Messages in water

As some of you know, i had the pleasure of working for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church) on two consulting assignments.  As a non-member and someone who has lived in Utah most of my adult life, it was a bridge-building and learning opportunity for me... as well as a chance to continue to be really clear about who i am.

In the User Experience team meeting, it became clear that there was a rotating assignment to prepare 'a spiritual thought' for the interaction designers and business analysts.  So I went home and started working on having one... just in case *I* was called on!  I put my thoughts together and then ran my random point of view by an LDS friend of mine to see if it was appropriate and thought-provoking.  I didn't expect to be called on... but if i was, i didn't want to be inadvertently offensive to my colleagues with my free-spirited point of view!

I organized a short powerpoint presentation about Dr. Masuru Emoto and a book called The Hidden Messages in Water.   Dr Emoto had done lots of photographs of water just as it was freezing -- from locations all over the world and before/after the water was prayed for.  He consistently saw prettier crystals from water that had people praying for it, even if the original was polluted/malformed.

He also started photographing water from containers that he was taping words to.  He found crystals were different for different words -- In his opinion, water exposed to "love" and "gratitude"  resulted in the prettiest crystals, no matter what language.  Here's examples of two phrases and resulting images:

My logic in this powerpoint was that if our prayers and our words and our thoughts alter how water behaves, and people are mostly water, then we are incredibly powerful toward each other at a cellular level.  Awesome. Humbling. Profound.

So many people tell me they are praying for me.  I feel deeply honored by their good intentions toward me and i treasure the compassion they have for the storm that has entered my world -- it matters not at all to me what their denominational preference is, or even if their concept of a deity is fully aligned with mine...

I picture their prayers making the water within me beautiful.  And in my gratitude and joy at their concern, perhaps i in turn make the water within them beautiful...  it seems like a happy cycle to be in!