Jennifer Hoskins looks at the work of Masaru Emoto, a Doctor of alternative medicine who has carried out research into the vibration inherent in water and how it affects humans and the environment.

The Secret Life of Water is the third volume of Dr. Emoto’s highly successful series on water and how we as humans can interact with it to benefit ourselves and our planet. The Secret Life of Water is a follow-on from The Hidden Messages in Water, and The True Power of Water.

These amazing books sprang to worldwide prominence after The Hidden Messages in Water was featured in the metaphysical documentary film What the Bleep Do We Know?

Masaru Emoto is a Doctor of alternative medicine and has carried out worldwide research into the resonance or vibration of water and how it affects humans and the environment. His own intense curiosity, love, gratitude, and respect for the environment have inspired his research into water. What his findings have shown is that the crystalline structure of water can be influenced by feelings, intentions, sounds and vision.

He takes photographs of water at low temperatures as it starts to freeze. These images reveal the amazing diversity of crystals that water can form under different circumstances. He now travels the world, spreading the word by lecturing and showing his stunning photographs of water crystals. Many regional groups have formed to follow his work becoming active in their pursuit of essential water. When necessary, they strive to alter local conditions and counteract pollution and chemicals in the environment.

This volume primarily focuses on the nature of water itself. Water comes to us all from many different sources, including extra-terrestrial by the agency of comets and meteorites, as well as the already existing reservoirs on the earth.

Dr. Emoto looks at the natural history and life-cycle of water, from its initial emergence as molecular H20, through the distribution via the atmosphere as rain or snow. It is ubiquitous, capping the tallest peaks, soaking into the ground, seeping into the storage basins under the earth, thawing in the warmer seasons, bubbling into the light of day as springs, rivulets, brooks, creeks, streams, rivers, torrents and eventually joining mighty bodies of water such as lakes and oceans.

We are informed that the best water is moving water. Let the water flow! During water’s journey in all its diverse ways, it meets rocks, minerals, plants and animals. Water both nurtures and learns from them all. We learn from Dr. Emoto that water has a memory – a memory far longer than our transient lifetimes.

In this book you will learn that not only does water have a memory, but is carries secrets too. Every drop of water has had a long history before it became us. We can actually learn from water, by allowing it to resonate within us. Seventy percent of our being is water. This gives rise to many questions and wonders.

As with everything in existence, water has a vibration. Dr. Emoto calls this Hado, a Japanese word for the vibration inherent in all things. We know it by many other names, reflecting our different cultures. Chi, Qi, Prana, and Mana are but a few of the familiar names for the universal vibration.

The author has used the Hado of water in healing with the aid of a fascinating Hado machine which measures the Hado in patients, or pictures of patients, and then prepares water that will complement and balance the patient’s Hado. This appears to act very much like homeopathic remedies. Homeopathy is based on the notion of ‘like treats like’ and can attenuate the remedies so much that there may be none of the original molecules left – just the vibration – but it is still able to correct an imbalance.

The author spends much time in the text of this book suggesting ways in which we can improve our lives and that of the planet by using more natural and harmonious solutions to problems occurring in health and food production, as well as pollution. His research into the crystalline structure of water has wide-ranging implications on how we can approach problems, both personally and as a global community.

Dr. Emoto also discusses the nature of plant essences such as the Bach Flower Remedies, which work on the principle of vibration. He also has an interesting side discussion on the emerging technology of beneficial bacteria called Efficient Microorganism, or EMTM. These bacteria were first used on crops to produce better and healthier yields. It was found that the beneficial effects lingered long after the EM were gone. Even containers used to store EM which were thoroughly cleansed were still found to produce better-than-expected effects when used. EM technology has much to offer both agriculture and human health as a natural by-product of the fermentation process.

There is also section on the benefits of hemp as a realistic modern, renewable product for agriculture and medicine. Hemp has definitely suffered from poor press throughout the twentieth century due to the uses and abuses of its psychoactive component. Before it was considered a dangerous drug, it was an important primary product in many countries and gave all kinds of useful products and by-products. Today, supporters of hemp cite myriad commercial products that are cheaper, stronger and more economical to produce.

The author states that the Hado of hemp is positive and of a high order, making it grow quickly. He considers it to be a gift from nature. In fact, the state religion of Japan, Shinto, has hemp as a sacred plant. Some of the products now harvested from hemp include industrial products such as diesel fuel oil, ethanol, methanol, paper, cloth, rope, and plastic. The fruit of the hemp plant is high in protein and the seed oil is widely used as a natural medicine. It can also be used in soaps and shampoos due to its moisturising properties. This is one fantastic natural product that most of the world is currently ignoring. Watch this space! Thank you for reminding us Dr. Emoto.

In chapter five of this book is an extremely important discussion of the efficacy of prayer. It has been well-researched elsewhere by Dr. Larry Dossey M.D., who found that healing could occur through the power of prayer. Dr. Emoto has taken the concept several steps further and used his water photography to emphasise that our thoughts and feelings have a huge effect on the environment. I know many readers will be exasperated by the notion that prayer can make a difference. After all, thoughts and intentions are invisible, and hard to pin down. There are often inflexible religious themes attached to prayer that have negative connotations from our childhoods. Many of us have prayed and didn’t seem to get an answer – or did we? I say cast these doubts aside and give it a go!

The author has participated in group prayer around the world that has made a difference to how water looks, tastes and behaves. In his books he takes care not to offend the religious – or atheistic – sensibilities of his readers.

Most people accept that there is a higher power of some sort, what they call that power is of no consequence when engaging in positive feelings and intentions toward the environment. Positive feelings enhance and negative feelings detract. To be grateful for the beauty of the earth and everything that we have is to be in a state of Grace. It took me fifty years to figure that one out.

In the spirit of ‘like attracting like’, I urge the reader to try some positive thinking and see how it manifests in your life. You may be quite surprised. The immediate results are precisely why the classic positive thinking books are never out of print – they work.

What sets Dr. Emoto’s researches and books apart is the affection, respect and gratitude he expresses for all life. When you read his words and see the pictures, you will see that he is not doing it solely for his own improvement or gratification – although I sincerely hope he gets an abundance of that – but as a gift to humankind and to the planet. If large groups of enlightened people actively change attitude and behaviour toward their environment because of these books, his job will be well done.

For readers approaching these books for the first time, the feeling is one of extreme surprise and perhaps even shock, at the beauty of water crystals. The eyes hungrily take in the colour plates and the circumstances under which they were made. The crystals remind one of snowflakes, just as complex, just as evanescent. One person I spoke to recalled wanting to press the picture to her forehead – a desire to impress the memory of the picture into the brain. Surprise! It is already in the brain as soon as it is viewed, and it may just be recognition, rather than a need to possess.

There is nothing living in our world that can do without water. It is the universal nurturer, healer and solvent. Our language is replete with watery words and phrases. For instance: “Did you come down in the last shower?” or “My blood turned to ice.” Consider what some of our greatest poets and philosophers had to say about water:

“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature.  It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” – Henry David Thoreau

“The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land.” – Joseph Conrad

“Water its living strength first shows, When obstacles its course oppose.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Water is the mother of the vine, The nurse and fountain of fecundity, The adorner and refresher of the world.” – Charles Mackay

Water is arguably the simplest, most essential and yet tragically ignored substance – unless we have a lack of it. Should we not treat it as it deserves to be treated? After all, without it there is no life. Each drop of moisture we see and absorb into our bodies can teach us how to move in the world in a more harmonious way – if we allow it.

I can’t seem to get enough of Dr. Emoto’s writings and breathtaking photographs of water. I recommend all of his books and products without reservation. Anyone who is concerned for the future of humanity and our planet will quickly become aware that these books are quite extraordinary and precious.