Life of the river

St Neots is built on the River Great Ouse with its source near Banbury and mouth at King's Lynn. As you can see from the photo, it's a wide river here in the town. The narrowboat with the man at the stern give some idea of scale (click the photo for a larger view).

A narrowboat on the River Great Ouse

Because of the River, the town has an excellent rowing club, some of the members compete at high levels of the sport.

After taking the photo this afternoon I was thinking about the life of the river. It seems to be unchanging (although the course of the river does change slowly over the centuries).

But if you follow the river from source to mouth it parallels a person's life from birth to death. The river starts off young, just a tiny brook in a deep-cut channel. It flows quickly, is active and uncontrolled.

As it matures it passes through teenage where it looks much more like a full-grown river but is still quite unpredictable and has changing moods.

In maturity it begins to wander across the landscape, full-grown, mostly placid, and able to cause serious damage if it floods out beyond its banks.

And in old age it is slow moving, set in its ways, and finally comes to the end of its course where it dissipates itself into the brackish waters of The Wash. Finally it is totally lost to view, even at low tide, and spreads itself out imperceptibly into the great North Sea.

What happens to a person when they die? Like the river they vanish from this world. Are they lost (just as the river vanishes) or do they become part of something greater (as the water of the river becomes part of the vastness of the ocean).

What do you think?

I think people become part of something infinite, not only physically but spiritually too. Visit Spiritual Journeys for more on this.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

People networks

Donna and I live in St Neots, a lovely town in Cambridgeshire. The photo shows part of the river front right in the heart of the town.

The River Great Ouse in St Neots

I walked down there this afternoon and took the photo from the town's main bridge before visiting Caffè Nero for a chat with some friends.

We sat outside this afternoon, it was warm but not hot, a grey day with no wind. The conversation covered all kinds of topics as it usually does.

I think many people today lack this kind of socialising. At work there are always people to talk to, but for those out of work or retired it can be a lonely business being at home. We all need people around us, even if we feel comfortable alone.

People create networks quite without thinking about it. The most basic units are family and tribe, but in the modern world there are many others. The workplace, the cafe, the pub, mothers with young children, groups of teenagers, people with hobbies or interests in common. I'm sure you could easily extend the list.

Any one person may belong to several of these groups and in this way they are all interconnected to make a human society. What a rich tapestry we form!

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)