The master has spoken…

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Where Water Comes Together With
Other Water

I love creeks and the music they make.

And tills, in glades and meadows, before

they have a chance to become creeks.

I may even love them best of all

for their secrecy. I almost forgot

to say something about the source!

Can anything be more wonderful than a spring?

But the big streams have my heart too.

And the places streams flow into rivers.

The open mouths of rivers where they join the sea.

The places where water comes together

with other water. These places stand out

in my mind like holy places.

But these coastal rivers!

I love them the way some men love horses

or glamorous women. I have a thing

for this cold swift water.

Just looking at it makes my blood run

and my skin tingle. I could sit

and watch these rivers for hours.

Not one of them like any other.

I’m 43 years old today.

Would anyone believe it if I said

I was once 35?

My heart empty and sere at 35!

Five more years had to pass

before it began to flow again.

I’ll take all the time I please this afternoon

before leaving my place alongside this river.

It pleases me, loving rivers.

Loving them all the way back

to their source.

Loving everything that increases me.

–Raymond Carver (1938-1988) was a brilliant American poet, short-story writer, and essayist.

Inspired by an educational movie night, watching Bill Maher’s Religulous, I feel that, as a WaterBoy, it is my duty to say some words about water and religion. One particular example in the movie stands out:

Watch the clip here

So the Trinity is like water, it can be steam, ice and liquid. This analogy is striking. The Trinity, a fundamental concept within Christianity, is the belief that God is three separate persons, but is still a single God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Following the water analogy, I wonder who could be what? Holy Spirit relates to steam – obviously. But I’m left puzzled how to relate ice and liquid to either Father or Son.

Of course water not only plays a central role in Christianity. In most religions, water has a cleansing function. Water can clean holy object but also has the power to clean people’s spirit and thus make them more perceptible for God’s message. This theme can be found, amongst others, in Christianity (baptism), Hinduism and Judaism.

It should be pointed out that this exploration is merely scratching the surface. There’s much more to explore and our valued readers are encouraged to take part in the discussion.

One of my next posts shall explore the role water plays in philosophy. It is simply flabbergasting on how many levels water affects our lives and believes.

The Beatles were one of the first music groups to popularize the technique. This would later result in a conspiracy theory in which Paul McCartney, The Beatles’ bass player, was believed to be deceased.

In the 1980′s, classic rock groups were indicted by Fundamentalist Christian organizations for allegedly using backmasking to control the minds of their listeners, especially to promote the finer points of Satanism. The seminal example is probably Led Zeppelin’s 1971 masterpiece “Stairway to Heaven,” when the lyrics, according to critics, played backward, sound like the words “Here’s to my sweet Satan…”

By and by, these accusatory claims seem to have fallen by the wayside. I think it’s fair to say the general consensus is: play anything backward, at different speeds, and you’re bound to hear something. You don’t know these messages are there until someone points them out to you. Unphased by so-called “crackpot claims,” a NUMBER OF MUSICIANS, have since experimented with backmasking, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Tool, and Boards of Canada–even Lil’ Wayne.

So where have all the rabble-rousers gone? Could there be a sliver of truth to these hopelessly bunk “mind control” claims? Inspired by reader Nadine’s comment about the portrayal of water in music, I intended to find out. Hell, I don’t mind delving into Satanism from time to time to promote water’s good name. Armed with only a dream, a commitment to SCIENCE, and some mp3s, I set out to do exactly that. These are the results of my first journey into the dark arts. Looks like cat’s out of the bag, dear readers… and I’ve only scratched the surface.

Take the 1966 song by The Rolling Stones, “Paint it Black.” Maybe they should have named it “Paint it Blue”(?). I’ll let you be the judge.

The original:
Paint it Black (Excerpt-forward)

Exposed:
Paint it Black (Excerpt-backward)

Run that by me again, e_train?

Sure, since you asked nicely.

Exposed:
Paint it Black (Excerpt-backward)

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of your MIND EXPANDING. That’s how the WaterBoyz do!

I want to point out that not only does water have amazing physical properties, it also has many metaphorically characteristics as well.  According to Laozi (6th century BC), our thoughts are like water, which can be molded in many different shapes or forms.  Creative and innovative ideas often come to us when we let our thoughts flow naturally without fear and judgment.  An analogy that one can immediately draw from this is an idea generation process called Brain Rain.

Brain rain involves one simple concept: let your ideas rain from your mind without judgment.  Take 5 minutes and write down your thoughts about any topic.

Try this at home – the Water Boyz expand your mind!