Water Spirits (ritual, America, spiritual, Roman, shaman)

[Prima]

Anyway, back to the water, since I like that metaphor Master Vigil, you have the best metaphors stored in that brain of yours.

The thing about water that I love is that it's never the same twice. When you step into a stream you're stepping into the same stream, but it's different every time. Water gently wears away at its obstacles instead of slamming them with a sledgehammer. It's kind of like the whole 'killing hatred with kindness' idea. You do a little all the time, and it makes a big difference. But then, I'm really into earth science, so I have a huge respect for what water can do. Water pretty much forms the shape of the world, but it can be so different.

We should be like water - the same person, but always different. Wearing down our obstacles persistently and cleaning them away nicely, instead of smashing them to pieces. Realizing that we can do as much with a tiny act as with something huge (huge lakes almost always started out as streams! whereas waterfalls look really impressive, but don't do much to change their surroundings)

[Master Vigil]

Prima, your post was almost exactly how a taoist would think. They believe water is the essence of all things pure. And since it can go places where humans can't, it comes closer to the Tao than humans do. The idea of being like water is an ancient martial arts idea. But one of my favorite analogies with water is as follows...

To follow the tao is to be like water. When water flows down the hill, it isn't in control of where it goes, yet it gets there effortlessly. Be like water, let yourself flow and let the tao take you where you need to go.

[Prima]

AAAAH! Go read my Meditations post! That's...exactly what I just said elsewhere!

[Mystic-als]

I see water as a cleansing element. I also don't see the meaning of "run" in the quote as an escapeing run. Rather a pouring of self into the situation to cleanse it. Very similar to what FeathersinHair said. If the quote was to run like the spirits of the air. Than maybe it is to escape. But water for me is not so much an escape as it is a channel. To "channel" your joy and peace into the situation.