Transcript
[chorus] one thousand years
Let’s try a thought experiment. What if one thousand human years equaled one river year? That would make the Colonial Period less than half one river year.
Manhattan has multiple rock formations – Schist, Inwood Marble, and Fordham Gneiss. The bedrock of these islands remember the ice age, when the waters were here but frozen. The original archipelago of this area were Staten, Governors, Liberty, Ellis, Roosevelt, Ward, Randalls, and Long Island. The lands of this archipelago date back to Pangea, when North America, South America, Europe, and Africa were part of one large land mass. There remain underwater systems at work not visible from where you stand that define this area.
Stop and think about rivers as the metric of time for our universe. If water is older than earth, then water is still out there flowing and is a better orientation to time than a human life that depends on water. If we reorient ourselves toward these rivers that create the spaces we inhabit, it allows our perspective to shift. We can converse with waters that are part of a galactic system that makes our human potential greater. We only fool ourselves thinking we own these rivers that will do fine without us.
[chorus] they say we are not a river
Our planet is 4.5 billion years old or it is 4.5 million river years.
[chorus] one thousand years
Where will we be in one thousand years if we continue to fight the diversity of human existence while harming the waters we depend upon? Can we look past our bodies and see how we are connected to the bodies around us, meditate on how our human years flow into river years, and feel how time isn’t a straight line but a cycle like running water, seeking itself. These rivers make our worlds possible and speak wisdom to us about the universe we share and the rivers we carry.
In many ways, we are having a conversation with the rivers but our intentions are fractured. If the earth were to flood again, it would be the rivers that take us first. We are an extension of water, not the other way around. Consider this an invitation to be in conversation with the waters including the rivers within you.
They say, the eyes are the window to the soul. If that is true, remember why we blink. Our eyes cannot work without a touch of water.
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