Reflections on Water part 2


Water

The Sound

The sound of water can be healing too. I write this as I sit by a sculpted fountain at a monastery in Valyermo, CA. The sound of water trickling down the structure and gently flowing over the stepped tiles is soothing. In it I hear the gentle voice of a mother as she sings a comforting lullaby to a frightened child. That voice of love and compassion allows the child to look away from the fear into the open embrace of a caring parent. Like a frightened boy there are things that my brain and my heart are clinging to that unnerve me. These worries distract me and keep from seeing the face of the One who sings my lullaby. My brain darts from one concern to the next like the child searching the shadows for the monsters that lurk there. My energy and my attention are focused on finding the monsters. The lullaby voice cuts through the dark shadows and draws my eyes from the shadow to the shining eyes of the singer.

The soothing sound of the gently trickling water quits the screaming voices that shout out my worries. The quiet splashing cuts through the clutter and encourages me to listen to the different voice. I can begin to hear the melody of the lullaby. The music of the voice of the One who loves me. The lyric of the One who watches over me in the night. This sound of water reminds me of the One who fills me up no matter how empty I feel and promises to keep flowing into me no matter how cracked and broken this cup becomes.

Water has another voice as well. My favorite beaches are not the white sandy beaches that are so popular. Lying on the warm sand and frolicking in the waves is fun but it is not what draws me to the ocean.

When I picture my favorite scene where ocean meets land I think of places like Montana De Oro or the huge cliffs off Molokai. The big waves reach the shore before the wind and rain of the storm. They slam against the rocks and cliffs with a roar like a lion. You can feel the power in your feet and the spray on your face but it is the defining roar that really gets your attention. This is the other voice of water; the powerful voice of the untamed lion. Raw power! Uncontrollable, relentless power! A consistent, irresistible power that literally moves mountains.

This powerful voice of water is known and held in reverence by salty old sailors and gung-ho big wave surfers alike. They know what this kind of power can do and still enter into it. They don't enter it to control or manipulate. They know how perilous that would be. No, they enter it to join it; to borrow a bit of this power for their own journey. To work against it or to attempt to break it to your will results in despair and death. The ocean will catch up with you. But to join it, to submit and merge your goals and desires with it, that can be ecstasy. Your thin solo joins with the powerful voice of the ocean to become a symphony.

The roaring voice of waves slamming into the land is the same voice of the soothing trickle of drops gently falling down the fountain. The lion and the lullaby point to the same person. The one who sings to the frightened child in the night with the voice of compassion and care roars with the power to protect. The gentle voice that diverts our eyes from the shadows where monsters dwell invites us to join our voices with the lion. Yes, the sound of water can be healing.

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