Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

WATER (HIGHER ASPECT)

The great symbol of Truth or the eternal Reality and source of all manifestation. Water suggests unity, absence of parts, comprehensiveness, purity, motion; also disappearance in evaporation below, and outpouring from above in rain to fertilize the earth.

"Now that truth (of Agni's mouth) is the same as the waters, for the waters are the truth. Hence they say, ' Whereby the waters flow, that is a form of the truth.' It is the waters indeed that were made first of this universe. Hence when the waters flow, then everything whatsoever exists is produced here.” -  Sata. Bráh., VII. 4, 1, 6.

"In the beginning this (world) was water. Water produced the true, and the true is Brahman." - Brihad. Upanishad, V. 5, 1.

"I am the great God who created himself, that is to say, I am Water, that is to say, Nu the father of the gods, or as others say, Ra the creator of the names of his members which turned into the gods." - Papyrus of Hunefer, XVII.

"And (the more learned among the priests) think that Homer, like Thales, had learnt from the Egyptians to lay down that Water was the beginning and origin of all things, for that his Ocean is Osiris, and his Tethys Isis, as nursing and helping to breed up all things." - PLUTARCH, Isis and Osiris, § 34.

"Water and earth-these were the two elements out of which the old inhabitants of Eridu believed the world to have been formed. It was the theory of Thales in its primitive shape." - SAYCE, Rel. of Anc. Babyl., p. 139.

"Water is the first element in the mundane system of the Chinese." - KIDD, China, p. 161.

"The emanation which produced the creation of the universe is like water gushing out from its source and spreading over everything near (The Geberol). - MYER, Qabbalah, p. 195.

“Plotinus compares the Cause of all things to an overflowing spring which by its excess gives rise to that which comes after it (Enn. V. 2, 1). This similarity produces the next, and so forth, till at length in matter pure indetermination is reached." - T. WHITTAKER, Neo-Platonists, p. 56.

"The oldest element with the Indians is water. In Rig-V., X. 121, 9. Pragàpati begets the great sparkling waters.' These again appear in Rig- V., X. 82, 1, as the primeval slime in which in the beginning heaven and earth were plunged; and in Rig- V., X, 72, 4-6, as the wave surge that is identical with Aditi, etc. In the Upanishads also the conception of the primeval waters still survives. waters are the body of that prâna! (Brihad. Upanishad, I. 5, 13). This earth, the air, the heavens, the mountains, gods and men, domestic animals and birds, vegetables and trees, wild creatures down to worms, flies and ants, are nothing but the water under solid conditions' (Chánd, VII. 10, 1)." - DEUSSEN, Phil. of Upani. shads, p. 190.

“Sarasvati evolved from А river-goddess into a goddess of wisdom. In Celtic myth we find knowledge and inspiration associated with running water." - Non-classical Mythology, p. 151.

"The text (REV. xxii. 17) speaks not of earthly water. No doubt the words Water of Life' have a spiritual and mystic meaning. They had a spiritual and mystic meaning already among the heathens of the East-Greeks and barbarians alike. And water-with its life-giving and refreshing powers-what better symbol could be found for that which would keep off death?" - CH. KINGSLEY, Water of Life, p. 3.

“Compounding the water from five springs in unyielding brass, cleanse the hands." - Empedocles, FAIRBANKS, 442.

This refers to the truth (water) which may proceed from either one or more of five avenues of sense, and must be sifted and defined by mind (brass) ere it may be acted upon (hands) to advantage.

"The prophet exclaims, 'Praise the Lord, ye heaven of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens' (Ps. cxlviii. 4). Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But then is that which is more honourable than all-the fact that Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the rain (Hos. vi. 3), and was known as a spring (JOHN iv. 14), and diffused Himself as a river (JOHN vii, 38), and was baptized in the Jordan." - HIPPOLYTUS, Holy Theophany, § 2.

“Zi-Kum, the spirit of the sky,' ended by becoming a symbol of that primordial deep from which Ea had derived his wisdom, and whose waters were above the visible firmament as well as below it." - SAYCE, Rel. of Egypt. And Babyl., p. 307.

"He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath' (JOB Xxvi, 8). For what does he call ' the waters' in this place but knowledge; what 'clouds' but the Preachers? For that in Holy Writ' water' may sometimes be a term used for knowledge, we have been taught by Solomon bearing witness to it, who says, 'The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook " (PROV. xviii. 4). That by water' knowledge is denoted, the Prophet David bears witness, saying, 'Dark water in clouds of the sky' (Ps. xviii. 11), i.e. secret knowledge in the Prophets. But by the name of clouds,' what else is denoted in this passage (of Job) but the holy Preachers, i.e. the Apostles, who being despatched in every direction through the regions of the world, both knew how to shower in words, and to flash forth in miracles? " - GREGORY THE GREAT, Morals on the Book of Job, Vol. II. p. 301.

"The Spirit of God is still in the Waters surrounding the Earth; and when Spirit and Water cease to be closely united, the Divine Spirit will rise out of the Water, and the end of the world will come." - Doctrine of the Slovaki.
"The living water in the Egyptian theology would appear to have signified the same thing (as in JOHN iv. 13, 14); it was in their doctrine the symbolical support of eternal life to all who received it, along with the fruit of the Tree of Life which grew in the paradise of Osiris.” - BARLOW, Essays on Symbolism, p. 62.

"Waters denote truths, and in the opposite sense falsities." - Swedenborg, Arc. Cel., n. 10, 227.

"That waters signify truths, and specifically natural truths which knowledges from the Word, is evident from many passages in the Word." - SWEDENBORG, Apocalypse Revealed, n. 50.

"Thus the Spirit of God, which is Original Life, is always moving upon the face of the waters, or heavenly deep, which is original Substance." – The Perfect Way, p. 178.

See Also

ANDUISUR
BAPTISM OF WATER
BOAR (avatar)
CHILDREN OF HORUS
DarkNESS (higher)
DELUGE
EA
EGINA
FLOOD
GÂRHAPATYA
HOUSE BONDAGE
IRRIGATION
JORDAN
LAW OF BUDDHA
MOIST ESSENCE
Narayana
NILE
NU
OCEAN
RAIN
SERPENT (Ananta)
SUN (moon)
THIRST
VOURUKASHA
WASHED (feet)
WELL
YIMA