Holy Water and Good Vibrations

Subject: Holy Water and Good Vibrations
From: Ducadmo
Date: Apr 29 2005 9:15AM

Part of my fascination with this topic stems from the fact that my grandfather was a respected water dowser [www.dowsersofthewest.org] in his day. Part of it stems from being born into a family of chemists and having spent much of my early adult life in that industry watching with a certain awe the mysteries of crystallization [fray.slate.msn.com]. If you've never seen Lithium Lactate or Urea form crystals, you don't know what you are missing.

But it was watching What the Bleep Do We Know [www.whatthebleep.com] where we first encountered the curious world of Masaru Emoto [www.hado.net]. I found the movie very thought provoking, but was highly sceptical (though intrigued) by his loosely defined research. I can't say that attending one of his seminars last night did a lot to resolve my questions. He seems a dear old man with love and peace in his heart and at the same time a clever New Age snake-oil salesman.

The size of the crowd in attendance impressed me - the Celebrity Theatre was as full as it had been for many of the concerts we had seen there. I'm sure the Starbucks in Sedona was particularly quiet last night. Who knew there were so many hippies left in the world - I had wondered where they all went.

All kidding aside, he made a pretty interesting if not strong case for the effects of music on water. There too, I have a particular bias - for I have nothing but wonderment when it comes to understanding how we appreciate and are emotionally transformed by the sounds we hear. The effect of words, thought, prayer and images was less convincing. Still, he opened up questions for me as to our relationship with the very molecules that compose who we are and in particular that curious chemical we take for granted as water.

Before I can blow it all off as New Age quackery (something a part of me strongly desires to do), I confess that I have never quite understood the practice of baptism, either. It is a part of Christianity I take for granted. What makes Holy Water any different than other water?

The BOTF may not be a suitable place to divine the depths of the relationship between the physical and metaphysical worlds, but I couldn't help but tap the topic for hope springs eternal and if I could whet your appetite for a little out-of-the-box thinking then my cup runneth over.