Contents
In whitewater rafting, the through line is the safest path through the rapids. Zen teacher Dr. Susan Roshi applies it to our time in A Fire Runs Through All Things:
A class I river: you can go canoeing, no problem. A class VI river: don’t even think about it. And a class V river? The only way you can go down that river is if you’re confident you know how to find and follow the through line, the safest way through the rapids. The through line is not an outcome, it’s the way through a constantly changing flow.
The world is in a class V river now, wouldn’t you say? Savage rocks ahead and on either side of us could destroy our boat, and fierce whirlpools could swallow us whole. As with Country, we must learn to read conditions beyond the noise of “There’s a rock that will shred our boat!” or “That whirlpool will plunge us in headfirst, our fragile boat sucked under!”
To find the subtle through line in a class V river, you must be able to read all the small, telling details. If you miss them, they can spin you toward the big dangers. It is crucial, our whitewater expert said, not ever to fix attention on the truly big obstacles and dangers because they will magnetize your attention and draw your fear to only them, and that way you’ll miss the subtle, salvific through line discovered only when you stay fully aware of the entire river.