Why is it that we so often use water during blessings or baptisms?
This thought was on my mind as I returned from visiting my brother Mark, sister-in-law Emma, and nephew Harrison last month. One of the things on my holiday "to do" list was to perform a blessing for my Godson, and all I really knew was that in order to do so we needed to be near the sea, and to use water. Now back in Japan and re-reading William Marks's The Holy Order of Water it occurs to me that, apart from the obvious connotations of birth, cleansing and purity; not only is water quite simply life, but it's also connection. The water flowing along the rugged coast of East Lothian is connected to the water pulsing into the wide arc of Sagami Bay through a constant global procession of clouds, rain, hail, snow, ice and groundwater gathered for a time in lakes, wells, rivers, glaciers and seas. Some of this water arrived here from outer space in the form of ice showers, or trapped inside comets. So on a macro scale the water here connects earth to the stuff of the cosmos. Water, like life, is always all around us. And of course in us. We humans are water beings, sustained by it from the instant we're conceived for the rest of our lives. We are, in fact, physically of water. When Harrison lived inside Emma he was 90% water. Now at 15 months his tender body is about 78% water. His rapidly expanding little brain will always be around 85% water, as will 90% of his blood. When he's old and grey he'll still be mostly water, and a brilliant composite of all the salts and minerals nature can flow through him. The same as flowers and trees. Touching some of that seawater to Harrison's forehead, the traditionally recognized seat of consciousness, was a way for me to mark his arrival, and celebrate a spiritual birth connecting him to every living thing on the planet, on a macro as well as a micro level. Just a few days before, we'd gone for a walk and I showed him the sea and told him it was a gift for him. I hope he always feels connected to himself and to life, and that he grows up to be a guardian of the earth, and its waters that link all life. When he's older I'll show him the sea again and tell him that he is water. For now though, it would be great if he'd just agree to having his hair rinsed.
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