Foreword

Man’s relationship to water has changed completely during the last few centuries. It is now for us a matter of course to have water easily at our disposal for daily use; in the past the fetching and carrying of water involved great effort and labour, and it was valued far more highly. In olden days religious homage was done to water, for people felt it to be filled with divine beings whom they could only approach with the greatest reverence. Divinities of water—the water gods— often appear at the beginning of a mythology.

Human beings gradually lost the knowledge and experience of the spiritual nature of water, until at last they came to treat it merely as a substance and a means of transmitting energy. At the beginning of the technical age a few individuals in their inspired consciousness were still able to feel that the elements were filled with spiritual beings. People like Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe, Novalis and Hegel were still able to approach the true nature of water. Leonardo, who may be considered the first man to make systematic experiments with water in the modern sense of the word, still perceived the wonders of this element and its relationship with the developing forms of living creatures. Natural philosophy in the time of Goethe and the Romantic movement still gave water its place as the image of all liquids and the bearer of the living formative processes. People experienced the fluid element to be the universal element, not yet solidified but remaining open to outside influences, the unformed, indeterminate element, ready to receive definite form; they knew it as the ‘sensitive chaos’. (Novalis Fragmente.)

The more people learned to understand the physical nature of water and to use it technically, the more their knowledge of the soul and spirit of this element faded. This was a basic change of attitude, for they now looked no longer at the being of water but merely at its physical value. People gradually learnt to subject water to the needs of their great technical achievements. Today they are able to subdue its might, to accumulate vast quantities of water artificially behind gigantic dams, and to send it down through enormous pipes as flowing energy into the turbines of the power stations. They know how to utilize its physical force with astonishing effectiveness. The rising technical and commercial way of thinking, directed only towards utility, took firm hold of all spheres of life, valuing them accordingly.

But what was at first considered with satisfaction to be a great and final achievement is now calling forth a response from nature that asks for second thoughts, and opens up great questions. Whereas it then seemed profitable and advantageous to dry out swamps and make them arable, to deforest the land, to straighten rivers, to remove hedges and transform landscapes, today it is being realized that essential, vital functions of the whole organism of nature have very often suffered and been badly damaged by these methods. A way of thinking directed solely to profit cannot perceive the vital coherence of all things in nature. We must today learn from nature how uneconomical and shortsighted our way of thinking has been. Indeed, everywhere a change is now coming about; the recognition of a vital coherence among living things is gaining ground. It is being realized that the living circulations cannot be destroyed without dire consequences and that water is more than a mere flow energy or a useful means of transport.

Humanity has not only lost touch with the spiritual nature of water, but is now in danger of losing its very physical substance. The drying up of countless springs all over the world is a symptom of this development, and the great efforts that are being made on all sides to compensate for the damage done show how serious the situation is. A prerequisite for an effective practical course of action is the rediscovery in a modern form of the forgotten spiritual nature of those elements whose nature it is to flow.

This book is intended as a contribution towards this kind of recognition of the nature of the fluid elements. It is concerned mainly with water, the representative of all that is liquid in animate and inanimate nature, but also with the streaming air. As processes of movement in water can, under certain conditions, be imitated in air and vice versa, both water and air may be treated as equivalent in regard to the way they behave when in movement. Therefore in hydrodynamics both are regarded as ‘fluids’. The qualities they have in common and those that distinguish them from one another will give insight into their real nature.

At first we shall discuss simple phenomena that can be generally observed. These phenomena in water and air may, we think, be regarded as the letters of a script, which it is necessary to learn to use like the alphabet of nature. Those who wish to remain at the stage of pure phenomenology relinquish the ability to read this writing and thus also the ability to understand its meaning. They see the letters, but no words or sentences.

The author wishes to suggest a way on beyond pure phenomenology, towards an ability to ‘read’. The path will be difficult and it will be necessary for the reader to enter observantly and patiently into many details until gradually a comprehensive view opens up. Through watching water and air with unprejudiced eyes, our way of thinking becomes changed and more suited to the understanding of what is alive. This transformation of our way of thinking is, in the opinion of the author, a decisive step that must be taken in the present day.

We would like to add, on a point of method, that we have chosen to use the word ‘element’, rather than ‘physical state’, because it has a richer content of meaning. It includes the concept of active processes—expressing the essential nature of an element. As we are concerned here not with the chemical compositions but with the movement of the flowing elements and the forms which arise through movement, we shall in general not differentiate between water as it appears in nature and the fluids within living organisms. In particular the movements that are common to them all and which are superior to the differences in substance will be discussed. It will become clear during the course of the book that certain archetypal forms of movement may be found in all flowing media, regardless of their chemical composition.

This book is based on scientific observations of water and air but above all on the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner. In his life’s work he has shown how scientific thinking, if carried through logically, can lead to the reality of life and its spiritual origins. And so we would not undertake the attempt to reach an understanding of the spiritual nature of water and air without remembering in gratitude Rudolf Steiner and his tremendous life’s work. Further, it would be impossible to write a book like this without an active exchange of ideas with people from all walks of life. I am not forgetful of what I owe to such an exchange of ideas. Many people have supported me with advice and assistance over the years and though it is not possible to mention all their names, it is with gratitude that I remember them here.

I owe special thanks to Helga Brasch for her great help with the writing of the book, and also to Walther Roggenkamp for his considerate cooperation in executing the drawings and the general layout, and to the publishers for their active help in publishing it.

Herrischried in the Black Forest,

Theodor Schwenk

Summer 1961