What is a river? It is a name we give to a flow of water. It is in a continuously changing state, not even a fraction of a second the same or stagnant enough to be called an absolute object. In addition a river flows only because it is part of a natural terrain and we view a river in the totality of the water-flow together with its surroundings including the rocks/pebbles, the vegetation, the mist, the living and non living things in it ie. the entire landscape which we notice or not notice. Every tiny element of it is ever changing and yet every time we recall any river we have visited, we think of it as the same river we have last seen.
A Buddhist teacher used the river as an analogy of 'self'.
Reflecting on it I now think this may be what Einstein meant when he said:
"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness".
If we adopt a paradigm shift departing from a separate 'self' approach and adopting more of a "being" approach, we may experience ourselves more as a 'flow'.
Mindfulness is one way to train our mind to be present with the flow. Meditation helps. When we focus on something say our breath, we are training our mind to be present. When feelings and thoughts arise we watch them come and go before calling our mind back to the focused point. We recognise our chattering mind, the feelings resulting from thoughts and vice versa. In some rare split-second moments we may understand the 'delusion' that Einstein and Buddha refer to.
Apart from meditation there are also other ways to experience being in the flow eg. being absorbed in an activity such that you totally forget about yourself and are immersed in 'being'.
Perhaps we should start living by what we are named, Human Being.
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