A Sleepless Eye: Aphorisms from the Sahara

Water

Water 39 Water: a god whose strength is freedom. Water, the heavens’ life-giving sperm, planted in the earth’s womb as life’s embryo. Water, a secret borrowed by the heavens from the earth in order to give it back as a sperm which from the earth’s belly will produce a secret called life. Water, guard of eternal life. Water, a saint who dies in order to give life. Water is a Phoenix, never dying, never destroyed. It dies on earth, then is reborn in the heavens. Severed from the heavens, it is then reborn on earth. Water is a Phoenix destroyed by fire and reborn as ice. Water is a virgin whose fate is to be exposed. Through submission Water is weakened; through challenge it turns defiant. How can Water not belong to the kingdom of heaven when it is an entity with no taste, color, or smell. Water is time. We are subjects of Water, but time is subject to us. 41 For this world Water is a companion; for eternity time is a companion. Water is flowing time; time is evaporating Water. Whenever Water decides to be rid of slavery’s fetters, it longs to escape to the vast expanses of the heavens. Water is an earthly entity. Wherever it abides, the world is close by. Wherever it goes, the world follows behind. Water became an enemy of freedom on the day it became a disciple of the world. Water is spirit for the body. Water that plunges down the river is never wasted. The river takes a circular course that leads it across a land here to bathe in a Sea there. Thereafter it returns to its house by another route. Spirit and Water are twin lovers, separating, uniting, and walking together. Whoever sees Water gushing without doing anything to stop it is like the person who, seeing someone with a bleeding wound, does not rush to offer help. Blood is the Water of mankind. Water is the blood of the earth. 42 In the presence of Water is the presence of creation. In the presence of creation is the absence of freedom. For the tree of life Water is a trunk and spirit is a root. Water is the noblest of all the things the world reveals. River Waters quench the body’s thirst; sea Waters quench the soul’s. Charity, like Water, is a delight, crushing everything barren. At moments of insight Water is regal; at moments of anger it is a tyrant. Water, nature’s poetry; time, eternity’s poetry. Water, secret of the seen; time, secret of the unseen. River Water, like body mass, is in a truss, strangled by its narrow banks. Sea Water, like the vastness of the spirit, lives free with no banks. In Water’s reflection lies the secret of children’s love of Water. Rain is a deity, taking back today what it gave yesterday. Flood, an ephemeral river; river, an eternal flood. 44 Like river Water, truth never stands still. Is it because we too keep changing and never stay the same? Water meanders on its course to avoid confrontation. If it hits something solid, it avoids the obstacle by changing course. If only humans would imitate Water, they could avoid the evils of conflict. Water dies to give life. We despise Water even though we realize that it is life. Who are you, Water? Earthly treasure or heavenly secret? Only Water can unite heaven and earth in marriage. Water never weeps. It sings. Water was born so that sacrifice could be part of its fate. The miracle of Water lies in its ability to be liberated from the body. Drought, Water’s revenge through the law of renunciation. Flood, Water’s revenge through the law of retaliation. A cloudless sky must merit our approval whenever the matter is linked to weather, but it must face our disapproval whenever it is linked to life. Water sings to console weeping creatures. 46 As young children thrive at their mother’s hands, so does creation with Water. Through loss of Water we lose our selves. In God’s kingdom Water is a ruler; in...