At the time I did not know that stories of life are often more like rivers than books.
Interpretation
Life's experiences are more fluid and interconnected than fixed narratives.
Norman Maclean's quote suggests that life is not a straightforward narrative, like a book, but rather more complex and dynamic, akin to a river that flows and changes. It implies that our experiences are interconnected and continuously evolving, highlighting the unpredictable and organic nature of human existence.
In practice
In a speech about personal growth, one might say, 'As Norman Maclean wisely noted, stories of life are often more like rivers than books.'
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.
Ahead and to the west was our ranger station - and the mountains of Idaho, poems of geology stretching beyond any boundaries and seemingly even beyond the world.
Poets talk about "spots of time", but it is really the fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone.
As I get considerably beyond the biblical allotment of three score years and ten, I feel with increasing intensity that I can express my gratitude for still being around on the oxygen-side of the earth's crust only by not standing pat on what I have hitherto known and loved. While oxygen lasts, there are still new things to love, especially if compassion is a form of love.
At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. You can love completely without complete understanding.
One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful even if it is only a floating ash.
People get angry at others who express a different opinion, while, in fact, they should be angry at themselves. But we must be angry at ourselves the most when we say something today, only to say something else tomorrow.
I am your dwarf. I am the enemy within. I am the boss of your dreams. See. Your hand shakes. It is not palsy or booze. It is your Doppelganger trying to get out. Beware...Beware...
What most needs explanation is not why some people are criminals, but why most people are not.
When we are young we do not look into mirrors. It is when we are old, concerned with our name, our legend, what our lives will mean to the future. We become vain with the names we own, our claims to have been the first eyes, the strongest army, the cleverest merchant. It is when he is old that Narcissus wants a graven image of himself.
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
A thought may arise: 'It's okay now, but it's going to be different when I step out the door'. Already you are anticipating your downfall. Recognise these as just thoughts. You can just watch them, feel their pull yet observe them as a movement in consciousness. Stay put as formless awareness.
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