The drop has a chance

A parable from G. I. Gurdjieff

It will be useful if we compare human life in general to a large river which arises from various sources and flows into two separate streams. That is to say, there occurs in this river a dividing of the waters, and we can compare the life of any one man to one of the drops of water composing this river of life.

The life of all ordinary men taken together can be thought of as one of these rivers in which each life, whether of a man or of any other living being, is represented by a drop in the river, and the river in itself is a link in the cosmic chain.

In accordance with general cosmic laws, the river flows in a fixed direction. All its turns, all its bends, all these changes have a definite purpose. In this purpose every drop plays a part insofar as it is part of the river, but the law of the river as a whole does not extend to the individual drops. The changes of movement and direction of the drops are completely accidental. At one moment a drop is here; the next moment it is there; now it is on the surface, now it has gone to the bottom. Personal sorrow and joy, happiness and suffering—in that current, all these are accidental.

But the drop has, in principle, a possibility of escaping from this general current and jumping across to the other, the neighboring, stream.

This too is a law of Nature. But, for this, the drop must know how to make use of accidental shocks, and of the momentum of the whole river, so as to come to the surface and be closer to the bank at those places where it is easier to jump across. It must choose not only the right place but also the right time, to make use of winds, currents and storms. Then the drop has a chance to rise with the spray and jump across into the other river. From the moment it gets into the other river, the drop is in a different world, in a different life, and therefore is under different laws.

As long as we are in this passive current it will carry us wherever it may; as long as we are live we shall be pushed about and be at the mercy of every accident. We are the slaves of these accidents. At the same time Nature has given us the possibility of escaping from this slavery. Therefore when we talk about freedom we are talking precisely about crossing over into the other river.

But of course it is not so simple—you cannot cross over merely because you wish. Strong desire and long preparation are necessary. You will have to live through being identified with all the attractions in the first river. You must die to this river. All religions speak about this death: “Unless you die, you cannot be born again.”

G. I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World