Water

    
Living Water  (an acrylic  painting I did in 2003) Elora Mill ,On, Ca

LIVING WATER
(I wrote this on the  back of the painting above in 2003 before I read Tao te Ching)

Coming down from above
Welling up from within
Flowing down to the sea
Growing and restoring life
The earth is moved, with great force
Shaken, wearing down
Living water
Going up to the clouds
Coming down from above...

Tao Te Ching   excerpts from ch 8 and 78

8

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.

78

Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.


Water is used as a favorite metaphor in all Taoist text. I was thinking in the Taoist way way back in 2003 . This painting above has water has its main theme. The old mill which had a water wheel at one time, fit well in the overall composition.  I wrote a poetic style writing on the back of it at that time. I did not read any Taoist writing until years later. I was always impressed with the cycles of nature and the water cycle is what I was describing in that Living Water poem. Water always seeks the lowest place and eventually, what does not vaporize, or get taken up in life for a time, makes its way to the sea where it will vaporize again and repeat its cycle again as rain. Water comes down as rain gets absorbed in all of life, vaporizes back up into the sky as clouds and repeats its cycle. The seeking the lowest place speaks of the need for humility in our lives. It is soft yet it can slowly dissolve the hardest matter in its travel. It has great power, it can move and shake the earth and roar in the waterfalls. It wears the rocks in its path, smooth. Water is one of the most important elements for life on earth, it is soft yet it has great power. Love is soft yet it has great power. Spirit has no substance yet it is the power behind all of  creation.