When you actually think about it, water is amazing. It defies typical biological and chemical characteristics. And in doing so, it becomes exactly what we need it to be.
First, it’s chemical makeup and hydrogen bonds allow it to be in liquid form in most earthly conditions. Without hydrogen bonding, most of the water on earth would be steam and essentially useless to sustaining life. Unlike other liquids with covalent bonds, water also has properties due to its hydrogen bonds that make it essential to survival for many different animals that live in the water and even some living in hot, dry ecosystems. These properties of water make it easier for organisms to adapt to changing water and air temperatures.
Another unique characteristic of water is that it is denser in the liquid state than it is in a solid state, meaning ice floats. This is uncommon as generally solids are more dense then liquids. Still, because of this, ocean and water life is possible. If ice was denser than water, as it froze, it would sink being replaced with more water that would then freeze and sink. Eventually, if cold enough, entire bodies of water would freeze solid as opposed to just a layer at the surface. If this were the case, each freeze would kill off most, if not all, lifeforms in the water.
If any of these strange and uncommon characteristics were different or didn’t exist, life on earth would cease to be sustainable. And yet, this isn’t what makes water so amazing. This isn’t what makes it so refreshing to splash water from the sink on your face in the morning or why swimming in a lake or the ocean is so much more relaxing than swimming in a mud pit when in both situations the water is neither clear nor sanitary. There’s something more to it that the purely biological. It’s philosophical.
We sing in the shower; we dance in the rain. So what is it about water that frees us from our insecurities? What is it about water that gives us the freedom to engage in the simple actions that make being human enjoyable? And why can’t we feel safe doing these things when we’re dry?
Perhaps it is that water, though simple, is so necessary, filling a basic human need. When it surrounds us, maybe we revert back to an understanding of our desires as human beings for the simple things in life that bring us the very pleasure we need as well. As we are surrounded by an abundance of water, we are reminded of the pure joy that comes from providing ourselves with the elements that satisfy our wants and desires, both physical (food, water, shelter), but also mental, emotional, and spiritual (art, music, dance, and connection with others).
Or maybe it is the feeling or purity and cleanliness that comes with water. Maybe showering, standing in the rain, or swimming leaves us with a feeling of purity that we don’t feel in any other conditions or circumstances. And maybe this purity allows us to feel the most free from the daily grime that hinders our ability to be the people we are created to be, and when we feel this pure, we feel the most like ourselves, and therefore the most able to express who we are, and honor our innate desires.
Maybe it’s because we have a spiritual connection with water. We are made up primarily of water, our world is made up primarily of water, and we depend on it so much. It is what makes up our physical beings, and it is the element needed to maintain our bodies. When we are emerged in water, maybe we are so moved by the joining of ourselves and our needs that we can’t help but be driven to express this. Maybe we have a natural tendency to respect water as the very foundations of our lives and world that when we are in its presence we engage in song and dance as some form of worship.
Maybe it’s none of these things. But then, what is it? What is it that makes water the basis for an entire school of philosophy? What is it that makes water an overarching metaphor used by Buddhists to understand life? And why is it that some of our most fearlessly inspiring acts of expression are easiest when we’re wet? I don’t know what it is, but there’s something to it. There must be something in the water.
