When it comes to water, most of us take it for granted. Who cares, right? Turn on the tap and out it comes. But there is much more to the story than that.

On a rainy weekend in Hopkins, over 1,000 people gathered to talk and learn about water issues. From privatization to the healing powers of water, speakers, artists, and vendors came together at “Bridging the Water Gap, an International Water Conference”. Presented by AquaEssence ReSource (AERS) and A Single Drop, the conference took place at the Eisenhower Community center in Hopkins over a three day period.

A mandala is an imaginary(image) palace where various objects in the palace have different meanings. Visit Jytte Hansen's description of a mandala.
The intention of AERS was to bring diverse groups who are concerned with water together in one conference. One of the group’s long term goals is to create a water testing facility to examine the physical and non-physical properties of water.

The opening ceremony on Friday included Tibetan Monks chanting and creating a sand Mandala(right), the Rising Star Peace Drum, and the Three Fires Women performing a water ceremony. Each performance brought a spiritual energy to the topic of “water.”

Meanwhile, in other parts of the community center, films were shown, speakers made presentations, and water related vendors presented their products in an exhibition area. Everywhere you went, someone was doing something related to water.

Throughout the weekend, a bookstore displayed books, posters, and other wares from the featured speakers. Workshops ranged from the metaphysical to the scientific. Mary Williams from Project by Design presented “A Minneapolis Milfoil Project.” The Alliance for Sustainability explained a new educational approach to sustainability called the Natural Step Framework(Note: The Natural Step Framework was an inspiration for the green method used to renovate the SJA Parish Center). “Do your Words Matter?” was presented by Capitol Hill Elementary Students and Masaru Emoto, along with Terry Peterson and Gemma Bulos.

Between workshops and speakers, you could browse the exhibition area for jewelry, herbal remedies, and water conservation items, as well as healing services, like Pranic Healing, a highly developed and tested system of energy based healing techniques that utilizes "prana" (a Sanskrit word that means "life-force") to balance, harmonize and transform the body's energy processes.

There were two labyrinths available to attendees at all times; one in the main auditorium (where many people walked through and meditated in the concentric circles) and an ocean-themed labyrinth outside. The sounds of frogs from the nearby marsh complemented the ocean-blue, sand and shell lined labyrinth outside and it was created by William Frost Meditative Space Design.

In the western world, water is so readily available we often take it for granted. That’s why issues of water usually don’t come to the surface unless there’s too much water during a flood or too little during a drought.

But, sustaining a healthy, continuous and convenient source of water is a challenge for many third world countries where large corporations have stepped in and purchased the water rights away from communities. Even in America, there is a move toward the privatization of water. Corporations, not cities would own and operate the water utility. This point was detailed in a film called “Thirst”, a documentary produced by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman that was scheduled to be shown at the conference. From the “Thirst” website: “Is water part of a shared ‘commons,’ a human right for all people? Or is it a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded in a global marketplace? ‘Thirst’ tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India, and the United States that are asking these fundamental questions.”

While the conference explored these practical issues concerning water, the spiritual aspects of water were also presented. Masaru Emoto addressed both. Japanese researcher and author, Masaru Emoto, has studied water since 1988. The sometimes shy but always confident Emoto described the phenomenon of HADO (pronounced like shadow) as “the intrinsic vibrational pattern at the atomic level in all matter” or “the smallest unit of energy” which is the basis for his work. HADO also stands for Healing And Discovering Ourselves.

Through a translator who seemed to have to rush to catch up with the fast talking teacher, Emoto revealed that he had had a recurring nightmare for 55 years. The nightmare was about a giant wave, a tsunami, that engulfed him. The year he published his first book about his experiments on water crystals, the nightmares stopped. Emoto's water crystal photographs are displayed in his Messages from Water book series and his 2004 book The Hidden Messages in Water. Emoto feels it is his mission to tell the world about the importance of water.

In his experiments with water, Emoto found water responded to external stimuli, like words, thoughts, music and pictures. He told the receptive audience how he has come to some startling conclusions that shows how water's crystalline structure can actually change when specific, concentrated sounds or thoughts are directed toward them.

For example, water that has been exposed to classical music, prayer or loving words will display brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns when frozen. On the other hand, water exposed to negative music, destructive thoughts or harmful words form incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull color. He explained that these water crystals will show the design of whatever energy it is exposed to; if the energy is “good”, the crystal is beautiful, if it is “bad” the crystal is ugly.

Masaru Emoto
Now, depending who you ask, our bodies consist of between 70 and 90 percent water. So if you think about it, it makes sense that the energies we are exposed to will affect us. Positive messages and inspiring music create beautiful feelings within us, art and music can actually heal. But, of course, negative messages create ugly emotions within us too, perhaps even illness.

The Japanese scientist had a few political views as well. He recently discovered Ben Franklin’s 13 virtues, and thinks that perhaps the our current administration should review them. Franklin's 13 virtues are as follows:

  1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
  2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
  3. Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
  4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
  5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
  6. Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
  7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
  8. Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
  9. Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
  10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.
  11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
  12. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
  13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Emoto exposed these 13 virtues to water and showed us the crystal results; the first time they’ve been shown to anyone. Each one was unique and beautiful.

Fred Alan Wolf
Another featured speaker was Fred Alan Wolf, presenting “From Earth, Air, Fire and Water to a New Vision of Mind and Time.” Dr. Wolf feels the old paradigm of God being the powerful creator pitted against the strict law of science is wrong, although we can’t throw out the laws of spirituality and science. He compared the ancient Greek alchemy of the four elements (air, fire, water, earth) to a new alchemy: earth=body sensing, wind=intuition, water=feeling/emotion, and fire=thinking. It is the transformation of these new elements that will cause change.

He then attempted to explain quantum physics to the audience. Our bodies are made up of carbon dioxide molecules. But what is holding these molecules together? Probability fields, the stuff of the mind! In other words, we are made up of clouds of possibilities. These clouds arise in waves from the future, past and present. (Are you still with me?) Following this logic it only makes sense that your thoughts are largely responsible for the situations you get into, because there is no reality without the mind. Wow.

The energetic and unconventional Dr. Wolf proved his theory by projecting on a screen a diagram of a red cube on a blue background. It was a simple outline of a three dimensional cube.

For some people, the cube was tipped up. For others, it was tipped down. Then when prompted, it moved between up and down. Is it the image that’s changing or is it in our minds? That’s the quantum jump. Wolf then projected a red screen, and, one by one, brought back the blue parts of the previous image of the cube. Slowly, the cube disappeared and all we saw were geometric shapes. It was how we chose to view this image that made the difference.

This, according to Dr. Wolf, proves that we bring experience into existence. Before consciousness, the shapes are together to form the red cube on a blue background. After we think about what we’re looking at, we see the foreground or the background, not both. The parallel universe exists when we observe both realities. (Don’t feel bad if you’re not getting this…he’s been studying this for years.)

Covering a three day event is always difficult. But when the subject matter is as deep and turbulent as quantum physics and the privatization of water, covering every subject is impossible.

To get a true sense of what Bridging the Water Gap was all about, visit these websites:

and
Michele Jansen is a free-lance audio/video producer and multimedia project manager, who also works as an on-call announcer for KBEM-FM, Jazz 88. In other words, a jack-of-all-trades for the new millennium. She and her family, husband John, teenagers Mick and Lauren, have been members of St. Joan of Arc for 12 years. She is also a happy member of the choir, and has volunteered for various activities at St. Joan's including the Faith Formation Advisory Board. Michelle can be reached at mtj333@yahoo.com.



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