Without water we wouldn't have gardens. We wouldn't have waves, physical health by hydration, or any kind of development and progress. Water channels through the earth, making pathways and generating life. The biblical Garden of Eden represents a lush vision of perfection, an oasis where abundance of plenty grows and prospers.
Yet how often do we in the time of modernity and technology take this essential element for granted?
As surfers, we are magnetically attracted to water. The way it smells, sounds, looks and feels, we yearn for it as lovers do. The calm, the power, the girts, water both gives and takes lives and inspires awe and fear.
Is it finite or infinite?
Some work to desalinate the ocean, creating drinking water for humans, irrigating crops and feeding wildlife. Humans build fountains and dams, harvesting the power of water, humans enjoy its soothing beauty, and use it to create cities. But is there enough water to go around? Living as if it is a predictable resource, a commodity that is limitless, may be morbidly foolish.
The way I see it, water is both limitless and limited. Fresh water is harnessed in aquifers, purified in forests, stored and released by the earth. Water is bottled and sold for money. In biblical story, there were great floods cast upon the earth to cleanse it of evil and divine deviation.
Water is a potentially destructive force we cannot take for granted or underestimate. Rains without organic green matter, create floods and drown everything to its inevitable fate. Fires create slippery slopes when the rains hit. Dangerous predicaments for humans and societies.
We must open our minds to thinking bigger. Thinking and behaving as if things, elements, life matters. With a new view comes a new way of being. A Way that comes from discovering how water behaves naturally, enabling it to penetrate, be absorbed and restore rather than stagnate, destroy and be wasted.
The idea of waste proliferates in our society more than any other time, I think.
Landfills are real. The idea of wasting time, thoughts, ideas, and resources is real. Wasting a life, a soul on things that don't inherently matter is a fact and more commonly experienced. When was the last time you felt completely alive and present? When whatever you were doing you felt fully engaged and focused, grateful and complete?
These are big issues to consider. The use and production of water; the satisfaction of engaging our souls; the efficiency of time properly spent, and life properly designed and supported.
Landscapes have been designed with gardens and habitats. Landscapes deserve thriving ecosystems and integrated boundaries. Their presence or absence dictates what is possible.
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