Consider Water
And what it teaches us about true power.
As a young woman, I read a poem that stuck with me over the years, even though I only remembered the title and the ideas it presented.
One day, I ran across it again. I had tucked it into a scrapbook in which I had collected my favorite writings.
It helped me with the sadness and grief that accompanies the news of another mass shooting, the escalating wars, or even the division and hatred projected in politics.
I wanted a place to take a stand, and when this poem came back into my life, I realized it was the perfect place to begin.
In this poem, Rosemary Cobham describes the kindness, softness, and unlimited power of water.
Let’s look at it together.
“Consider the kindness of water; consider its wise ways, Smoothing the rough stone over with continual softness of flowing; Planing the jagged corners, streaming over and round delays; Consider the insistent gentleness of its going.
“Consider the clean, sure discipline of water, turning the great wheel, Controlled and patient, unimpassionately pursuing; Strong and pliant as a thin ribbon of tempered steel; Consider the tireless obedience of its doing.
“Consider the gentle dropping of small rain, tenderly drenching the closed up petals, until they unfold to laughter; Compassionate freshness of satisfying small rain, fulfilling and quenching Consider the wise—the infinitely various ways—of water.”
I love how this description of the behavior of water gives us another way to respond to tragedies, both large and small.
A tragedy is always heartbreaking. However, what often follows is just as heartbreaking.
Instead of embodying the beautiful qualities of true power described in this lovely poem, people often react with hatred and revenge in mind.
It is heartbreaking when innocent people are killed and injured.
However, it is just as heartbreaking when innocent people are bullied and hurt because they share the same racial background, color, or family as the perpetrators of the crime.
It is heartbreaking for the victims of the crimes and equally heartbreaking for the perpetrators, even though we rarely see it that way.
We are often blinded by the anger that we may initially feel, and if we don’t find a way of letting that go and responding with compassion for all involved, the ongoing cycle of hatred and revenge continues.
Continuing this cycle of hatred and revenge is the intention of the so-called power of evil.
It intends to divide and conquer. It intends to bring us down to the level of the person committing the crime.
This only strengthens its power, and the cycle escalates.
Revenge is not the same as fair justice.
When we agree to take part in hatred and revenge, we have entered the same state of mind and point of view that the perpetrator was in when planning and executing the crime.
You think not? You think we would never do such a thing? Isn’t that what their friends and family said about the perpetrators of tragic events?
When we enter the arena of evil, we do its bidding, and we lose the reasoning that keeps us in line with unconditional love.
Perhaps we don’t malign or injure others to their faces, but what about on social media or what we say to our friends and neighbors?
Every time we indulge in this behavior, we fuel the fire of evil.
Instead, we could take on the power of the qualities described in this poem.
When we enter this arena of good, the absolute allness of Good stands revealed, and we drain power from the illusion of evil. If we continued to do this, we could dissolve its illusion forever, having withdrawn the only source of power it has—our agreement with it.
It is heartbreaking when good people indulge in the mindset of revenge, whether in reaction to a large-scale event or a personal one.
To stop this cycle, we have to rise above it.
We have to become like water.
We have to resist the temptation to indulge in any form of retribution.
We have to. Otherwise, we will repeatedly face heartbreak on a larger and larger scale.
Let’s remember that we are all God’s creations in the care of infinite Love.
Tragedy happens when someone loses that identity for themselves and becomes vulnerable to suggestions that intend to harm them.
Let’s remain within the compassionate and all-loving idea of an infinitely good power and help those who have fallen into the hypnotism of evil’s lies escape its clutches.
This cannot be done if we have also fallen victim to hatred and revenge.
There is no other answer. Hatred and revenge are not the answer.
We are the answer.
One person at a time, responding with understanding and compassion for everyone involved—not just the obvious victims.
Anyone manipulated by evil is also a victim.
Let’s consider water and break the cycle.