Water is the Foundation of Life - Essay Example

Water Water is the foundation of life, our bodies primarily made of the liquid without which life cannot be maintained. As human beings, it is possible to go without food for some time, but without water it does not take long for the body to begin to head towards death. Water has beauty, it is part of rituals, and it has taken on the capacity for status in the late 20th century and his continued to maintain that status into the 21st century. Water can heal, is often imbued with power, and the ritualization that requires water is often discussed in terms of purity. It is also considered a medium for pollution. Above all things, water is considered a right of human existence, a substance that cannot be denied. Although it is available in differing qualities, there is always a public space from which to find water. The concept of water as a tool of ritual, and the reality of water as a common element suggests that the element of water is an important part of the human experience. Water is defined by its use, the flush of water through the body helping it to stay whole and pure. Humans have tried to harness the power of water in order to capture its control of the world, but in the end water is still reigns over human beings. Anyone who has engaged the ocean through travel either in a large or small boat has seen the power that it wields without human help or control. The rage of water in the climate through rain, hurricanes and tsunamis provides context for its power. Even sitting perfectly still in the clutches of water through sitting on a boat is not enough to provide any sense that water is not in control. Water controls the world, whether or not the established authorities intend to create a more stable environment. Water has a power that can be harnessed in part, but never fully appreciated for its destruction or the immensity of its quantity. Illich discusses water in terms of its social identity as a symbol for purity and cleansing. He suggests that water always is a substance of duality and that one of the most powerful dualities that it has is in its purity and cleansing properties. Cleansing is of prime importance to Illich as he discusses how water has the ability to “detach what sticks to people” (27). It can said that water is a lubricant that can divide as much as it can bring together, the substance coming between the body and impurities to wash them away, as much as it can be the great equalizer in which what flows past and through one body is destined to continue to flow through all bodies. Patton says of purity that “Religious notions of purity and pollution, particularly for oceangoing or shoreline peoples, chronically regard the sea as the most powerful vehicle for catharsis” (140). The idea of water is associated with washing away troubles and providing a clean surface on which to make new, or to continue. In both religious and the context of the commons, water represents cleanliness. As baptism takes place in many churches, the recipient is sometimes sprinkled, sometimes dunked into water in order to enjoy the purification ritual of water. In baptism, the individual washes away the past to reveal a new future that is dedicated to faith. From a more practical standpoint, water represents a city that does not stagnate in its own decay. The emergence of city plans with water systems is one of the more important elements of creating a well-organized city. Water is placed with dreams for Illich who writes that they “make(s) the city work” (3). Therefore, it can be seen that water can be used through both the ritualization of it use and through commonality that is sustains in the development of a clean and well run city. Cleansing is both religious ritual as well as practical applications of the idea of the use of water. The duality of water can be seen throughout the evidence of its use. In ritual, the pollution of water is created through its use to wash the individual clean. Through various types of religious uses, water becomes a conduit through which purity can be reached. In the balance, the water itself is left tampered with, its nature changed through its use as a lubricant for ritual. Water represents both purity and pollution. On the other hand, it is considered for public use through its common and essential purpose. Linebaugh quotes Blackstone from his work Commonalities that “there are elements such as light, air and honor, which “must still unavoidably remain in common” (112). Therefore the first duality of water is that it is both common and has special qualities. Pollution can also be associated with water, however. It is a space in which pollutants of all kinds can invade through the lubrication of water. Water is both polluted and pure, antoher duality that can be associated with the substance. Patton states that “However culturally constructed, the drive to treat the sea as a receptacle for pollution is common to both the exigencies of religious purity and human habits of waste control” (140). Human belief is that when water is allowed to wash away the filth that clings to a human being that it simply goes away. In truth, water becomes a receptacle of pollution that is washed simply away through its use. Patton writes that “Just as the sea has traditionally been a place of nonbeing, formlessness and death, it has also been an appropriate ‘place’ (or as I have suggested ‘nonplace’) for pollution (19). As water is renewed through climatic filters that displace the filth of both human intangibles and tangible dirt, when it returns for human consumption and use it has been reborn pure. Illich discusses the idea of smell and the way in which water has become a cure for the social implications of smell. While smell was something manifested outside the individual, the concept of smell began to also become socially specific, designating race, origins, and social ranking. Decreases in personal scent became associated with increases in wealth. Washing away what would create a smell was accomplished through polluting water in the process. In the 1930s the idea of bathing regularly became in fashion, most European nations unsure of this type of a habit. Older generations were considered odd because they had never had a bath in their life. The concept of scent as it was associated with socio-economic status was defined through the ability for the individual to wash away their personal scent, only to create a new scent through the application of perfumes and colognes. Scent became a way to define beauty, the floral and spiced scents covering the natural scent from which emotions could be encouraged. From a practical perspective, the belief that water would just wash away was brought to a point when the builders of American cities noticed that washed away did not mean gone. Illich discusses that the 20th century brought with a loss of the belief of the mystic qualities of water. Water became understood more for its pollutants than its purity. The idea of water as a pure substance was shifted as the water that flowed from the faucet began to be revealed for what else was flowing with it. Illich writes that, “In the imagination of the 20th century, water lost both its power to communicate by touch its deep-seated purity and its mystical power to wash off spiritual blemish” (75). He goes on to discuss the nature of water in the 20th century that it has come to be a problem in that it does not appear to have the abundance needed and cannot be harnessed and controlled by human beings. He calls it “a resource that is scarce and that calls for technical management” (Illich 76). The manifestation of water in the modern context is as a commodity that must be managed in order to have the effect that it needs for purpose. Linebaugh quotes Langland’s Piers Plowman in which is said “For human intelligence is like water, air, and fire – it cannot be bought or sold” (56). Modern consumer applications have proved this to be otherwise, of course, but the principle is that water is a substance for which there are natural rights. Water is defined as a part of the infrastructure of human population centers and as Linebaugh states, it was considered of prime importance in creating cities after the time of the Civil War (160). Illich suggests that water is a central part of making a city work. In the modern centuries, without water, the city is subject to disease and corruption of the body. Through water, the population is protected from the pollutions that would create an impurity within the body. Although it has been determined a substance of purity for the purposes of creating a lubricant between worlds in the religious context, it is plainly a product that needs to be made available for populations, while providing some forms for the elite. Even water becomes a symbol of status. Water is defined through its duality, the double concepts that haunt the element has become a part of how society defines its use. Water is a power that is difficult to avoid. Climate and oceans can overwhelm the individual, leaving them helpless. At the same time, it has become commoditized, despite its human need for being one of the commons. The idea of purity for the use of religious faith is in balance with the truth as pollution is created within the water as both human burdens and human waste is carried away to places unknown. The understanding that water does not simply wash away pollutants was a revelation in the 20th century as water became a resource to be managed rather than an element of ritual and worship. Water denotes a natural right, but the modern world has harnessed it and put it up for sale. Water has developed social connotations as it is used to eradicate natural scent in favor of more sophisticated scents that are created. Water has ritual and social applications and is an element that defies simplicity. Works Cited Illich, Ivan. H₂o and the Waters of Forgetfulness: Reflections on the Historicity of "stuff". Berkeley, Calif: Heyday Books, 1985. Print. Linebaugh, Peter. The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. Print. Patton, Kimberley C. The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils: Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Print. Read More