{"id":204,"date":"2026-08-08T06:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depthguide.com\/?p=204"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:18:22","slug":"tales-from-the-universe-the-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depthguide.com\/?p=204","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the Universe: The River"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was once a man who had finally learned something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn&#8217;t a particularly useful thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He couldn&#8217;t turn it into a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He couldn&#8217;t put it on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He couldn&#8217;t even explain it very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But he knew it was true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing lasts forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He had spent a great deal of his life learning this in increasingly creative ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Places changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bodies changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ideas changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The things he thought would save him eventually became the things he had to learn how to release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the things he loved were temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially the things he loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually he stopped being angry about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mostly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One day he found himself standing beside a great river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The river was impossibly old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Older than the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Older than the road behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Older, perhaps, than the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It flowed onward without asking permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He watched it for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then he smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Someone standing nearby asked him what he was thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He considered giving a profound answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;Just try and remember, nothing lasts forever.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then he dove into the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The water swallowed him immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a moment there was nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then somewhere downstream, a hand broke the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then a head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He came up sputtering, grinning like an idiot, and looked around at whatever strange country the river had carried him into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were unfamiliar mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfamiliar stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A road he had never seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Probably trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Definitely an adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He laughed again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And kept swimming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because perhaps that is what the river was trying to teach him all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not that everything ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He already knew that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that knowing it doesn&#8217;t mean you have to stand on the shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can love something temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can build something temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can become someone temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can lose it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can grieve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when the next current catches you\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">you can go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The universe does not promise us permanence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It offers us moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So take the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hold it carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, when the river asks for it back,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">let go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will be another shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will be another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will be another ridiculous thing to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And somewhere, just beneath all of it, the river will keep laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Just try and remember.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Nothing lasts forever.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was once a man who had finally learned something. It wasn&#8217;t a particularly useful thing. He couldn&#8217;t turn it into a career. He couldn&#8217;t put it on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9. He couldn&#8217;t even explain it very well. But he knew it was true. Nothing lasts forever. He had spent a great deal of his life [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tales from the Universe: The River - Depth Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/depthguide.com\/?p=204\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tales from the Universe: The River - Depth Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There was once a man who had finally learned something. 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