LAST week, NST reported a case of "miracle spring water" supposedly near Gunung Jerai being contami-nated with E. coli, a bacterium commonly found in human feces, and also with ‘insecticides and pesticides' which could have originated from a nearby orchard, according to the report (NST, May 9).
The alleged miracle water was dubbed as "health elixir". However, based on test findings, everyone has now been strongly advised "not to drink the water".
Such a natural spring water source by any count is a "miracle" because very few, that are absolutely pure, are now accessible for use. This point was very well brought forth last week in a lecture entitled "The secret life of water" at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. It was delivered by Callum Coats, a specialist on the subject, who said that water has a life of its own, indeed a "living substance". (See also
http://www.earthtransitions.com/living— water.htm) Coates was reiterating the position of one Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) who regarded "water as the ‘original' substance formed by the subtle energies called into being through the ‘original' motion of the Earth, itself the manifestation of even more sublime forces".
In his book, Living Energies (2001, Gateway Books), Coats quotes Schauberger: "The Upholder of the Cycles which supports the whole of Life, is water. In every drop of water dwells a Deity, whom we all serve; there also dwells Life, the Soul of the ‘First' substance — Water — whose boundaries and banks are the capillaries that guide it and in which it circulates." Schauberger refers to water as the "Blood of Mother-Earth", born in the womb of the high forest.
Viewed from this perspective, water is undoubtedly sacred, and not just a commodity to be bought and sold, and wasted and mismanaged, as often is the case today. As reminded by Coats: "With incorrect, ignorant handling, however, it (water) becomes diseased, imparting this condition to all other organisms, causing their eventual physical decay and death, and in the case of human beings, their moral, mental and spiritual deterioration as well." This more than aptly described what was happening to the so-called "miracle water" in the NST report.
It is quite clear that we have lost the innate sense that water is lifegiving and has a life of its own, as argued by Schauberger. "True spring water" is of the highest quality and most suited for drinking. It has very high percentages of dissolved carbon and minerals and is of vibrant bluish colour not evident in inferior waters. Unfortunately few high-quality springs are left due to the destruction of the environment.
This being the case, we are left largely with less ideal drinking water. One example is distilled water which is regarded as pure and devoid of any so-called "impurities". However, Coats described distilled water as having "no developed character and qualities", being "a young, immature, growing entity, it grasps like a baby at everything within reach". This is because it tends to absorb the characteristics and properties of whatever it comes into contact with, including minerals and trace elements as well as other impurities. It even smells! Drinking such immature water will cause the body's store of minerals and trace elements to leach out, which can be debilitating over the long-term.
Another type of inferior water is meteoric or rainwater. Surface water from dams, reservoirs and rivers are of average quality compared to ground and seepage-spring water.
In short, only mature water, enriched with ‘raw minerals', "can give, dispense itself freely and willingly, thus enabling the rest of life to develop". Otherwise like an immature child, immature water just takes and does not give.
This statement of taking and not giving also describes the lackadaisical attitude of a majority of our population with respect to water. We are largely unaware of the need to conserve as a way of giving back to nature what belongs to it. To make things worse, we have little regard for the environment epitomised by the high forest where good, clean water comes from. Indeed Viktor Schauberger prophetically warned that a world which exploited its resources rather than cherishing them was doomed to destroy itself. Maybe it is still not too late for us to avert this grim eventuality.
