River Boyne - Time

The Wisdom - life is a journey -

Time = Distance / Speed

The human measure of time is from the cradle to the grave. The river experience of time is from the spring to the ocean. Often when we draw the comparison between our life passage and a river's course we find each exists through different phases. We link to the first waters bursting forth from the ground as a simile for when the waters break from the womb. The infant quickly grows to a bubbling vibrant brook, the youth cutting deep gullies on a high hillside. The brook tumbles towards a verdant valley, collecting waters from other streams as it goes, drawing in others to share its life - the teenage years. The stream widens, bends and slows through its middle part - our middle years – forming flood plains that change with the season's cycle. Often dividing many times, forming a delta, the river's freshwaters finally mingle with the seas. It encounters a different type of water, a salty environment, just as we grow old and die into a spirit world that is the same but different.

But, the Boyne does not have that generalised river form. It doesn't start in a high mountain range but on the gentle slopes of the central plain of Ireland. After a short stream phase the river itself becomes much as it is for the rest of the 70 odd miles to the sea. It's surroundings change – the scenery is different - there are occasional gorges and ravines, and man made weirs, but it bends and curves its way across a rich pastureland for almost all its length. Thus, the often made comparison of the journey of the river as the journey of our lifetime, through different states of being, does not really apply to the Boyne.  It tells us instead that the scenery of our lives can be a rich pastureland for the whole journey from cradle to grave.

What is the Boyne telling us about time?

To learn this you have to get on or into the river. You cannot learn this lesson from a map or from a distance. It is the experience of sensing every small nuance and change as the river flows. If you are on the river boat you cannot be concerned with the past, you may have your intention on the future goal where you will get out, but your whole attention has to be in the present. You need full awareness of what you are doing as there are fast currents, deep sink holes, eddies that may tip your boat over and whirlpools that may trap you into not being able to move. Go with the flow takes on a very important meaning.  When navigating the Boyne, especially in a small boat, past and future are not important, it is the present that occupies all your attention.

Page last updated: 19th Apr 2010