Sensing the Divine Flow
Christ invites us into God-consciousness. The scriptures allude to this inward experience as a river, a stream, or living water. The spiritual reality symbolized by the living water can be accessed and integrated into our consciousness. To gain more insight, we trace the recurrence of this symbol from Genesis to Revelation. This will help us better understand its aspects and relate them to our subjective experiences.
River in Genesis
A river went forth from Eden to water the garden. The river flows into places where there is gold and precious stones. This is a picture of our inner being, our consciousness, and the place where we live. The place of God’s design and choosing is Eden, which means pleasure. The garden has many trees growing, which is also true of the setting for our lives. There are many trees from which we may eat.
A river waters Eden. The symbol of river, water, fountain, and stream persists across many writers of the Bible. The river of Eden is also present as a river in the city of God. The gold is a symbol of the incorruptible divine nature. Precious stones are produced by the transformation of what is earthly. The sacred nature and the transformed human nature are present in one of the places the river flows to. Both gold and precious stones are also featured in the city of God. Symbolically, this tells us that our consciousness, the place where we live, has a river supplying it. There is also the presence of divine nature and transformed human nature in the place where the river flows.
Places in the Bible like Eden, Egypt, the Promised Land, and New Jerusalem represent the state of our consciousness. Where we are and who we are are related. The symbolic descriptions of the places paint a much richer picture of the state of our being.
Water in Exodus
In Exodus, the wilderness journey includes events that further illuminate the symbol of water. At Marah, the Israelites encountered bitter waters. They could not drink it and complained to God about it. Casting the tree into the water was the divine prescription to solve the problem. But the diagnosis was more interesting. God implied that the people needed healing and that He would be the God who healed them. The bitterness of the water was a symptom of their sickness. That was the divine assessment. Many bitter experiences that seem undrinkable are caused by inner sickness. The problem appears to be the bitterness of the water, but there is a deeper root cause. This aligns with our experience in human life. As we become inwardly well, there is less bitterness.
The wood or tree is understood to represent the cross of Christ. There must be a measure of self-emptying to navigate Marah successfully. This is one of the waypoints in every spiritual journey. To follow Christ means to take up our cross. Bitter experiences remind us of a need for the crucified Christ. In our oneness with the crucified Christ, we can go beyond the strong suggestions of our mind. Criticisms, judgments, and opinions fall away. As long as these are present, there will be bitterness. Acceptance is needed. The cross of Christ means accepting the unacceptable bitterness of the situation. Our mind needs a renewal. Once we apply the meaning of the cross in our life in this way, we will progress from Marah.
After making that passage, they come to Elim with twelve springs. Once we let go of the suggestions of the mind and the impulses of the self, we move on to a happier place. Instead of lack, an abundance is experienced. This happens in the shift from rejection to acceptance.
We mostly understand these life experiences in retrospect. Often, we stumble our way through Marah. Integrating the deep symbolism of these events in the wilderness into our language would be helpful. It would equip our consciousness with the tools needed when life brings us to that point in our journey. All sojourners experience Marah and Elim on the journey to the Promised Land.
Another time, when the people need water, Moses is instructed to strike the rock once, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. Apostle Paul interprets this rock as a symbol of Christ. Out of the smitten rock, water flows. Christ is the most complete embodiment of this principle. The blessing of the Spirit flowed out to humanity as one of the outcomes. On the one hand, we don’t want any rock to be smitten. On the other hand, we also see through history that a passage through suffering has changed people in a way that makes them of great benefit to humanity. From the smitten rock, water flows. This principle has operated in the life stories of several well-known historical figures.
Streams in Psalms
Knowing the inner gladdening, the psalmist says: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high. River, gladness, and God’s presence are combined into a single expression.
In another Psalm: He leads me beside still waters. There is an element of rest with these waters.
Also, You cause them to drink of the river of your pleasures…for with you is the fountain of life. Here, we see the experience of a source that gives enjoyment.
The psalms could be seen as human songs emerging from divine experience. The inner experience of the river is present among the psalm writers.
Fountain in Prophets
The prophets also speak about the life-giving water.
God’s key complaint, delivered by Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of water. The psalmists and prophets are on board, but the people do not know about this inner fountain. That is the problem, says God. We know our need for water but don’t come to the fountain. There is divine disappointment on this point.
Isaiah writes that God will pour streams on the dry ground and pour His Spirit. He speaks about drawing water out of the wells of salvation with joy. He echoes the invitation to freely receive the Spirit by saying, "Everyone that thirsts comes to the waters, and he that has no money." The motif of water, Spirit, and receiving is present together.
Christ and Living Water
Christ’s invitation: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He speaks about rivers of living water flowing out of their innermost being. The gospel writer's explanatory comment is that this refers to the Spirit that the believers were to receive. The experience of the Spirit within the human spirit is likened to living water flowing out.
Elsewhere, Christ says: The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The water fills with life (zoe: eternal, divine, uncreated life) and eventually flows out of our being. The water is not only for us to drink but also to participate in its flow. That is perhaps the most significant aspect of the reality this living water symbolizes—the flowing out!
Washing and Drinking in Epistles
In the New Testament, Paul speaks of being given the drink of the one Spirit. To Titus about the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. To Ephesians about having cleansed her (church-bride) by washing of water with the word.
Ongoing inner experience is interpreted and expressed as drinking, regeneration, and washing of water. That is the state of being.
River in Revelation
Revelation, a book full of symbols, returns to the river metaphor.
There is a vision of a river of water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God.
The invitation to come to the waters, first seen in Isaiah, is also in Revelation: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him who thirsts freely from the spring of the water of life.
The Bible concludes with a more emphatic repeat of the invitation, where the Spirit and the Bride say:
And let him who is thirsty come, let him who wills take the water of life freely.
Witness of Mystics
The mystics also bore witness to this symbol being an inward reality.
The soul is like a fountain, and from the fountain flows rivers of living water when it is united with God. -St. John of the Cross
The Lord leads the soul to a delicious garden, where there is a stream of water so clear and pure that it reflects his face. - Saint Teresa of Avila
Our Lord is a river of mercy flowing without end, and all may drink of it. - Julian of Norwich
God is a fountain flowing itself, and the soul that rests in Him becomes a stream of His own being. - Meister Eckhart
They use the language and symbols of the Bible to attest to its alignment with the content of their consciousness. This is a palpable reality to them; they say it is accessible to all.
Experiencing the River
The recurring symbol of the flowing water of life spans the entirety of scripture but also finds its fulfillment in the personal experience of every believer. This water flows in a place where God is present with man. This place is both our innermost being and the city of God. It brings pleasure, gladness, rest, and renewal. It is something to drink, that is, to receive into our being. It is freely available to anyone with an undefinable thirst for something beyond oneself.
Man is to make conscious contact with God in this way. God, the Spirit, transmits Himself into man as the water of life. Our role is to receive this stream to hydrate the inner man. In divine communion, we will sense a flow, as promised by Christ Himself.
Bitter experiences and sufferings also need to be understood in this context. All things are for us to be watered and to water others.
The supply of this stream will renew us, refresh us, and direct us on The Way. The benefits of Christ's work are distilled into the Spirit, a unique gift that can now be received freely. The divine stream brings a person into a spiritual union with God. In this union, we can live and walk by the Spirit, live a normal human life, and meet every demand that the day brings with this inner supply of life.
