The True Power of Water

by Masaru Emoto

I was excited when I found this book at the library book sale.  I have read briefly about Dr Emoto’s work on the newspaper a few years back, saying how beautiful water crystals can be formed when playing classical music.  I didn’t know that a book has been written about it.  In fact, there turns out to be several books, CDs, and paraphelia such as stickers, water bottles and what not available for sale.

I thought other people would be as excited as I was, and found out I couldn’t be more wrong when I showed the book around.  Most people dismissed it as baloney, even people I classified as new-agey.  My husband said that as water doesn’t have ears, how could it listen to a piece of music?

Is the idea really so outlandish?

I find the idea of hado in line with Bach’s flower essence.  Dr Emoto uses a equipment to sense the hado of a person, and detects negative emotions such as fear and anxiety, which negative energy affects the body on a cellular level and manifests as physical ailments.  A speical water is prepared to cancel the waves, which is to be drunk diluted.  Doesn’t this sound very much like Bach’s flower essence?  The flower essence carries certain energy vibration that can cancel out the negative vibes of such emotions as fear, anger and worry.  It would be interesting to use the hado measuring device on the flower essence to see what comes of it.

I also do not feel it a big leap of faith to think that lovingly prepared food gives out more positive energy than a microwave dinner.   Or that classical music is more soothing to the mind and body thanheavy metal.  I have also heard from several qigong masters and energy workers saying that pork has a negative vibe and should be avoided.

If one can, however, suspend one’s incredulity for a moment and consider this: if our positive or negative words or thoughts can indeed affect water molecules, and if the known fact is that human being is 70% water and the earth is mostly covered with water, what implications would that be?

If nothing else, at least we can mutter a sincere word of thanks before we partake each meal, drink each sip of water.  As Dr. Emoto said, begin each day with an attitude of gratefulness and a positive affirmation “It was a good day.”   

I sincerely hope that more people can read this interesting work.

Meanwhile, here is a list of music title and what physical hado it corresponds to:

Pachelbel Canon – uterus, ovaries
Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor – Right cerebrum
Elgar March No. 1 – Spine, spinal cord
Time to Say Goodbye – Colon, rectum (not a very good association for such beautiful piece of music…)
Bizet Carmen Prelude – Circulatory system
Smetana The Moldau – lymph
Johann Strauss The Blue Danube – Central nervous system
Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Act 2 – joints

Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan

by Bruce Feiler

Another excellent book that I won’t have come across were it not for BookCrossing. 

I thought I know a bit about Japanese school system from all the mangas I read, but this book is so educating!  It delves from the funny, such as Bruce’s not-too-auspicious nampa adventures (concerns that Bruce is too “big” for Japanese women), to the thought-provoking, such as the little-known caste of burakumin and the conflict between the inaka and the metropolis. 

I also garnered interesting facts such as the perfect lenghth of chopsticks (15% of your height), and that Japanese school days are a whooping 60 days longer than American school days.

The book provides an excellent insight into the heart of Japanese culture. Certainly there are pros and cons for both school systems, the two are probably as far apart as can be among industrialized nations.  From the education of children, you can see the big picture of the national identity, business practice and the possible future of the countries.

The book is however a bit dated.  I didn’t have a clue how old it is until I came across pop culture references like Hikari Genji that are, in terms of pop culture, two generations ancient.  I don’t know how much things have changed, but certainly students are still required to clean the classrooms, hazing and suicide is still going on, and cramming for entrance exams still very much part of a student’s life.  Therefore, while the popstars are stars no more, the observations made and messages conveyed still hold true.

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

by Deepak Chopra

I have read this book many years ago and am glad to find a copy again to re-read.  This is a really excellent book in that it is simple yet poignant.   The message is so universal.  This is a summary so I won’t forget it for a while:

 1. The Law of Pure Poetntiality
We are, in our essence state, pure consciousness.  Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity.  Your tue Slef, whichis your spirit, your soul, is immune to criticism, is unferaful of any challenge, and it feels beneath no one.  It recognizes that everyone else is the same Self, the same spirit in different disguises.   One way to acces the field is through the daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgment.  Commune with nature to silently witness the intelligence within every living thing.  As you gain more and more access to your true nature, you will also spontaneously receive creative thoughts.

2.  The Law of Giving – Your body and your mind and the universe are in constant and dynamic exchange.  The word afflance means “to flow in abundance.”  In every seed is the promise of thousands of forests.  But the seed must not be hoarded; it must give its intelligence to the fertile ground.  Through its giving, its unseen energy flows into material manifestation.  The more you give, the more you will receive, because you will keep the abundance of the universecirculating in your life.  The intention should alwasy be to create happiness for the giver and receiver.  Make a decision that any time you come into contact with anyone, you will give them something. I will gratefully receive all the figts that life has to offer me.  Each time I meet someone, I will silently wish them happiness, joy and laughter.

3.  The Law of Karma  Karma implies the action of conscious choice-making.  The more your birng your cjoices into the level of your conscious awareness, the more you will make these cjoices which are spontanesouly correct.  There are three things you can do about pat karma: 1. Pay your karmic debts.  2. Transmute or transform your karma to a more desirable experience.  3. To transcend it through practice of meditation.

 4. The Law of Least Effort
Nature’s intelligence functions with effortles ease and abandoned carefreeness. Least effort is expended whe your actions are motivated by love.  Accept people, situaions, circumstances and events as they occur.  I will take responsibility for my situation.  Tkaing responsiblity means not blaming anyone or anything for my situation.  I will relinquish the need to defend my point of view, I will remain open to all points of view and not be rigidly attached to any one of them.

5. The law of Intention and Desire
Intent is desire without attachment to outcome.  Intention combined with detachment leads to life-centered, present-moment awareness.  Accept the present and intent the future.  a. Slip into the gap – center yourself to go into silence, b. release your intentions and desires. c. remain in the state of self-referrak, d. relinquish your attachment to the outcome e. let the universe handle the details.

6. The Law of Detachment
In order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it.   Detachment is based on the unquestioning belief in the power of your true  Self.  Attachment is based on fear and insecurity.

7. The Law of Dharma
Expressing your talents to fulfill needs creates unlimited wealth and abundance. Discover your divinity, find your unique talent, serve humanity with it.

Rescued: Saving Animals from Disaster

by Allen Anderson, Linda Anderson, John Ensign 

Some readers are disappointed that this book isn’t quite what they look for: chokeful of heart-warming rescue and reunion stories of the Katrina pets.  Personally, however, while I like hearing rescue stories, I feel glad that this book is so much more than that.  Honestly, at 300 pages, those stories will get a little stale and repetitive.  I don’t need another Chicken Soup for Animal Lovers. 

This book instead, as its title suggested, contains life-changing stories and practical suggestions.  It gives behind-the-scene stories of how the various organization arrived amidst chaos, facing a disaster of a scale none has seen before, and finally worked together to try their best for the animals.  It introduced me to a lot of animal groups;  for those that I heard of before such as Farm Sanctuary and Best Friends, I learned more of their work and felt proud of my support.  I also got to know about new ones I haven’t heard of (like Shambala, a lovely sanctuary for big cats). 

It brought me thinking about issues like whether we should allow animals into emergency shelters, and whether self-deployed, inexperienced volunteers do more good or harm.  With better understanding I realize that the answer is not as simple as a knee-jerk yes or no.   There was, for example, the story of a dog who was being care for in the backyard of an owner’s friend.  Somehow he was “rescued”, moved to a foster home in another state,  and although it was finally a happy reunion, it was a waste of resource nonetheless.  There was a mention of one (understandably unhappy) man who said that his dog was “rescued” 10 times from his house (where he was staying), so he had to go to the shelter to claim him back.

That said, I was deeply moved by the dog who led the rescuers to his fellow pet bird and fish, and the poor pitbull who tried to chew the water bottles for some water.  I also felt disgust about the man who didn’t want his dog back before it was neutered, or the murder of a school-roomful of pets.

Shiloh Season

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 

I loved the first book in the trilogy, Shiloh, and this one is equally excellent. I like how the story was told in a simple, honest way, really like a child telling it, and how the various messages of life are gently hidden in the story. Towards the end I had tears in my eyes. It’s a simple tale of a boy and a dog, but lovingly told.  It is as best as children’s books come.

The Devil and Miss Prym

by Paulo Coelho

Many years back I read The Alchemist and absolutely loved it.  In fact, I considered it one of the best, most inspiring books I’ve ever read,  its message simple yet beautiful and potent.

So naturally, I checked out Coelho’s other books.  I read The Valkyries, The Fifth Mountain, and The Pilgrimage, and was rather disppointed with all.   Not only could I not find the poignancy and beauty in these later works, I did not even consider them very good fiction at that. I don’t quite know why, but I continue to pick up his work…

After a few disappointment, this comes as a nice surprise.  I still won’t rate it as high as The Alchemist, but at least this one has an engaging storyline and characters.

 A man roams the land searching for the answer to a question that torments him since a tragedy: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil?  He comes to a remote, idyllic village, and strikes a deal with the villagers: if they could commit a murder, the gold will belong to them.  This throws the community into a turbulance of greed, cowardice and fear.

I enjoyed the story as it delves into the true nature of humankind.