Like Water
Teal moss kyanite ring
Eco sterling silver
Size K 1/2 - US 5 3/8

Ancient civilisations, throughout history, have venerated water as the source of all life. Its streams and springs providing essential hydration, and its capacity to cleanse deeply understood, both medically and spiritually.

In more recent years, modern science, in echoes of many early creation myths, has come to understand water as the place from which early lifeforms emanate.

Not only is water fundamental for our survival, but it also serves as a teacher in how to navigate the world. Many traditions have understood the wisdom of water philosophically, none more so than Taoism.

Taoism takes the behaviour of water as a guide for living well in a human incarnation. Water is in a constant state of flux, never remaining the same, shifting with the tides. It glides without effort, traversing obstacles, free from conflict or force, shifting lightly to move past harder forms with grace and eloquence. It seeks out low places, unafraid of the depths and humbling itself with descent rather than seeking heady heights. Water continually seeks unification with the whole. From the moment it descends in the form of a drop, it is on a journey through winding tributaries in search of union with the ocean.

We have always understood the sanctity of water and have carried out rituals of spiritual cleansing in its rivers for this reason. Psychologically, water has also been understood by the likes of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell as a symbol of the unconscious. Its churning, unimaginable depths holding both vast treasures and the dark forboding of what lurks in the deep. In the words of Joseph Campbell ‘The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.’

I think our relationship with our waters serves as a litmus test for the spiritual health of our societies. We have polluted and overconsumed our oceans. We have failed to understand the interconnected nature of our planet and, as a result, have poisoned the life-giving waters from which we drink. We have greedily trawled its depths without thought for future generations.

We must come back into alignment with nature as a whole, and water provides a living example of how to do so. With flexibility, humility and compassionate grace, we must once again embrace the wisdom of the ancients, and like the philosophers of old, we must become like water.