Liara,
Thanks for the quote. True, all is of a temporary state.
Awareness,
We go through many forms, that is part of our journey! Thanks for your thoughts. Have a great weekend.
Rainbow dreams,
Ah, thinking of all possibilities. I love it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Norea,
Keeping on flowing! Yeah! Thanks for sharing.
Carla,
Yes, there is much wisdom within this quote, glad you enjoyed. Thanks for your thoughts.
What a brilliant quote!! I find it interesting how this can be applied to more than religion.
As for your insight…brilliant as well, you never cease to make one think. That is why you are here, that is why you were bestowed your gift of insight…it is to make one think. Thank you…
p.s. I would have to say the water…I do not see the stone in me
Mark, as always well done!
As a child I was pure water. Then I ‘unlearned” how to be water and learned how to be solid stone. It took me till age 31 to start unlearning the behavior patterns of a rock. Today at almost 39, I am again water. But before that, I was not only a rock, but one with more sharp edges than you could imagine.
Through pain and fear I’d learned to build up huge walls, a fortress, around my heart. It was impenetrable. Anyone potential suitor - knight in shining armor or not - was NOT let in. My “black knight” came out always and chopped said knight in shining armor to shreds - like in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. I had been taught not to be vulnerable. I was a ‘nature-child’ (innocent and naive and attuned to
nature) as a young child. I had so-called ‘imaginary friends’ - in other words, I had contact with “the other side”. I was very sensitive. How things can change through experience and learned behavior by others!
I learned to choose logic over feelings. That’s how I built that fortress - one block of stone at a time. No wonder I was 30 and not married and why my relationships lasted only a few months. It took having my heart broken OPEN countless times before I “got” it. And when I was completely vulnerable, a true knight in shining armor found an open, back door in my fortress and found his way to my ivory tower. And he carried me off into the proverbial sunset on the back of his trusty stead and across the sea to the place we call home, on a quay surrounded by water, next to a large river that flows to the sea. Water (the mountains and the forest) has always been important to me, and I’m happy to have “come home”.
My angels tell me that to be strong we must be vulnerable. I mistook being tough as being strong. Please learn from my learnings…
Namaste,
B
Laughs… your beginning to know me to well.
Thank you for your blog I am learning simple, but important truths untaught in best