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The Concept of Water - Part 2
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THE CONCEPT OF WATER
Part 2
Water as Flow
Rivers of Time and Streams of consciousness
Question of identity
Human body as a river
- Human body = « moulded river » (thanks to Novalis who is a german writer, poet and philosopher)
- Synthesis of stability and change
=> a certain form that doesn't change (the body for humans and the form of the river)
=> exchange of matter (flux of the water of the river and flux of the blood in the body)
- self-organization of the body and the river thanks to the openness of living systems to the environment and the flow of energy generated by it
=> Erwin Schrödinger (Nobel laureate) refers to self-organization too when he is saying that living organisms have the ability to concentrate “stream of order” on themselves. This organization allow them to escape “atomic chaos”.
The human body as a river
The human body is compared to a river that has to incorporate water regularly and discharge it. Therefore, water is a necessity and a need for the human body.
Water as a necessity for the body
Boundary between the self and the other
- Rational integrity of an individual: I=I or I am who I a (constant in time)
=> principle of identity
BUT contradiction because every individual is made of water, so this water is trans-individual, which means that it goes between individuals, it passes from one self to another. “I meet and overlap with what is not me” (p119)
Our identity is formed by our sameness in time, even though we change.
As for rivers, the same idea is present, but they can also be identified with their origin or source that certifies their sameness.
Identity and sameness
Unconscious fear of water
- collective unconscious in the “civilized” Western society
→-taboos around bodily waters (saliva, urine, semen) => considered as bodily pollution because we can't control it
→
-repression of flow
→-urge to tackle or shackle rivers and construct or drain marshland
→
-fear of oceans, humans rather explore things like the moon etc. than the depths of the ocean
→
-“privatization” of water, we have to pay to have water from our taps or from bottles
Collective
unconsciousness
Destructive water
- Westerners have sought to "arrest flow and overcome transience" (p119)
=> Transient means lasting for only a short time, something that is temporary
Water can cause many destructive things (floods, hurricanes..):
-"destructive aspect of time"
-"the loss of things held precious" => human constructions, nature
-"worthlessness of what is impermanent" => humans see water as unpredictable
Philosophers thinking and quotes about water
Heraclitus the Obscure, quote 1
"You cannot step into the same river twice"
=> It means that reality is constantly changing and transforming. However, the implication of "same" implies a certain constancy, then the river keeps its identity even if it changes.
Heraclitus biography
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/heraclitus-1619.php
Heraclitus, quote 2
"We step and do not step into the same rivers, we are and we are not."
=> He implies that humans are like rivers, they keep their identity in spite of change.
Thanks to William James when describing experience, a stream of consciousness is a stream in which "every definite image of the mind is steeped and dyed in the free water that flows around it."
For him, consciousness flows, it is not something in bits.
Stream of consciousness
Cambridge dictionary definition:
A style in literature that is used to represent a character's feelings and thoughts as they experience them, using long, continuous pieces of text without obvious organization or structure
Literary definition of stream of consciousness
Water as a metaphorical
concept
Water as a metaphorical concept
In this text, the water is used through a metaphorical way: the author deals with "flowing waters" and considers himself as a river. This river changes everyday, and it is the same for his identity.
Life and Death
Identity
The author explains the paradox that happens when someone dies and his wish is to let something on Earth, for instance monument or tombstone but if we are considering ourselves as a flux, it cannot stay. This concept is used by Romantic poets and "poetic character" as Keats, but also protean who see themselves as shape-shifters of the sea.
Time as flowing water
Association of water and time
However,, in parallel to Western philosophy to see water as a symbol of impermanence and flowing time, Eastern traditions see water as a symbol of timelessness. This concept emphasizes the fact that water is still here from years ago and do not move in space.
"in rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes: so with time present." from Leonardo's Notebook.
It means that water is a flux which represent time flowing and always changes. It is the representation of past, present and future.
Water, an incredibly powerful element
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Water-Developments-Theodor-Schwenk/dp/1782505067
Water, an incredibly powerful element
https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/251427591683045104/
According to Ovid, water can be stronger than a rock even if a rock is solid and heavier than water. Thanks to its constant fluidity, water can, with time, modifies a rock.
The timelessness of flow is a symbol of patience and force. Indeed, a flow can be peaceful with almost no movements, but at the same time, it can be very agitated, violent and dangerous. Fluidity makes the charms of rivers, seas, pools, wells, currents, streams opposite to stagnant water and ice.
The importance of fluidity
https://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/328-7
Schwenk's philosophy
For him,
flow vitality
stagnation death
https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/video/clip-12072002-slow-motion-hand-scooping-fresh-water-pure
https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/4254158/christianity_sign_cross_sign_death_symbol_decease_plus_sign_icon
We can touch water but we cannot hold catch water in our hand, it goes away very rapidly.
Title
But of course, we can put water into a recipe if we want to "catch" it. However this act means we touch nature and modifies it. Water won't be as natural as if was.
Slow/Fast flow
The water in the atmosphere recreates itself within just over a week. The average "residence time" in rivers and streams is 18 days but water can stay millions even thousands of years at the same place in Lake.
The relation between water and people
Everybody is connected by water. When you drink something, you drink also water molecules that has been living for years. You absorb and reject them constantly. They never die.
Water, Earth, Health &
Religion
Water, Earth, Health & Religion
Water and rocks
The "rock cycle"
"Nothing resists water indefinitely."
Indeed, it can insinuate itself everywhere. Water can have billion of tons of sediment like silt and stones that can re-shaped the landscapes endlessly.
The "Rock cycle" is a case of "slow flow". We can surely say that the world itself is a river into which we can and cannot step twice.
The role of water is health
Health
However, the water's role in health is double-edged because that is the way diseases like cholera or malaria by the mosquitoes are spreading.
Water may be good for life without the life in question being human.
Water can give life and take it back. It depends on whose life we are talking about. Lakes and rivers are full of lives like algae, fishes, and some toxic other like bacteria.
Water is synonymous of health providing us means of washing, cleaning, bathing and laundry.
"Joy and Sorrow"
Water as a bridge
Water have both supported people and caused death of them due to its floods. In ancient Chinese mythology, the God He Bo, the Count of the River has thrown himself with stone in the river and acquired immortality and magical powers.
Death and deathlessness, time and timelessness oppose or complement. Water in many religions is seen as a bridge that both separates, and joins
what is separated.
Circle Of Life
WATER AND BELIEVES.
"Its beginning and its end merge into indistinctness, and the very flow of time becomes cyclical"
Water : circle of life and death
The 'Tirtha'
Birth
- 'ford' or 'crossing place' in Sanskrit
-Sacred place where one can cross over to the far shore of liberation and release from the cycle of death and rebirth.
-The title 'Tirthankara' : given to the 24 great spiritual teachers who have shown the way of salvation.
Notion of renewal
Fertility
- Water powers cycle of fertility.
- Procreation and growth followed by death, decline and decay.
-Succeeded by renewal and fresh start.
Myths
Death
-Dolphins and sea-horses : accompany the souls of the deads across the oceans to the felicity awaiting them on the Isles of the Blessed.
- Christian ideology : the Church being a ship leading to paradise.
- St Bredan : believed earthly paradise located somewhere in the Atlantic.
Water and Mythology
Mermaids are associated with beautiful voices and great wisdom, but also with death and vicious lust. There is an association between flowing water and erotic sexuality but also a more vicious sensuality found in mermaids. The self loss that comes with sex is compared to a kind of death.
Mermaids
Picture
Maiden of Loreili looks like a mermaid, she lures men to shipwreck and death on the rocks of the Rhine. She styles her hair with her golden comb and sings her melody to lure the helmsmen to lose control of their helm
Maiden of Loreili
Picture
Sea-nymphs, on the other hand, were benevolent to humans. They represented the natural vitality associated with aquatic places. For example, in Hinduism there are Apsaras. They can change their shape as soon as they want.
The Oceanids, the Nereids and the Naiads
Picture
Hair, taxonomy and symbols
Hair, taxonomy & symbols
Hair in the The Nixie of the Mill-Pond (1857)
The Nixie of the Mill-Pond
- a German fairy tale
- it emphasizes the association of long hair with a lack of restraint, sexuality, peaceful rebellion and creativity
- Nixie : shape-shifting water spirits in Germanic Mythology and Folklore who usually appeared in the form of other creatures ( in this case a woman)
- In the story, a miller is drag down into the depths of the river by a woman who's long hair "betrays a sexuality that is rapacious and all-engulfing, presaging ensnarement or captivity."
The Little Mermaid
- Like in The Nixie of the Mill-Pound -> we can see the link between sensuality and the aquatic world
- There is a strong link between the world of marine invertebrates and the female genitalia
Carl Linnaeus's theory
Carl Linnaeus
- a Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician of the 18th century
- a lot of parallels can be drawn between certain bivalves (having two valves) and the sexual anatomy of women
Example of Clam
here, this species of clam does have an anus and buttocks
source: http://16.imagine.cda-bw.de/diagram-of-clam-anatomy.html
Cassel Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green. (2005)
Cassell Dictionaryof Slang
- helped developed the link between the vulva and the clam & oyster in vulgar language
- in this dictionary, we can find the word bearded clam & bearded oyster as well as periwinkle and shell for the terms vagina
In other languages
- in Latin -> bivalve/shellfish -> concha -> vulva
- in French -> -> mussell -> moule -> vulva
- in Spanish, it is almeja, and is considered vulgar
- in Gemany -> Venusmushel (Venus mussel) referring to those paintings
Venus Anadyomene,Titian, 1520.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Anadyomene_(Titian)
The Birth of Venus, Botticelli, 1495.
source: https://www.kazoart.com/blog/en/canvassing-the-masterpieces-the-birth-of-venus-by-botticelli/
- we can see it in many paintings, one of them being one of Hindu god Vishnu, holding a conch, where in this case it is a symbol of power
- In religion, it is a symbol of the grave but also of hidden knowledge, wisdom, and that's why we can see it in places of pilgrimages such as Saint James or Compostela
Mollusc as a symbol
Vishnu
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaumodaki
Saint James
source: https://aleteia.org/2017/07/25/how-the-scallop-shell-became-a-symbol-of-pilgrimage/
Ancient Gods and Water
Ancient Gods and Water
Metaphors of marine fauna are not only associated with female sexuality, but with male as well. For example, sea snakes or octopuses have phallic connotations.
These connotations are also present in all kinds of mythology: Cuban Güijes and Jigües are male water spirits who try to touch women who bathe. Same for the Japanese Kappa.
The association of water and sexuality has dark sides and is highly transgressive. Moreover, the association between water, fertility and death is even more striking regarding ancient meteorological gods.
Introduction
The ancient Vedic God Indra is a storm God responsible for rain and storms, supposed to save the population from the drought. He is therefore associated with fertility. However, he is associated with death and destruction at the same time because his storms are known to be highly destructive. His thunderbolts are also as ambivalent: they kill his enemies but also provide water and seed.
He also killed his father, the former God who provided water. This highlights the tradition of water deities being always defeated and replaced by younger ones. It displays the continuous endless flow of water.
Vedic
Mythology
Picture of Indra
Source: https://litticomplementos.com/2017/03/06/conociendo-a-los-dioses-indios-hindra/?lang=en
Mesoamerican Mythology
Mesoamerican Mythology
The rain god Chac was one of the most venerated God by the Mayas. He had a phallic nose and was associated with fertility and reproduction. However, he was venerated through human sacrifice: that again displays a contradiction in water deities.
Mayas
Picture of Chac
Source: https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/history/mayans/mayan-gods/
Aztecs
The Rain God Tlaloc provided fertility but, to do so, children were sacrificed to him. They were enclosed in a subterranean cave where they were supposed to live a life of ‘eternal bliss’. Like Indra, he could provide rain for fertility but also storms and hurricanes which could destroy everything on their way. He could also withhold his water to provoke drought, famine and spread illnesses.
In the Aztec mythology, there was also the Earth Water Goddess Chalchiuhlitcue, responsible for oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. She was associated with fertility and childbirth, but had also an ambivalence. She could conjure torrents and whirlpools in order to ‘wash away human struggling’.
Picture of Tlaloc
Source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/389209592767272890/
Picture of Chalchiuhlitcue
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/120183795@N05/13469540485
In general, water deities are mainly associated with both life and death, and can bring either joy and fertility or misfortune and destruction. In any case, they were central figures in most religions.