“How’s the water today?” the old fish cheerfully asks of two younger fish swimming by. They, bemused, fail to answer before the older fish has swum by upstream and the current has carried them far, far downstream - unquestioning. If your world in which you live is water, being asked how your element ‘is’ becomes a confusing question. In the water, the fish live and move and have their being. It’s all they know.

But when they look up, as the older fish clearly had done many times, they would realise they were living in a layer. Above the layer of water, there was air. Above, in the air, were the clouds – clouds obeying another stream and flow- the winds. Above the clouds, increasingly rarified layers of atmosphere. Above the layers that protect our planet, space and stars – constellations and strange new worlds.

And below the water, there is earth – but Earth, too, has many layers. On the surface, the crust, below this, the mantle, and then deep down into the core.

As I write this, I am earthbound, sitting drinking rather good wine on the patio. Above me is an ever-changing display of high-altitude clouds – clearly racing in response to a wind I do not feel. It reminds me of how calm it must be in the deeper layers of the ocean even when a fierce storm thrashes the surface.

Would you, like me, love to fly higher than gravity and your current physiology permits?  

Would you, like me, love to dive deep into the ocean and breathe naturally underwater in a way your lungs would forbid?

In these moments, I feel trapped by earthbound circumstances (mainly of my own making) that I would dearly love to fly or dive and swim away from. I ‘see’ the vastness of our breathtakingly vast universe and wonder how it is that I can be so bound by earthly cares. I look to the heavens and then, looking down, get a glimpse of how the water is. I look to the depths and realise Life thrives at many layers – a different expression of Life. What is a good day for a Giant Squid? What does a good day look like on Venus?

I vividly remember my first encounter with a member of the local aristocracy. Her first words of introduction were, “Hello, I’m Lady ‘x’ – I own The Cove.” The thought that someone could consider that they owned a piece of historic coast sent my head spinning for a long time. The layer that she lived in was very different from mine. Her ideas of a good day, of wealth, of poverty, of power, and of privilege would be very different… as would her sense of responsibility – she does much for the community.

I don’t know where today’s blog will take your thoughts, but my hope is that all of us may find the way, the means, and the motivation to explore a different layer. If we succeed, we will be able to address our younger selves with the cheerful challenge, “How is the water today?”

Lex

A Moodscope member