“Divide the name Adam into two syllables, and it reads, a dam, or obstruction” (SH 338).
“RIVER. Channel of thought” (SH 593).
The Book of Genesis tells of a great river that flows out of Paradise, having 4 branches. For watching and prayer, it is profitable to study the characteristics of each branch as defined by Mrs. Eddy in the Glossary chapter of Science and Health:
“EUPHRATES (river). Divine Science encompassing the universe and man; the true idea of God; a type of the glory which is to come; metaphysics taking the place of physics; the reign of righteousness” (SH 585).
“GIHON (river). The rights of woman acknowledged morally, civilly, and socially” (SH 587).
“HIDDEKEL (river). Divine Science understood and acknowledged” (SH 588).
“PISON (river). The love of the good and beautiful, and their immortality” (SH 593).
The Glossary descriptions of these 4 mighty channels of thought can be likened to explosives indispensable for blasting through the dams of personal sense that is ever-seeking to restrain their currents, which must flow freely — the survival and health of civilization depend on the free flow of all of these streams.
“Blest river of salvation,
Pursue thine onward way;
Flow thou to every nation,
Nor in thy richness stay:
Stay not till all the lowly
Triumphant reach their home:
Stay not till all the holy
Proclaim, The Lord is come” (Hymn. 335:2).
“See, the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal Love,
Well supply your sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.
None can faint, while such a river
Ever shall their thirst assuage.
Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,
Never fails from age to age” (Hymn. 479:3) .
It might be a profitable Bible study to relate specifically how each branch may be dammed or liberated: how operable are they on earth today in terms of fulfilling their respective functions as described in the Glossary?
A final thought from Mrs. Eddy:
“I insisted upon placing the serpent behind the woman in the picture ‘Seeking and Finding.’ My artist at the easel objected, as he often did, to my sense of Soul’s expression through the brush; but, as usual, he finally yielded. A few days afterward, the following from Rotherham’s translation of the New Testament was handed to me, — I had never before seen it: ‘And the serpent cast out of his mouth, behind the woman, water as a river, that he might cause her to be river-borne'” (Mis. 373:3-11).
This last quote above demonstrates how personal sense not only seeks to dam the river of God and its branches, but also seeks to replace the river of God entirely: with a counterfeit river (channel of thought) rushing violently in a direction utterly opposite that of God, leading not to heaven, but to hell. Nevertheless, Mrs. Eddy stayed her course and overcame every malicious thrust directed toward her — and so must you and I.