Gods. Goddess. Many Gods. One God.

God is a River, rushing and rumbling at the surface and flowing thick, steady and swiftly in the depths. The River is flowing toward some unknowable Ultimate, which is also God, reaching a delta and flowing into that Ultimate as if it were an Ocean. The waters are not silent; from them comes a neverending song beyond beautiful; the sound of nature, the sound of breath, the sound of creation. In the waters of the River there exist all possibilities of sentient life, all possibilities of past, present and future, and these manifest as creatures in time and space, like rocks that break the rush of the water, displacing the River for a time. These creatures - human and otherwise - do not exist separate from the River, but are wading in the Water. They seem to be static - but it's an illusion - when they are done poking their heads out of the water, they will resume the eternal flow of the River toward the Ocean. Many - perhaps most - of the creatures are unaware of the River - their feet are deep in the undercurrent where it's dark and they cannot see. The River seems to beat against them, the rapids frighten them. Some of the creatures, however, begin to recognize the River. They want no longer to displace the Waters, but to flow with them. They hear the song that resonates from the depths of the Ocean - they long to be part of it - to return to the Waters from whence they came.

These who desire to cross the delta into the eternal Ocean will submerge themselves in the River. They let go of the concept of separateness. They become the River. They flow swiftly and actively toward the Ocean, and when they have reached the Ocean, they are immersed in the very Is-ness of God.

I am a manifestation of possibilities; a blockage in the flow of the River that is God. Even my describable concepts of God are manifestations that block the eternal flow; the more I struggle to name and describe what God is, the more I block the flow of God that surrounds me. When I let go of concepts, God is free to flow through me. When I am "empty" of preconceived notions of God and of life, I am a cup ready for new tea; a chalice prepared for new wine; and when I am filled with God, I am not simply a conduit for the flow of God, I am part of the flow of God. I am the River; I am eternal.