When I was about ten years old we needed a new well on our farm in central Minnesota. My dad contacted the local well driller, and was surprised to learn that they would drill the well only if he had a “water witcher”1they worked with go over the property. Dad had to agree, but I remember him expressing some skepticism when I overheard him telling my mom about it.

So I waited with some excitement on the morning that the witcher was to come. When an ordinary car came down the driveway and an ordinary looking, middle-aged guy got out, I felt some disappointment. He greeted us, somewhat distantly, then things got out of the ordinary. He pulled a narrow black case about a yard long from the backseat and set it on the hood of the car. He opened it up to reveal two polished wood rods, one of which was thicker at one end then tapering down the length. When he screwed the two pieces together it resembled a pool cue, although thinner. At the tip was a wooden ball about the size of a marble that he said was made of willow. He extended his right arm, palm up. Then he tucked the butt end of the rod in his armpit and ran the rod down his forearm and over his upturned palm until a couple of feet extended beyond his hand.

Dad showed him the general area where he wanted the well, and the witcher proceeded to walk fairly rapidly back and forth in about a 100 foot square. I vividly remember when he came to one spot and the tip of the rod dove toward the ground. He stopped and marked the spot with a stick, then continued his back-and-forth pacing. At several spots the tip of the rod would bend downward to various degrees.

When he finished he came over to us and told my dad that if the well were at location x and y feet deep he could pump about z gallons per minute. He did this for several of the locations he had discovered. Dad asked if he could try it. The witcher gave him the rod, but when Dad went over one of the spots, nothing happened. Then the witcher said to let me try, since it sometimes works for children. He set me up with the rod, and when I passed it over the spot it definitely gave a tug and the tip bent slightly.

I relate the story of this experience because it came up for me as the foundation for an analogy. Every living thing that exists on this earth needs H2O to sustain physical life—water that is found in its purest form beneath its surface. But we are more than just superficial physical existence: we have a spiritual life as well. And this spiritual life needs spiritual “water” to sustain it, which is composed of compassion, love, and wisdom.

If we only walk the surface of the earth and experience material existence as the totality of life, our spiritual life becomes desperately thirsty for the Water of the Spirit. We intuit that this life-giving spiritual water flows deep within us beneath the surface of life, but do not know where or how to look for it. Or, we pick up bits and pieces of teachings and practices and try to dig on our own. But we only dig shallow holes and find not water but stones and become disoriented and discouraged. We need the right tools and the right direction. For us in the Serene Reflection Meditation tradition, the principle tools are pure meditation, Precepts, and the master-disciple relationship.

The master stands in a long line of ancestors who have drilled down and tapped into that vast reservoir of spiritual water and brought it up into their own lives. They can hand us the tools and show us how to dig and where to focus our effort, but we must do the work ourselves. When we inevitably hit karmic “rocks” they encourage us that if we just keep drilling we will get through them. Their teachings and conviction inspire us to keep drilling through the difficulties.

And when at last we break through into that spiritual reservoir, the Water of the Spirit flows up naturally and we nourish our acts of body, speech, and thought with compassion, love, and wisdom.

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¹People with this ability are also called “water dowsers” or “water diviners.”

NEWS OF THE TEMPLES

North Star Dharma Refuge

Because environmental changes are stressing the butterfly and pollinator populations, Rev. Bennet has been converting the empty lot next to the temple into a refuge for them. The video below shows monarch butterflies taking advantage of the Prairie Blazing Star(liatris pycnostachya)plants during their migration in August to Mexico. He counted 30 on the cluster at one time.