Preface

Chapter 1. Perception  primary and otherwise

Chronology

Chapter 2. Ancient  prior to the fourteenth century

Chapter 3. Modern  fourteenth to nineteenth centuries

Chapter 4. Postmodern  twentieth and twenty-first centuries

relevance

Chapter 5. Balance  intellect, intuition, experience

Chapter 6. Creativity  timelessness, children, nature

Chapter 7. Application  seawater, sound, integration

Epilogue and Acknowledgments

Selected Quotations

Environmental signals affect the molecular structure of the water, which functions in concert with the membrane and its components (most notably its proteins) to permit the cell to perceive its environment.  Hence, biological organisms perceive everything in their environment through water!  And though every person physically perceives his or her world through water, there are enormous and very significant differences in how people perceive water in their world.  [chapter 1]

While humans have always used water, the attitudes and beliefs accompanying that usage have varied dramatically.  Just as modern people seem to have substituted their personal experience of water for scientific explanations, they may have also substituted their personal kinship and spiritual connection with water for the ceremonies that were meant to honor that kinship and connection.  [chapter 3]

Despite the prolific writings of postmodern naturalists and a re-emerging “religion” of Nature, water was legally, politically, and financially relegated to an existence as a commodity.  The postmodern scientific world revealed some astonishing roles for water in our bodies, planet, and universe; however, these revelations failed to spark much of a perceptual renaissance even among well-read people.  [chapter 4]

What we may want to explore at this point in our postmodern history is supplementing, but not abandoning, what we know intellectually about water with that which we experience or intuit of water.  Our escalating problems with water may be a function of our literally trying to outsmart ourselves.  If so, we do not need to become smarter as much as we need to become balanced.  How might we attempt to balance ourselves? . . .  The brief 105 years of postmodern history suggest that our simply knowing more about water or managing water more cleverly is not, by itself, going to permit us to meet the challenges we currently face.  [chapter 5]

Alexander describes the process as discovering or recognizing patterns in space and time, not for purposes of establishing cause-and-effect relationships, but instead for acknowledging relationships that are inherent in the mosaic of hierarchical patterns.  Schwenk noted that his own observational methods might be challenging for others (particularly in the beginning); however, he believed that everyone could develop the patience to observe water and receive its messages.  [chapter 6]

Review Excerpts

"Altered Perceptions is, at its heart, the self-revealing autobiography of an inquisitive water scientist's odyssey from a child's guileless bonding with water, to a scientist's intellectual dissection of water, to a man's ultimate release to the intuitive relationship water yearns to have with him. Marrin's scholarly recounting of ancient, modern and postmodern views of water is laced with fascinating "truths" from each perspective and colored by his struggle to reconcile these divergent truths. In the end, after pages of answers about water, he gently leaves us with questions: Are you ready to embrace every perception of water you are humanly capable of? How will this change your relationship with water? How will you change the world as a result? There is no more important time in the history of humanity to ask these questions then right now."  [Ann Audrey Phillips, M.S., water resource and watershed restoration specialist]

"West Marrin’s profound meditation on water is nothing less than a sacred sutra on how to perceive the natural world. A concise synthesis of spiritual, scientific and philosophical perspectives on what the ancients once called the universal mother, Altered Perceptions argues that to understand water, we must begin the path towards integrating our inherent capacities of intuiting, reasoning and experiencing. With water as our teacher in this lost art of enlightenment, Marrin believes we may better begin to recognize that deity, nature and humanity are really three aspects of one deep and mysterious whole. In so doing we may very well discover the wisdom needed to save our planet from ourselves."  [Philip Grant, Ph.D., Executive Coordinator for the Institute of Reverential Ecology]

How do we perceive water in the postmodern Western world, and how have our collective perceptions changed over time? This is not a question that we routinely ask ourselves; however, it is one that is relevant to addressing our many water crises. Although we are understandably eager to solve our water problems, we are unlikely to do so while holding essentially the same views of water that contributed to the creation of such problems. What tools are available for altering our perceptions of water, and how might we implement nonintellectual insights into our decision-making processes? Paradoxically, answering these questions may serve us in a more fundamental way than continuing to implement new technologies, policies, or financial schemes.  [Editorial Staff, Unlimited Publishing]

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