In The Story of Water - Part 1, I referred to Masaru Emoto’s groundbreaking book The Hidden Messages in Water.  He took samples of ordinary tap water from such cities as Tokyo, London, New York, etc., and froze them.  Then he photographed the icy crystals (a technical capability that is relatively new).  In the Tokyo and London water the crystals were so badly distorted as to not even qualify as crystals.  But the New York City water produced beautiful crystals.  

Most cities use some chemical in their water supply (usually chlorine) to offset the impact of potentially harmful bacteria in the water).  Emoto has shown that while it does indeed kill the bacteria (or at least the lion’s share of it), it also in effect kills the water.  For when water doesn’t produce quality crystal formations, it is sick water - and those who drink such water are often sick (although he states clearly that there are many other negative effects of civilization that contribute to the various illnesses people have around the world).

Another of Emoto’s experiments entails writing various words - doesn’t seem to matter what the language - on a piece of paper and then sticking that piece of paper on a jar of water in such a way that the water can ‘read’ the message.  On one jar he wrote “love and gratitude.”  On another he wrote “you fool.”  Each jar contained water from the exact same source.  Yet when those water samples were frozen and their crystals photographed, the water that ‘read’ “love and gratitude” produced beautiful crystals - some of them the most beautiful he had ever seen - while the water crystals from the jar that read “you fool” were badly distorted.  

In the Western world most of us scoff at such science.  We tend not to believe that such a thing as water has some sort of consciousness.  Yet Emoto has performed his highly controlled experiments in front of many modern scientists who cannot explain the phenomena they see with their own eyes.  

We know that indigenous people - everywhere on the planet - believe that rivers and trees and even the stars of the heavens are alive.  That what most of us perceive as inanimate - is animate to them.  They see life and what they believe to be consciousness emanating from living things (many even believe that mountains and clouds and even the wind are living things).  We all see life and some consciousness emanating from animals - but the Earth itself - as well as seeds and plants are living things to most indigenous people.  

As for myself, as I have allowed myself to open up to the possibility that the indigenous people are right, that these other living things do indeed have some sort of consciousness, I get the feeling that I’m being watched when I enter wilderness areas.  Not just by animals and birds and perhaps even insects, but by a larger collective intelligence that feels like it surrounds the wild places.   

I also get the feeling that somehow this large collective intelligence is aware that I’m trying to help them with my Packit Toilet kit project.  Am I naive?  Perhaps.  I don’t claim these feelings to be true science, but I do claim the feelings as genuine and somehow related to what I'm doing.  Is it wishful thinking?  No.  For the more I study quantum physics - which has completely redefined the atom as a “field with varying intensities” vs a nucleus with electrons spiraling around - I’m coming to the realization that everything out there is a complex cluster of fields - including all life forms - including the universe itself.  And that within those fields of varying energies are varying degrees of conscious behavior that is clearly observable - such as with Emoto’s water crystal experiments (which he’s been doing now for decades). 

We also learn from quantum physics that what we observe - or what we put our attention toward - is affected by that observation or attention.  Simply put, what we do - how we behave - matters in this world - no matter how insignificant we see ourselves.