Green Leaf - PPS#93 | Blue Marble — Part 1

Criteria: J | Water

You flow

like gold.

Drip

like sweat.

Grow

the food

we eat.

Fill the

warm cup

I hold.

Do you remember playing with marbles as a child? Maybe the blue ones — Imagine water as a blue marble going through the Pinball arcade game: What role does it play? Being hit by the forces of the paddles which are controlled by external forces. Being catapulted from one side to another. Like water gushing from one channel to the next.

“Water is a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen, and exists in gaseous, liquid, and solid states.”[1] “It is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odourless, and [almost] colourless chemical substance.”[2] We know the covalently bonded molecules of oxygen and hydrogen atoms as an equivalent to life.

This post is about our “Blue Planet'', or if you like, our “Blue Marble”, And, what it means to be a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, standing somewhere on this swirling mass of blue.

Dear Patient Reader,

Water; what scientists search for on other planets. Signs that somewhere other than Earth can be hospitable. A prime solvent — One of water’s biggest abilities is to dissolve substances. Consequently, water then acts as a medium of transporting substances and objects from one point to another. Transporting a leaf down the block’s drainage system. And assisting migratory animals and chartered ships to travel across the globe to their next stop point or final destination. Water makes up rough seas and pristine lagoons, all with their own life tailored for the conditions they are born to and evolved for. A large part of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, by its oceans. Which is in large part what we see from a distance. The Blue Planet they refer to. Where did water come from? Or at least, how was it formed? Next week, Part 2 of Blue Marble talks about the origins of water. For now, we see water through a metaphorical filter. Which I would say can simultaneously be scientific, too.

“A pinball machine is a play field with lights, targets, bumpers, ramps, and other objects depending on its design.”[3] Water is channeled through Earth’s natural systems. Depending on its design; on the morphology of a region’s landmass and according to the landforms that occupy its surfaces, water flows in agreement with the shape of the land. These channels of water are living forms. Earth’s arteries and organs are blue; water moving in rhythmic circulation. Through rivers and oceans, streams and lakes. “We see evidence [of the involvement of water] in countless creation myths in which life emerges from primordial waters.”[4] That is the circulatory motion of water. The creative waters of earth carving out the shape of the land with a drawing pen and chisel. With Earth’s rocky surfaces as its canvas.

Water lives within all of us, from our fingertips to our toes. Water is a medium of purification, it cleanses. It washes away. Water associates itself with reflection, motion, and intuition. The last being the unseen influences of water. A quiet lesson from water: “Water teaches us how to be flexible and embrace change. Water always takes on the form in which it is held.”[5] Whether a small crevice or a large vessel. Water does not go backward, only forward. Dive beneath the surface of the water, gently slice through its cool, glass surface.

“Water does not resist.

Water flows.

When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress.

Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you.

Water always goes where it wants to go,

and nothing, in the end, can stand against it….”

— A poem by Margaret Atwood

Water is immensely brilliant, and adroit in the direction it chooses to take and carve.

Part 1 ends with a little imagery, let your mind picture this.

A man at sea. Standing by the edge of a cliff, breathing in the salty air. Engrossed by the immensity of what lies in front of him.

Have a good week ahead fellas. Ciao

P.S. A few lines I liked while skipping through the internet, “With remarkable regularity across human cultures, water has been used to communicate the sacred value of life; the spiritual dimension of purification, protection, and healing; and the profound meaning of suffering and redemption in human life.”[6] It made me think of the shared, common necessity of water. In whichever aspect it may be.

P.P.S. Next week’s post is Part 2 of “Blue Marble”, and is about the origin of water on Earth.

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References

[1] https://www.britannica.com/science/water

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball

[4] https://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolism-of-water.html

[5] “Ibid.”

[6] https://healingearth.ijep.net/water/water-and-spirituality