Water's allure

There's a magic about water—an enchantment in fact, much like the allure of fire which draws our eyes, imaginations and souls in moments of quiet reflection. Water's motion is constant. Light plays on its surface the way the spirit world grazes across our hearts and consciousness.

On a cool July morning, my daughters catch minnows in sandy shallows with their bare hands. I'm sitting on the end of the dock, my feet dangling in the healing salve: clear, clean and full of life. Heavy rain the past two days has refreshed the summer lake. All morning, while we played cards and did crafts at the living room window, I watched fleeing clouds play tag across a vivid sapphire sky. Cat's paws tickled the surface of the water, ripples making laughter at the heavenly gambols overhead. The turbulent mirror, while obscuring any actual images of the sky, reflected its colours with density. Reflecting, always reflecting.

Now the sun peeks out for a moment. The breast of my sweatshirt at once shimmers with gold, dancing reflections of sunlight. I am caught up in fresh, liquid fire, surrounded with silent motion. Arrowheads growing along the shore sway languidly. The minnows dart.

Some research in anthropology suggests early humans evolved not on the dry savannah, not clambering first out of trees onto hot plains in search of food, but instead along the sea's wet perimeter. The scientists say our ancestors descended from trees into water, diving for clams and other shellfish to supplement a diet of arboreal fruit. It was this semi-aquatic life, the need to hold the breath when diving, which taught them breath control. Other apes lack this skill, and without it they are incapable of the complexity of vocalizations which characterize human speech. If this theory is correct, we owe our language to water, along with the development of civilization and culture for which communication opened the way.

There is also evidence that the earliest migrants to North America didn't come across the Bering land bridge itself, but followed the shorelines of Asia, Alaska and Canada. Perhaps they sailed or paddled simple boats, laden with nets, traps or spears for catching food from the Pacific Rim. And if the first North American hunter-gatherers lived this way, it would seem that their aquatic lifestyle was probably common in the Old World, too. Is it any wonder so many ancient civilizations sprang up along watercourses like the Nile, the Tigris and the Ganges? What is the significance of the myth of Atlantis?

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