Aloe and Health Journal

From the salty amniotic fluid providing a support system for a developing fetus to the briny Earth oceans teaming with sea-life, water is recognized as the basis of life, the dynamic medium from which life evolved and is sustained. Just like the clear, saline plasma portion of our blood, water maintains an osmotic balance in the medium it is within, contributing to properties of movement and transport.  Those qualities can have various interpretations in many aspects of life.

The vital role of water in the evolution of life makes it highly appropriate to see it as one of the five elements reflected throughout life.  With the human body recognized as being approximately 60 to 70% water, how interesting is it that our planet is said to similarly be comprised of approximately 70% water. Both the early East Indian Ayurvedic medical system and Traditional Chinese Medicine system included water as one of the five elements by which qualities of energy and physical manifestations were defined.  Civilizations that flourished after these earlier cultures of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, continued to interpret water as one of the influential components within everything, comprising macrocosmic and microcosmic balance in both the universe and within all life. The successful use of these definitions is apparent through today’s continued use of element interpretation within the Ayurvedic system, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Polarity Therapy. Within the Polarity perspective, water represents unconscious emotion. In looking at the state of society on a global scale, we can then see ample evidence of water imbalance moving into an extreme that demands attention.

Less than 3% of our planet’s water is accessible as drinking water with 2/3’s of this fresh water found in frozen glaciers, although that percentage is changing annually as they melt into the salty seas.  Examined within this view, as well as the context of energy and symbolic meaning, the important role of water is clear.  As a civilization at the overly-emotional stage of development struggling to fuse emotion with higher consciousness and better responses, we easily can see Water element imbalance throughout our world.  Imbalance results from either too little or too much of any element functioning within the whole.

When we have too much of the water element in our individual energy system, it may present as over-attachment, indecision, depression or overly-emotional reactions. Water imbalance is also implicated in chronic conditions of swelling, lymphatic difficulties and tumor growths, as well as reproductive problems and body fluids difficulties, such as mucus accumulation in sinus cavities or lungs. On the opposite extreme, having too little of the water element may present as detachment and inability to express our feelings, or being unable to cry for release of them. The elements work together in a synergistic blend when balanced.  Not having balanced Water element function, for instance, might result in an explosive temperament because your Fire element cannot be tempered with adequate water. In this way, categorizing the types of energy by the name and qualities of the elements provides a means to interpret and re-balance the activity of each element for improved function.

The nurturing and creative qualities of water, also associated within Polarity Therapy applications, lead us into water’s well-recognized association with “emotion’. How complimentary for salty ocean waters, renowned for healing injury or soothing a troubled soul, to be of the same salty taste as our tears. From the depths of emotion come some of the finest art, and we are not surprised then to find ‘creativity’ as another associated quality of water – similar to the creative result of the fetus supported in the salty amniotic solution to await birth into form. Water is woven through many aspects of life, supporting us through change and growth on an individual, a planetary and evolutionary scale. Its primary role within the five elements from antiquity to the present is repeated in many religious and spiritual practises as a sacred means to cleanse and purify, with the most common example being baptism. These are but a few faces of water, but all underline the need to respect and care for this precious element.

While esthetic and metaphysical qualities of water may not yet be mainstream, the subject of water has seen a welcome revival in the last decade. Clean water has suddenly become a big business and continues to grow along with education on our excesses and methods for improvement.  Water facts at drinking-water.org state that less than 3% of our planet’s water exists as freshwater with only a portion of that being accessible, and that percentage shrinking annually as the glaciers melt into salty seas. At wateraidamerica.org we read that 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This represents roughly one in eight of the world’s population (WHO/UNICEF) , and we further read that every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease (WHO), and that each $1 investment in basic water and sanitation services is estimated to return $8 in benefits (UNDP).  Canadian author and activist, Maude Barlow, is a National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians who also chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. In this role, she actively promotes the free use of clean water as a basic human right, like the air we breathe, for everyone on a global basis. She is one of the first to work in opposition to the privatization of water by corporations aiming to sell it. And finally, a recent documentary on Africa detailed the Canadian innovation of using an Amish designed water-pump in a drought-plagued African village. This non-electric, traditional pump was an efficient and economical solution to access water without the complication or expense of modern technology. It provides one example of changes in society’s awareness of water importance and hopefully, represents a return to honouring the value of some traditions that should not be left behind as just a part of history.

On an individual basis, what can we do to respect water and be part of the expanding consciousness to reduce excessive use?  As simple as it sounds, we could examine our personal water containers. We have read that purchasing water in plastic bottles enforces the problems of   a) leaching plastic into the water we then drink   b) landfill accumulation of a growing plastic problem,  b) supporting privatization of water being sold as a commodity. Instead, we can now support use of personal water-bottles with filtering capabilities. As one positively-reviewed example, the ‘Aqua-Pure Traveler’ by BW Technologies, is a water bottle with a 2-micron filter that comes with an optional ‘sleeve’ for additional filtering. It cleans the water you put in it and stops providing water when the filter needs replacing. There are a number of water bottles with filtering capability appearing on the market. Some examples include Seychelle, Sport Berkey and Katadyn which has some portable bottles available with a .2-micron filtering technology for use to safely drink from untreated water sources. Water bottles with such built-in technology provide ideal containers for travelers and hikers, or when out for the day. While this may seem a small change, it will reduce the amount of plastic that is recognized as a landfill pollutant, reduce the demand for the business of selling water and provide convenience for the user on-the-go.

On a final note, the far-reaching crisis from the Gulf oil leak polluting the ocean is bringing increased awareness to all levels of society for the need to demand protection and respect of water. While we hear of improvements available for individual use of water, we now are beginning to read of new environmentally-friendly chemical or natural absorption media, as well as oil supertanks for gathering top spills that may indicate the road-to-change is expanding faster from dire necessity. Meanwhile, we can examine our individual use, our respect of water in our own life, and become a model for improvement on an individual basis that we can only hope expands into all areas of life.