Upstream into the Unknown

Every year around this time, the salmon start their spawn. It really is quite a feat of persistence and effort, although I doubt that the salmon think of it that way. The ocean this time of year swells with the winter storms. (30-foot waves are predicted for later today!) Just like the salmon, we are embedded in this huge thing that we don't have control over. Solar flares! The New Year! Relationship problems! Current events! Health issues! Structures of oppression, power, and wealth!

From the garden, I can hear the salmon as they splash and jump up the strong currents of water rushing down to the sea. The water is high from all of the rain, and yet they push through, moving against the stream.

The Buddhist path is said to be "against the stream," and just like the salmon, we can keep going upstream into the unknown. We endeavor to wake up and remember that we are a part of something bigger and that our worth doesn't have to be determined by cultural markers of success. Within every ending is a new beginning, and within every beginning is an ending. We can remember to keep going, just like the salmon, into the unknown, the unfamiliar territory of the future.

Image by Kate Spencer