The Essence of Life

We were born before the wind Also younger than the sun Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic — Van Morrison, "Into the Mystic"

The lyrics go on to say that, when the foghorn blows, he will be coming home and won't have to fear it.

That captures the concept. It is amazing to see how music can express the things we authors try to say with words. Music sums up the thousands upon thousands of words used by some authors who explore the lofty subjects of creation, life, and death. One example is "Into the Mystic."

There are many reasons that humans are attracted to water and the sea. Water is essential to all life; nothing can live without it. It is a prime essence for life. Our bodies are made up of many chemicals and an internal sea that acts as a solvent and helps transfer things in and out of our bodies. That is one reason I offer, based on physiology. We simply can't live without it, and our bodies are made up largely of water, as is our planet. Humans need water; when early humans left the forests, they searched for bodies of water and usually settled along them. Scientists searching the skies, to this day, state that, if water is ever discovered somewhere, there likely is some form of life.

Evolutionists say that life emerged from the sea, and there is a subliminal desire embedded within us to return to our origin. From early life on, children take pleasure in splashing and playing in water, as many adults do on vacation. Therefore, our brains must have some affinity to water that drives us to feelings of happiness.

There are theories that human brains started to grow rapidly after we separated from the early forests and began to live close to water. People started to eat fish and other products of the sea. As a physician, I know that fish are plush with omega-3 fatty acids. This fatty substance is necessary for brain development and brain function. Our brains expanded rapidly. We know that modern nutrition recommends consuming fish products. Medical literature also shows that those who ingest a lot of fish suffer from less depression.

It is no wonder then that ancient cultures lived near and revered water sources, perhaps not knowing the things we just reviewed. In history and in modern times, we see initiations and death ceremonies filled with reverence, including baptism with water, the cleansing of hands and body with water, and the simple happiness and peace one gets from staring out to sea. I think of the Greek and Egyptian mortuary ceremonies for the ancient dead. They involved traveling to another world on a river. In the Viking mortuary ceremony, the departed is set out to sea aflame. In the ancient Jewish tradition, the priests' hands were washed in a consecration ceremony on the Day of Atonement. As I am writing these words, it is the time of Passover and Easter. Water is represented as the removal of pollution during the Passover meal, and there is a ritual use of water during the Seder and a remembrance of the exodus by the parting of the sea. Jews also remove the pollution of exposure to death when leaving the cemetery before returning home. Water has ritual use in Christianity (holy water), as well as in many other religions for spiritual cleansing. It becomes part of the last rites before one dies.

The Hindu love of the Ganges as a cleansing of both body and soul (spirit) as a religious rite is well known. The concept is that life is ongoing and cyclical. Each world is destroyed in preparation for the next. The various gods or manifestations of gods known as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are involved in the cyclical creation and destruction that occurs over and over. The belief is that there are more creations than drops of water in the Ganges. In India, the sacred River Ganges embodies the water of life for Hindus. Legend has it that the Ganges is the river that f lows beyond its earthly bounds to Moksha, the realm of nirvana.

Water is used as a means to protect against evil and in other ways. Jeremiah describes God as "the fountain of living waters" ( Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13). Juan Ponce de León tried to deny aging by looking for the fountain of youth. Martin Luther King Jr. said in one of his sermons, "Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." Many people go to healing spas to enjoy the pools and hot tubs. Nutritionists advise all of us to drink a lot of water. Doctors of medicine add water therapy to the healing process.

I enjoy this quote by the famous author Mark Twain, who looked at water in an interesting way: "High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water." I guess we can add a touch of humor by mentioning the fictional comic strip character Bathless Groggins, who was created by Al Capp. He is the ultimate contrarian to all that has been said. Water for him seems unnecessary, and he resists it. Since we are talking about the essence of water, in opposition, he becomes the atheist.

We find another instance in the Bible, where the sea is referred to in a different light –as a sea beast to be feared. The leviathan is mentioned by name in the book of Job but is also present in many ancient sea narratives, where a primeval monster is defeated by the gods. There is also the legend of Jonah and the great whale. There's the tale of Noah and the great flood, in which God punished the wickedness of civilization by wiping it out.

A flood narrative is also seen in many cultures. There is a sea creature known in Scottish legend as Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, an aquatic being that reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Highlands. Water is often associated with danger and death. This is true not only in the aforementioned examples but also with all the floods and tsunamis in our world today. For those who are spiritualistic, Nostradamus, a physician and astrologer who lived during the sixteenth century, would stare into a bowl filled with water. While observing the liquid, he would "receive" visions of the future. Some claim that, as a seer, he foresaw many future events. In a somewhat relative prediction, he said that the earth's polar ice would melt in our times. He also seemed to predict great flooding, which we have seen in in the Gulf of Mexico basin in recent years.

Science tries to rationalize all such events, searching for verification of natural disasters that could have been interpreted as acts of the gods. The great flood is one of the topics under investigation. One theory refers to a great flood in the Black Sea seven thousand years ago, which may have been translated into Noah's flood. A more global theory that accounts for the great floods in other cultures is that a comet crashed to earth five thousand years ago. Geological research has suggested many floods in the history of our planet. Flooding and the rising of ocean levels today, based on global warming, is becoming a concern for those who live in coastal areas.

In modern times, we read about and encounter the modern beasts of the sea. There are sharks, alligators, crocodiles, eels, and sea creatures — the source of phobias and fears for many of us. Fear of water alone is one of the most common phobias. Interestingly enough, the fear of the sea or large bodies of water is called Thallasophobia referring to Thalassa the ancient Grecian name for the Mediterranean Sea. For some, dreams that involve the sea can reflect some past trauma (for example, drowning) if one believes in past lives. I myself have a phobia of swimming in deep water, including the ocean. Yet the sight of a calm sea and sailing upon the sea are relaxing. Many Americans are afraid of deep open bodies of water, including the deep end of a pool. As a young child, I saw a child drown in the waters of Lake Michigan. This fear was compounded by my uncle's sink-or-swim theory of learning to swim. This uncle just threw me in the lake as I f lopped around like a fish caught in a net. My fear was again magnified when I almost drowned in a pool while vacationing with my young wife. I lost the phobia but never learned how to swim. Thankfully, I did not deny my children that tool for both survival and pleasure.

All Aboard

My earlier works were centered on different aspects of life. My first book, Our Beguine: The Dance of Life, dealt with a point when I felt that physical being and pleasure had attained the highest crest after I married my dear wife, Donna. There are many ideas and thoughts about when life begins, and it is not my intent to enter the fray. When I married, I had accumulated twenty-two years of experience prior to meeting her, but my life was fragmented and never on solid ground until I met her and my new responsibilities.

As the tides of life rolled onward, Donna was lost to me in the murky waters and the fog called death. Her passing led to the book I wrote in commemoration of our life together for almost a half a century. In a way, that book led to the present one. In a sense, I felt that I emotionally died with her, and I started thinking about death. What had happened to her? Was she now in a new life — one that I couldn't share? Did one ever join his or her loved ones after death as my family believed? It was a book of love lost, but it didn't satisfy my thirst for answers to the questions we are now asking in greater detail.

I had to set my compass in a new direction and leave the serious and searching thoughts in that book. In a new book, I spoke of a gentle stream of life where things are not as stormy. It was a comfort book, written because I had been a loyal Chicago Cubs fan for more than seventy years, and the Cubs had finally won a world championship. The book was called Holy Cow, Black Cats and Billy Goats and looked at life in a different way.

This book is entirely different from those and is more philosophical and searching. It takes us on a different journey and the age-old quest to know what may happen when life's journey is at an end. What is waiting for us? And where are we headed? I was reminded of an old saying common to the time of the Roman Empire all roads led to Rome. This rang a bell for me, and using an author's imagination, I changed the saying to all roads lead to home. What is home? Is it the place where we reside, the earthly home? Or does another home await us? The book is a factual discussion and debate regarding this question. Will we remain on the Bridge of Why forever? Or is there a gate that will be opened and the clear air of understanding will be upon us?

Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.

— From "Requiem," by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

We are now on our way to discovery and have started to move away from the dock. All our fictional travelers are aboard, and we are now at sea. You are invited onto the Bridge of Why. We've asked many experts to join us to make your travel educational as well as enjoyable. It's important for me as the captain and master of the ship as well, as I still don't see the pathway to the Harbor of Knowledge ahead. It will be important for us to watch each traveler from the bridge, to welcome these travelers and invite them to tell us why they have joined us. In doing so, we may learn much about ourselves, which is one purpose of the excursion. The captain of the Sea of Life considers you very special guests and wishes you bon voyage.

The Story of Ahanu

Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Getting to hope you'll like me.

— Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, from The King and I

The earth is our mother; We must take care of her. Hey yanna, ho yanna, hey yan yan.

— Traditional Native American song

We look down at a cheerful but watchful man. He is smiling and acknowledges that we are speaking with him. He is used to it, and he states that we must be spirits from above. His medicine man has always told him about us. He failed to see us, no matter how many times he looked, even when he was in the sweat hut for days or was given some potent medicine from his shaman. At last it is no longer necessary, as you, great spirits, found me in a time of need.

His story begins in what we perceive to be 1730. He has no knowledge of a united country but, rather, of the territory of his people who spoke the same language and shared the same land. They called themselves the Blackfoot. He tells us there are many large mountains around the plains and many waters and abundant creatures around him. There were other people around him when he was young. He remembers there was trade with them, but at times, there were quarrels that had to be settled by war.

We ask about the origin of his people's name, but he's not sure. He knows that their sandals are dark and black. Some elders told him that his people went from place to place, and their footwear became dark with ashes or the earth. In fact, his grandfather, who lives in a tipi (we call it teepee) in his small tribe, tells him that his people once came from the east a very long time ago, and once they were pushed out from their territory by enemies called the Cree.

Ahanu tells us that he had no regular home most of the time and had to travel from place to place. The large tribe of people, which he saw only during summer or for special holiday ceremonies and rituals, was divided into smaller traveling groups during the harsh winters. He usually lived near a wooded area near water with a smaller group of a hundred or so people during the colder seasons. The smaller group had a leader or a chief. Ahanu tells us that the tribe divided into groups in order to hunt the buffalo and the deer and, on occasion, catch fish from the nearby waters. The groups lived near the areas where the animals wintered. He remembers returning the spring to a larger tribal camp.

At an early age, he was taught how to hunt the great animals using traps, snares, and bow and arrow. In his early youth, hunting was done on foot. In addition to this primary source of diet, his mother and other women of the tribe would gather vegetable foods. The use of the meat and the vegetables was governed by a great man in his gathering who knew the safety of the world around them and the value and safety of the types of foods that made up their diets. He was the shaman (medicine man). He also taught them to revere and respect the animals who gave up their lives in order for them to survive. There was never a killing for fun. The buffalo hunt was to provide food.

Ahanu saw horses at an early age, but his tribe had none. The people who traded with or attacked them had these animals. His people eventually acquired their own horses through trade. They would trade their buffalo hides for the horses and, later, for a newly arrived weapon we know of as the gun.

He is not happy about it but tells us that his people had a lot of wars with others and generally had no allies to help them. He remembers that many of the older braves died in wars with the Cree, the Sioux, the Crow, and others, while the women were killed during raids or taken as slaves. His tribe had no possessions, as they were always on the move. We ask him if the women created any form of pottery or baskets that are unique, and he remembers them as necessary implements for daily life, as well as in trade. They had no canoes and traveled from place to place on foot until they had access to horses.

As a young man, Ahanu had to go to a form of military school. There were ranks of warriors, from boys to older warriors and those who did not fight any more but were the supervisors and directors. He had to wear various types of uniforms, war paint, and equipment and perform different songs and dances. In the early days before the pale face, the uniforms were generally made of deerskin, and the weapons were bows and arrow, knives, shields, and lances. In time, he was taught how to ride on a horse, as his people were now beginning to gather large herds of these animals.

We ask him about marriage in his culture. He looks at us, laughs, and says he was married many times. At times he had many wives. He had many children with these wives. His oldest daughter was named Nuttah. He loved her and explained that this name meant my heart. His oldest son was Kimi and named for his personality, as he was thunderous.

We asked him about his people and where they came from. Much of what he knew on this he learned through the oral traditions of his people during large gatherings. He was taught that they had existed as a people for many moons (thousands of years) and were created by a God who created the first man, who came from far away. Ahanu's religious training was led by a holy man who was the tribe's medicine man. He remembers that a most important ceremony gathering involved a sun dance. He was taught other rituals and was encouraged to try to contact a guardian and guiding spirit during these rituals. This generally meant going to a quiet place and fasting for several days.