THE WATER SPIRIT

I am sitting up in bed in our sailing boat and there is a beautiful sound coming through the open port hole, just inches behind my head. It is that of rain gently trickling off into the sea from the deck above our cabin. Rain - pure, gentle, life-giving and something else too. Deep inside each of us is a soul that needs nourishing to keep us alive, connected and at peace and for me, water is that nourishment.

For as long as I can remember this has been so. Instinctively I have sought the feel, sound, sight and smell of water in every day of my life. When I turn on the hose, I always let a little water run over my hand, just to experience the spirit of it. All my holidays are based around water - the sea, rivers, the snow even. As soon as I got my new camera, the first thing I did was to photograph a raindrop on the tip of a leaf. In the snow I love to take off a glove and plunge a hand into some fresh snow and then scoop it up into my mouth..... cold, crisp, squeaky and oh so refreshing.

Of all the senses filled by water, the one I think I probably seek the most is the sound. Water moves constantly, from the trickling, dripping and splashing of rain to the gentle sounds of a creek meandering between grassy banks and over rocks, to the thunderous roar of a mighty river cascading down a waterfall and the sounds of the sea sighing, rippling or crashing onto a beach.

This need for the spirit of water to keep me sane is at odds with where I live, in the driest state on the driest continent on earth. This constant need will soon drive me to live the rest of my life somewhere cooler and wetter.

Most people I know don't have such a thirst for the spirit of water as I seem to and can't understand why I feel so desperate about it. They more often seem to have a greater need for sunshine. If you need sunshine to nurture your soul, South Australia is the place for you. 

If, however, water is what you need, come with me to the south island of New Zealand where water oozes through the soil and trickles, cascades or recklessly hurtles down every crevice, beside every track and over every rock - icy cold and absolutely pure. Hold a cupped hand below an overhanging rock, catch a mouthful of water the way it is meant to taste and feel and, like me, you will never want to leave.

As a Zen master said "Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo....." So too, go to the water, and once you have made a space, absorb the spirit of water and be filled by it. 

Water is so much more than a resource.

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