The Secret Life of Water

by Masaru Emoto

  A Changing Sentiment

  More and more people are beginning to understand that bigger and faster is not necessarily better. It is becoming clearer that continually piling unreasonable greed and demand on top of each other leads to destruction rather than success. It’s not unusual to see financial institutions, construction companies, and retailers fighting for their survival. We might even say that the destruction of the World Trade Center was symbolic of a broader change taking place in our society. Of course the terrorist attacks were a heinous crime, but one reason the twin towers in New York were targeted by the terrorists was because they were a symbol of the global economy and one of the most enormous building complexes ever built. I believe that its collapse has played a role in moving us humans toward the theory of E. F. Schumacher, who advocates “Small is beautiful” in his new economics with humans in its center.

  Many people today are coming together to form communities beyond the typical definitions of neighborhood and village. In Europe, the United States, Australia, and other parts of the world, communities are forming with the aim of living peacefully with the environment. These communities take various forms, but they all have the basic goal of separating themselves from consumer-based lifestyles and becoming self-sufficient. Another aspect of this trend is the slow-food movement and the rising voice against the drive for standardization promoted by globalism.

  In recent years, we’ve also heard talk of new regional currencies and the drive to implement systems that return to focusing on the exchange of goods and labor of equal value instead of the continual expansion of speculation that is going on now. This is another way that we are returning to the fundamentals of the concept of community.

  A Natural, Renewable Alternative to Oil

  One thing that these new old concepts of community have in common is concern for the environment. For a long time, oil has been a source of major concern and conflict for the world. Most world economies are powered by oil, as are many of the wars going on in the world. And that’s to be expected. Energy is at the foundation of all cultures. We owe our comfortable lifestyles to our ability to procure sufficient amounts of it. We can keep the neon lights on all night. There’s always a store open nearby to feed our hunger and our desire of the moment.

  But what will happen to us when the last drop of oil is used up? The lights will go out and our appliances will be useless. But it won’t matter because we won’t be able to transport food to our tables. The foundation supporting us is frail indeed.

  If it’s not cramping our style today, then we tend to think it’s a problem for someone else. But now in times of abundance is when we should be laying the foundation for the survival of future generations. We need to be looking for something to replace oil and the oil-based products that we so rely on.

  One possible alternative that has caught my attention is hemp. Nature provides for us in many wonderful ways, so we should look to nature first for solutions to our challenges. The hemp plant can provide many of the things that humankind requires in order to survive on this planet.

  From its stalk, paper, cloth, and even plastic can be produced. Four times more paper can be made from an acre of hemp than from an acre of trees. The cloth made from hemp is much more gentle on the skin than chemical-soaked cotton, not to mention that hemp is three to four times more efficient than cotton as a crop.

  From the seed and stalk of the hemp, diesel fuel, methanol, and ethanol can be obtained without the by-products of sulfur that causes acid rain and air pollution. Ford Motors has even made a car with a plastic body made from hemp that runs on hemp fuel.

  Hemp can also become an ideal source of human nourishment. The fruit of the hemp plant provides the same amount of protein found in soybeans, and it is easy to digest. It also contains essential amino and fatty acids.

  The hemp seeds can also be used to make a healthy oil. Huo Ma Ren is the Chinese name for it, and it is widely used as herbal medicine. Its medical uses are numerous. Possible derivative products include an antibiotic, antidepressant agent, pain reliever, and headache medicine. It’s also reported to have shown dramatic results in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, rheumatism, and skin rashes. Hemp can also be used to make shampoos and cosmetics because of its moisturizing characteristics.

  Another feature that makes hemp attractive is its rapid growth rate. In 110 days, the plant will reach a height of two or three meters, making it possible to harvest several crops in a single season. In Japan, it’s said that ninja would use hemp to improve their jumping skills. When the plant first started to grow, they could easily jump over the top of it, but as it grew taller day by day, it required more and more effort and skill to clear.

  As the hemp plant grows, it converts carbon dioxide into oxygen at a faster rate than almost any other plant. The amount of carbon dioxide taken in by hemp is pound for pound three to four times more efficient than deciduous leaves.

  From a hado perspective, hemp is good for the environment because it has positive hado. In fact, hemp’s high rate of vibration is what enables it to grow so quickly. It is a gift of nature that could come to our rescue just when we need it.

  Hemp is woven into the fabric of America’s history. It’s said that without hemp to make ropes and sails, Columbus would have never been able to make the trip across the ocean. Even the Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper. You could even find hemp growing on George Washington’s farm.

  Unfortunately, there are misconceptions about hemp because of its relation to marijuana, or cannabis, which is illegal in many parts of the world. Despite this, there has been a grassroots reawakening in recent years to the potential uses of hemp. In July 2001, the Hemp Car, a biodiesel car running on fuel from the seed of the hemp plant, left Washington D.C. and started on a trip across America to promote the benefits of hemp as a resource. The efforts to attract attention to this amazing new source of fuel were going well until the news was buried by the events of September 11.

  In Japan as well, a hemp car also crossed the country in 2002. A man named Yasunao Nakayama has made it his life’s calling to promote the use of hemp. He says that he sees hemp as essential for the survival of the human race.

  As a teenager, Nakayama-san came close to drowning and had a near-death experience. The young man found himself surrounded by light in another world where people were going about their lives. He saw a plant with beautiful leaves and recognized a wonderful sense of healing coming from the plant. When he came to, the experience made him think in a deep way about the purpose of life.

  Several years had passed when Nakayama-san encountered the plant that he had seen in his out-of-body experience. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the plant which would help him understand the mysteries of life and the universe. The plant of course was hemp, and since that time, Nakayama-san has made the study of hemp his life’s work.

  Japan’s version of the hemp car left a small city in the northern tip of Japan with its destination the Heitate Shinto shrine in Kumamoto prefecture. In place of gas in the diesel engine, hemp oil was used. This biodiesel fuel emits no sulfur dioxide and only one-third the amount of toxic smog emitted by petroleum fuel.

  During his journey, Nakayama-san visited many places related to hemp, including the hemp road of Japan that served as the network tying together an ancient self-sustaining society. In ancient days in Japan, many trade routes linked the country. Along with routes for salt, sugar, silk, and other products, there were also routes for transporting hemp. If you drive the hemp road you can see the traces that ancient Japan had an abundant self-sustaining society, which was based on a solar worship.

  The Shinto Religion and Hemp

  On its long journey through Japan, the hemp car made stops at the many Shinto shrines in Japan where hemp is considered to have special significance. Their ultimate destination, the Heitate Shrine, is considered the oldest shrine in Japan; even its name comes from the ancient Japanese word for hemp.

  From an
cient times, hemp played an important role in Shinto beliefs and practices. It was considered to have many powers, including the power to purify and cast out evil spirits. I suspect that one reason the ancients revered cannabis so much was its rapid rate of growth, indicating a high vibration rate. This enabled it to drive out evil, impurity, and other forms of low vibration.

  Hemp’s many uses in the temples include the braided ropes around sacred trees and the bell rope used to wake the gods at the entrance of the shrine. At the Ise Temple, the most sacred of all Shinto shrines, ancient cannabis is preserved along with the sacred mirror, serving as emblems of the body of Amaterasu, the founding Goddess of Japan. A sacred Amaterasu talisman is referred to as the shrine cannabis, and each year ceremonies take place according to the sacred “cannabis calendar.”

  The ancient Shinto religion of Japan can be described as a religion of vibration. It has no founder, no teachings, no sacred writings, and no ceremonies or practices with the aim of causing an awakening or rebirth. Shintoism is mostly about raising the vibration rate to drive out negative forces, thus creating holy spaces. It is said that the sites for ancient temples were chosen in areas of pristine nature that emitted a high energy level.

  Shinto does not claim one founder or one god. Mountains, rivers, oceans, animals, trees, and flowers are all gods, and along with people, all elements of a single, unified universe. The soul of Shintoism is harmony. In nature, nothing is inferior and nothing is superior. All things are given a role and responsibility, and one part of the universe serves all other parts by best being who and what it is.

  Perhaps the bountiful and beautiful nature of Japan had something to do with the emergence of such a concept. With the beauty, colors, sounds, and scents of four distinct seasons, the Japanese have become sensitive to the nature around them, making it possible to see multiple gods within nature and leading to the formation of a culture that promotes the richness and sacredness of vibration.

  When Prayer Touches Water

  The Shinto prayers referred to as norito are for the purpose of creating vibration, which will link us to the sacred. I have previously written that the hado from a certain type of voice can have the effect of prayer in healing. I have had many experiences with praying over water with the locals in places such as Lake Biwa (the largest lake in Japan); in Lucerne, Switzerland; on the shores of Lake Zurich; in the Bahamas; and in other parts of the world. In every case, there was a striking difference in the crystals made from water collected before the prayer and after the prayer, and the subsequent crystals were always beautiful and glorious.

  Words spoken from a heart filled with prayer takes on the form of hado, and this leads to a new world being eternally created. Your world becomes different when things are created in a whole new way. The Shinto prayer is not a prayer to the One and Only but a prayer to myriad holy beings. What could we mean by myriad holy beings? From the perspective of hado, it is possible to form an idea.

  Consider the fact that there are some sounds that can be perceived by the human ear and others that cannot. The highest sound that humans can hear is about 20 kilohertz, but there are certainly sounds that exist in a higher range than that, and we refer to this sound level as ultrasound. The same concept can be applied to light. The light spectrum visible to the human eye has an electromagnetic wave of between 380 and 780 nanometers, and anything outside of this range cannot be seen. But electromagnetic waves above 780 nanometers do exist.

  This principle applies to all our senses—or perhaps we should say that what we can feel with our senses is only a small part of our world. The blind bat uses ultrasound that the human ear cannot hear to avoid hitting cave walls. A dog can distinguish between scents that are beyond our detection. Many animals have almost supernatural abilities.

  Considering these facts, it would not be too much of a stretch of the mind to say that there are types of consciousness and life forms that are beyond our limited ability to sense. Perhaps it would not be so strange to believe in the existence of higher-frequency consciousness without a physical body like ours. If there is such a being, I suspect that it may exist in a parallel universe with our own world.

  When a vibration is doubled, it is possible to create a new set of sounds one octave higher. And with each case of doubling, the octave goes higher and higher until we reach a set of sounds too high for the human ear to hear.

  In the same way, rocks, grass, animals, and people all vibrate at their own rate and in octaves we are in tune with, and so it shouldn’t be too difficult to surmise the existence of an equivalent frequency in octaves that are off our own scale of sensitivities. Within this line of theory, perhaps we can then come up with a description of the gods of all of creation. Perhaps we can form a link between ourselves and a higher being. The method I speak of is, of course, prayer.

  Our Common Consciousness

  No one I personally know has seen the face of a deity, although I realize there are people who say they have had this experience. All we can do is gather evidence and consider it. By considering it based on the principles of hado, I believe considerable progress is possible in this realm.

  If you examine any culture—ancient or modern—you’ll find that everyone has somehow arrived at a concept of deity. Genetic engineers, physicists, and other scientists who have reached to the edges of their fields become enraptured by the magnificence and order of nature and thus become convinced of some unseen hand at work in the creation. My own path to this understanding was shown to me by water crystals. Water has shown me in a very real way how prayer can change the world.

  No one particular religion has been able to secure the exclusive rights for the power of prayer. No matter who we are, we all have the ability to take advantage of this amazing and wonderful power. Once you realize this, you will then be filled with the desire to help others realize this as well. More and more people are resonating with this understanding, and this could result in a more wonderful future for humankind.

  In my presentations, I mention that I have another interpretation of Einstein’s theory of relativity represented by the formula E=mc 2: c represents consciousness; m represents mass (the number of people); and when the number of people with an awakened consciousness founded in the desire to make the world a better place increases, the result is an exponential increase in E, or energy.

  Earlier in this book, I talked about Professor Hideo Higa, who developed the unique micro-organism EM. He explained to me that within the world of microorganisms, 10 percent of microorganisms are harmful. But there are also only 10 percent of beneficial microorganisms. He refers to the remaining 80 percent as wait-and-see microorganisms. They watch until either the good or the bad microorganisms emerge as the victors, and then they join the stronger of the two.

  I find that there is a correlation to what goes on in human society. Within our society, there are people, about 10 percent, who have the ability and feel the call to make this world a better place. But many of these people have not yet become aware of their destiny. I am quite sure that as more and more of these people awaken and begin to employ their consciousness in prayer and action, the vast majority of the population—about 80 percent—will then also join their numbers.

  The Water within Us

  We are well into the twenty-first century, and blood continues to be shed. Especially painful to watch is the conflict between Palestine and Israel. How much life will have to be destroyed by ethnic fighting and holy war? Without an end to this horrendous conflict, it is hard to imagine a peaceful future for any of us. But it appears as if the hatred and loathing has over centuries slowly entered the very DNA of the two sides.

  I was once thinking about this when I suddenly realized the close relationship between DNA and water. DNA is structured by two chains in a spiral formed by a hydrogen bond. The consciousness of our ancestors is passed from one generation to the next through blood—the water that circulates throughout our bodies. And the water that flows through the bodies of th
e Jews and Palestinians comes mostly from the Jordan River. The Jordan River flows southward from northern Palestine and connects the Sea of Galilee with the Dead Sea, forming the eastern border of Palestine. Along its way, it provides much of the water necessary for sustaining life in the region.

  The power of prayer has the ability to reach far distances of space and time. Through the photographs of water crystals, I have strived to help people from around the world understand the power and wonder of prayer, and I have encouraged people everywhere to pray for peace in the world. I decided that I would ask people to join together on a particular day to send hado of love and peace to the Sea of Galilee, which flows into the Jordan River. The people who drink its water would receive this hado, and their bodies would be filled with beautiful energy. Can you just imagine the possibilities for peace?

  Before I set the date, I discovered something quite surprising. Another name for the Sea of Galilee is Lake Kinneret, and kinneret, in Hebrew, is the word for harp —the shape of the Sea of Galilee. And it also happens that Lake Biwa is named after the biwa, a traditional harp-like instrument in Japan. Could the similarity be more than a coincidence?

  I decided to set the day for the special prayer for July 25, 2003. As I mentioned in chapter 2, this day is very important on the thirteen-month calendar used by the Mayans. It is called “the day out of time,” the one extra day on the Mayan calendar.

  Even in this modern age, perhaps we have the spirit of this day buried within us. I intend to work toward making this an international day of prayer for expressing love and appreciation for water.

  A year prior to the date I set for sending hado to the Sea of Galilee, I established what I call the Project of Love and Thanks to Water. This was a project aimed at unifying the souls of people from around the world and raising consciousness on July 25, 2003.