To me the only reason to suppress a well spring is to destroy (or attempt to destroy) life creation of pure spring water of life. An act of Evil if ever I beheld one.
I think with much of this sort of behavior, it's an attempt at control which results in destruction as an unintended consequence; a bit like the colonization of Hawaii wiping out most of the indigenous human inhabitants by introducing gonorrhea, syphilis, influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, the mumps, measles, smallpox, and leprosy.
There's that idea, "never assign to malign intent that which can be explained by mere stupidity." The difference between stupidity and malignancy remains debatable. I recall someone once remarking upon how most people fail to recognize how incredibly dangerous stupid people are. I mean, if you could somehow go back and interview this person who destroyed the well, my bet is rather than an evil, life-hating scoundrel, you instead would find a moron.
Secular folk do not like mysteries. Christians, Catholics in particular, know that some mysteries are intended to exist, and are comfortable with them.
Be appalled, O heavens at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me , the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns that can hold no water.
This comment makes me think of Konrad Lorenz, the father of ethology, and his unease at the way we are "treating" our drinking water. He was already writing about this in the 1970's, I think. About fifteen years ago I had a semi ? religious experience when I realized that our flush toilets in the Western World used drinking quality water to flush our shit away. At the time, that seemed an abomination to me, and Jeremiah would have used that word, too.
It still seems mysterious to me whan I realize that the water inside my body reacts in sympathy to water outside of my body, if only when I turn the water on in my house. If we thought about that more often, maybe we would be more... respectful ?
Maybe there are forms of paganism that are more respectful of sacredness like this than what our organized religions have become (I am not forgetting our organized ideologies either...).
Inconvenient waters. Reading this brought to mind how often small streams get paved over as cities grow. They get in the way of gridded streets and headlong construction, so planners bury them and pretend they're gone. But they inevitably reveal theselves as basements flood and sinkholes form at street corners. Sometimes cries of "Free the Creek!" will arise as people remember water sources and watercourses are also living things, members of our communities.
In Dublin, a prominent street beside Trinity College is called Nassau St. but was originally called Sráid Thobair Phádraig/St. Patrick's Well St. There are so many streams, wells, and tributaries under the city, most notably the River Poddle, last seen above ground in Harold's Cross, by a local Russian Orthodox Church and old city cemetery, before sinking into a culvert and eventually joining the Liffey, and the sea. "Inconvenient waters" would make a great protest slogan!
"There are plenty of stories about non-protestant foolishness being punished too, often by the well moving of its own accord, in protest at some ill treatment."
FWIW, there are comparable Russian miracle stories.
Maybe this is how it begins.. you try to subvert/destroy something good in nature, and this gives you the confidence to lie about anything that doesn't comport to your ideology...and here we are.
We had an old farm well. The health department said fill it in or restore it. So we restored it by building a house over it and sinking new pipe. It dried up
due to a drought and possibly our neighbor drawing on that aquifer for her cows. I think water is back but we haven’t tested it. We use it for our horse. I know it’s not a holy well but it is cool.
These guys are pretty good. We did get water but it turned green so I didn't dare use it for the horses. The health department gave me bottles to test it with and avoid a visit but I got lazy. Now we draw water from a spigot by the house which isn't that bad. I have one horse now so it's doable except when there's ice between the house and barn. Then it gets difficult..
This brought to mind Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" - a Victorian ghost story about a disputed tract of land, valued for its freshwater spring. The moral of it is: don't mess with someone else's spring!
There was a holy well in the field next to our farm in Co Limerick that appears on all the old maps - I went looking for it when I first moved here (an ex-pat American) but no avail. Asked my brother in law about it and he said the new owner of the field took down all the brickwork and destroyed it. It's still quite boggy land with a lot of reeds but no more well that dated to at leas the the 11th Cent. I wonder if the farmer's family has had bad luck as a result (they're not the most friendly of neighbours either).
To me the only reason to suppress a well spring is to destroy (or attempt to destroy) life creation of pure spring water of life. An act of Evil if ever I beheld one.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Sorry, folks... Having some Machine troubles, there...Hopefully it will all resolve itself mysteriously without my having to do anything about it...
Agreed :-)
I think with much of this sort of behavior, it's an attempt at control which results in destruction as an unintended consequence; a bit like the colonization of Hawaii wiping out most of the indigenous human inhabitants by introducing gonorrhea, syphilis, influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, the mumps, measles, smallpox, and leprosy.
There's that idea, "never assign to malign intent that which can be explained by mere stupidity." The difference between stupidity and malignancy remains debatable. I recall someone once remarking upon how most people fail to recognize how incredibly dangerous stupid people are. I mean, if you could somehow go back and interview this person who destroyed the well, my bet is rather than an evil, life-hating scoundrel, you instead would find a moron.
Power always wants to move things by force and seldom that is a holy act. Good story, thanks!
We have a man named Joe Powers here in local town government... he is not a friend of the aquifer. May the holy powers limit him also!
lol, get diggin' baby.... good for the muscles.... St. Anne's well is waiting for you
Holy Righteous ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna, pray for us. I certainly wouldn’t want to cross her. :)
Secular folk do not like mysteries. Christians, Catholics in particular, know that some mysteries are intended to exist, and are comfortable with them.
Lindy, count us Eastern Orthodox as highly comfortable with mysteries of the faith, a/k/a mysterion.
A friend can often be heard saying
“Man plans, God laughs.”
Do not mess with the wells, indeed.
I like that one a lot, and have my own version of it.
Pertinent I think to this essay. Jeremiah 2:12-13
Be appalled, O heavens at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me , the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns that can hold no water.
Done that myself more than once, sigh.
This comment makes me think of Konrad Lorenz, the father of ethology, and his unease at the way we are "treating" our drinking water. He was already writing about this in the 1970's, I think. About fifteen years ago I had a semi ? religious experience when I realized that our flush toilets in the Western World used drinking quality water to flush our shit away. At the time, that seemed an abomination to me, and Jeremiah would have used that word, too.
It still seems mysterious to me whan I realize that the water inside my body reacts in sympathy to water outside of my body, if only when I turn the water on in my house. If we thought about that more often, maybe we would be more... respectful ?
Maybe there are forms of paganism that are more respectful of sacredness like this than what our organized religions have become (I am not forgetting our organized ideologies either...).
Inconvenient waters. Reading this brought to mind how often small streams get paved over as cities grow. They get in the way of gridded streets and headlong construction, so planners bury them and pretend they're gone. But they inevitably reveal theselves as basements flood and sinkholes form at street corners. Sometimes cries of "Free the Creek!" will arise as people remember water sources and watercourses are also living things, members of our communities.
In Dublin, a prominent street beside Trinity College is called Nassau St. but was originally called Sráid Thobair Phádraig/St. Patrick's Well St. There are so many streams, wells, and tributaries under the city, most notably the River Poddle, last seen above ground in Harold's Cross, by a local Russian Orthodox Church and old city cemetery, before sinking into a culvert and eventually joining the Liffey, and the sea. "Inconvenient waters" would make a great protest slogan!
"There are plenty of stories about non-protestant foolishness being punished too, often by the well moving of its own accord, in protest at some ill treatment."
FWIW, there are comparable Russian miracle stories.
Maybe this is how it begins.. you try to subvert/destroy something good in nature, and this gives you the confidence to lie about anything that doesn't comport to your ideology...and here we are.
There is always a story...
We had an old farm well. The health department said fill it in or restore it. So we restored it by building a house over it and sinking new pipe. It dried up
due to a drought and possibly our neighbor drawing on that aquifer for her cows. I think water is back but we haven’t tested it. We use it for our horse. I know it’s not a holy well but it is cool.
Ah, the “Health” department, always at the ready to attack, destroy, or otherwise impair health.
These guys are pretty good. We did get water but it turned green so I didn't dare use it for the horses. The health department gave me bottles to test it with and avoid a visit but I got lazy. Now we draw water from a spigot by the house which isn't that bad. I have one horse now so it's doable except when there's ice between the house and barn. Then it gets difficult..
"Mr. Power's Error" could be the title of a ghost story by M.R. James or the like. Even the basic plotline would work!
I can imagine that!
This brought to mind Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" - a Victorian ghost story about a disputed tract of land, valued for its freshwater spring. The moral of it is: don't mess with someone else's spring!
There was a holy well in the field next to our farm in Co Limerick that appears on all the old maps - I went looking for it when I first moved here (an ex-pat American) but no avail. Asked my brother in law about it and he said the new owner of the field took down all the brickwork and destroyed it. It's still quite boggy land with a lot of reeds but no more well that dated to at leas the the 11th Cent. I wonder if the farmer's family has had bad luck as a result (they're not the most friendly of neighbours either).