Water is life. There is no substitute for the water on which all life forms on the planet depend. Water, when respected, remains pure. Pure water is what we use to heal the body whether in a hospital setting or at home with a cup of tea and a bowl of soup. There is a relationship between water and health – not just human health, but also health of the natural world. Water is like the blood in the veins of the environment, and just as we are mostly composed of water, so is Mother Earth.
Water is a gift that moves in a closed hydrologic system in the forms of humidity, mist, clouds, rain, snow, dew, puddles, swamps, streams, rivers, lakes, underground aquifers, ice and oceans. Water cycles and influences are provoked and prodded by two other elements – the sun and wind. The same amount of water has been here since the earth began. Water is a gift, not of our own creation, to all life forms.
The relationship between waters within our bodies and the waters in our environments remind us of how everything is connected, and how life is dependent on these connections. The relationship between water and humans is understood to be responsive and reciprocal. Water births our babies; it brings us into the world and sustains us while we are here. The quality of our water directly determines the quality of our health and the quality of our life. Water is what connects us to nature, connects us to each other, and connects nature to nature.
Water is sentient. In cultures where all aspects of nature are respected, it is understood that everything has spirit and everything is connected. In this way, water has a spirit quality in relation to creating and sustaining life. There is no life without water or without spirit. There are sentient qualities seen in different types of energy that water displays in its many forms (liquid, solid, gas) and how it changes between these forms.
Water moves in waves and with the speed of a turtle or at the pace of a cheetah. Moving water carries with it energy that washes, cleans and strips away impurity. Water can be so calm when still, that it resembles a mirror. Like babies, water can babble and gurgle or like a beast it can announce its presence with a thunderous roar. Water is joyful, playful and dances through raindrops, waterfalls, ice ponds and snow hills. There is a different smell for different waters: swamp water, salt water, spring water, lake water and tap water can all be differentiated by smell. Shorelines have been shaped, rocks have been carved and mountains have been worn down to sand, all examples of water’s perpetual creativity, beauty and power. Water can inflict fear, it can intimidate and it has been known to kill. Water exists with its own multifaceted personality.
The quality of our water, the way it’s sourced, collected, cleaned, delivered and used, impacts not only our health but also that of the soils and air through which it runs. If you poison the water, you poison the blood, including that of fish, plants, and animals in the food chain. The poisons found in water are also being found in breast milk and umbilical cord blood.
We are not separate from our environment; we are our environment. Our collective actions matter.