One morning while driving my daughter to school, we saw a coyote in the riverbed exploring and hunting. We were on one of the last bits of rustic roadside in our town, following our usual route alongside Pine Creek. The day, which had threatened the prospect of yet another dull task, that of sitting in a school classroom, suddenly got brighter. Her eyes lit up with excitement to see a wild animal in the middle of town, and I was seeing the world anew through a child’s eyes. Joy came barefoot to splash in the water, rediscovering the river of delight, seeing beauty and truth in nature, recovering the natural state of wonder.

   I first heard about the River of Delight from a musician, Lou Gottlieb, who had retired from the folk group, the Limeliters, and moved to Sonoma County. He became the spiritual leader of a commune at Morning Star Ranch on the Pacific coast. One evening in the early 70's, Lou came to one of my rock band rehearsals with the idea of teaching us meditation chants he’d composed. “Love Divine, thou art mine, I am thine, Love Divine.” I was struck by the beauty of one song in particular and it stayed with me for years afterwards:

   "Only Thou, O River of Delight, Only Thou, through endless day and night, Only Thou, assuager of all sorrow, Only Thou, oh giver of tomorrow."

   This chant seemed very Hindu or Buddhist to me. Later on I did some research to learn if the concept had any parallel in Christian sources. I discovered there was actually a reference to the River of Delights, its plural form, in the Bible (NIV), Psalm 36: 7-8. "O Lord … How priceless is your unfailing love! … you give them drink from your river of delights." Jesus in his times preached about the “river(s) of living water,” in the temple (John 7:38).
   The King James version, perhaps most familiar from baby boomer childhoods, translates Psalm 36 as the “river of pleasures,” an unfortunate word choice for Christians who think that pleasure equates to sin. The delight I am speaking about here is not carnal. Though it is a delight of both the senses and the mind, it is a more mystical experience of spiritual pleasure.

   This symbol, river of delight, uses a natural image to communicate a sensual energy, the flowing of the unseen spirit of joyfulness into our day-to-day life. It represents an innate harmony between matter and spirit, also metaphorical of the Supreme Being. "The Supreme is the beauty of physical harmony, the truth of intellectual meaning, and the goodness of spiritual value. He is the sweetness of true success and the joy of everlasting achievement." (The Urantia Book [The UB], 117:1.1, p. 1278)

The River of Delight flows into the Sea of Joy

   Wordsworth’s famous sighting of daffodils blowing in the wind beside the lake, described in his poem, I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud, evoked a delight that stayed with him for years afterwards. The memory rewarded him with pleasure though he “but little thought what wealth the show … had brought” at the time he first saw them. Afterwards, when “recollected in tranquility,” he discovered the deeper meaning of true wealth, learning how such beauty and harmony were at the foundation of his well being.

   One might say the River of Delight transports us to a realization of God the Supreme. It facilitates our journey to Paradise: "If mortal man proceeds upon the Paradise adventure, he is following the motions of time, which flow as currents within the stream of eternity," (117:4.11)

   This broad and flowing metaphorical river is capable of carrying much freight, many cosmic meanings, truths and spirit realities. But the laughing waters particularly speak to one’s soul about the "inherent joy in free will existence (28:5.16)." In The UB this is a function of specialized beings called by the name The Joy of Existence. “In a more general manner and in collaboration with the reversion directors, they function as joy clearinghouses, seeking to upstep the pleasure reactions of the realms while trying to improve the humor taste, to develop a superhumor among mortals and angels. They endeavor to demonstrate that there is inherent joy in freewill existence, independent of all extraneous influences.”

   As we explore the River of Delight, we eventually come upon new and higher joys of worship. Through the ministry of agents of the Infinite Spirit, the Primary Supernaphim (Conductors of Worship), "the act of worship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings." (27:7.1)

The Satisfactions Found in Knowledge, the Delights of Learning

   This is one landing place along the River of Delight that I have come to know very well because of my love for knowledge and learning. A branch of the Primary Supernaphim, the Masters of Philosophy, also teach the intellectual manifestations of "Delight." "Next to the supreme satisfaction of worship is the exhilaration of philosophy." (27:6.1, pg. 302)

   “The master philosophers of Paradise delight to lead the minds of its inhabitants, both native and ascendant, in the exhilarating pursuit of attempting to solve universe problems. These superaphic masters of philosophy are the "wise men of heaven," the beings of wisdom who make use of the truth of knowledge and the facts of experience in their efforts to master the unknown. With them knowledge attains to truth and experience ascends to wisdom.” (27:6.2)

   Each person of the Paradise Trinity has a separate project designed to help bring us to the Father, Son and Spirit. "The bestowal Sons reveal new ways for man to find ... the everlasting highways of progression which lead through the presence of the Supreme to the person of the Paradise Father." (116:4.10, pg. 1285)  Thus as our Creator Son Michael in the person of Jesus said to the Mithraic leader in Rome, “Revealed truth, personally discovered truth, is the supreme delight of the human soul; it is the joint creation of the material mind and the indwelling spirit.” (132:3.4, pg. 1459)

   Along the river highways of delight we travel to our destiny, if we so choose to take the journey.