My yoga philosophy teacher once started a class by listing words. Paani. Neeru. Water. Voda. Aqua. Νερό. Six words, six languages, one thing. Then came the point: we can argue about the word all day, but if we all drink, it's the same water for everyone. And only by drinking do we really know it.
I've thought about that often, especially in museums.
The wave everyone knows
Katsushika Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa, usually called The Great Wave, is a woodblock print made around 1830 to 1832. A huge wave curls over three fragile boats, its foam breaking into claw-like fingers. Far in the background, small and calm, sits Mount Fuji.
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave), about 1830–1832
Because it was printed many times, impressions of it are held in museums around the world. It's been explained in countless languages. And yet the only way to know what it does to you is to look at it yourself.
Words point; experience knows
Much of what matters works like this. Calm, grief, awe, the taste of a peach, the feeling of a painting: we can describe them, but the description is never the thing. That's not a failure of language. It's an invitation to go and taste.
A meditation with a glass of water
- Pour a glass of water. Sit with it and the image of the wave.
- Look at the wave for a minute. Notice its movement, the white foam, the tiny mountain.
- Hold the glass. Feel its weight and coolness.
- Take one slow sip. Don't name the taste. Just notice it: temperature, texture, the way it travels down.
- Look back at the wave. The same water, in a very different mood.
- Take another sip and think of the people, everywhere, drinking water right now, in every language. The same water. The same body's thirst.
Sit for a few breaths in silence before you get up.
For a related practice, try this sensory meditation for people who think too much.
Begin with a letter
The First Letter is a short sensory meditation on receiving a letter, with a sample of our magazine "(meditating) On Art". It's free, and it's best read slowly, with a glass of water or a coffee beside you.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi