Sensing Fluidity

A sharing of the Phenomenon

By Nicholas Budwine

In Blue Hill, Maine, at the Water Research Institute with Jennifer Greene, 30 people gathered to embark on a journey to take steps towards experiencing the intrinsic nature of water. This was the task at the Sensitive Fluidity Conference in July 2024 and from my perspective each member from their hearts accepted the task as a student; allowing us, collectively, to find our selfless teacher, Water. In order to share this beautiful and transformative experience the article will account for the materials, setup, procedure, and a brief description of the phenomena as I observed it. I invite the reader to participate in the wonder and reverent examination of this life-supporting element.

One of the opening questions brought forward at the beginning of the conference was “What is Goethean Science?” To conclude this article I will share an imaginative picture of how the concepts of thinking, feeling, and willing guide me along a path towards understanding this kind of science.

Before conducting these experiences a series of sequential questions direct our observation and hone our thinking.

1) What happened, and where?

2) What changed? (From what to what)

3) What remained? What persisted?

4) What can we now say of the essence of what we have experienced?

Drop Fall Experience

MATERIALS :

A glass of still, unmoving water. A syringe for precise dropping. Pelikan Blue Ink (or any water based ink). A cup with a 1:10 ratio of ink to water dilution.

SET-UP:

Fill a jar with water and allow the water to settle still. Combine a 1:10 ratio of ink to water in a cup. Draw diluted ink into the syringe. Hold the syringe upright so that the tip is directed towards the sky. Consolidate the diluted ink by flicking the syringe, allowing air bubbles to rise to the top of the syringe. While still holding the syringe upright remove the air within the syringe by gently pushing on the plunger. STOP before the diluted ink emerges from the syringe tip.

PROCEDURE:

Hold the syringe so that the tip is directed towards the earth. Press the plunger so that a single diluted ink drop falls onto the surface of the water. Observe.

DESCRIPTION:

When the drop contacts the water in the jar the ink expresses continued motion below the water’s surface. The form that is immediately expressed is a torus rolling within, to, and from its center. I wish to call it en-volving. The torus, as it travels downward, expands in diameter and contracts in breadth, forming a ring. This ring then drops multiple smaller rings from its periphery. These smaller rings are connected by thin, veil-like strands of ink that simultaneously rise as the rings fall.

RING VORTEX EXPERIENCE

MATERIALS :

A glass of water. A syringe or pipette. A tube with an opening of approximately one to two centimeters on one end. The other end shall have a small hole made so that your syringe or pipette tip may fit. Diluted ink in 1:10 ratio.

SET-UP:

Fill a jar with water and allow the water to settle and still. Combine a 1:10 ratio of ink to water in a cup. Draw diluted ink into the syringe and remove air bubbles as before. Or draw diluted ink into a pipette.

PROCEDURE:

This is easily done with a friend but also can be done individually. Friend A will place the tube in the water with the wide opening submerged. Friend B will expel a few (3-7) drops of diluted ink into the small opening at the top of the tube while partly submerged. Once done, friend A will place their finger over the small hole, raise the tube slightly but not completely out of the water. Friend A will then remove their finger from the small hole. Observe.

DESCRIPTION:

A torus, as if shot out of the tube, travels through the water. The torus transforms as it traverses the downward trajectory through the water. The torus expands into a ring, and at a certain speed, simultaneously contracts and expands expressing a flower-like pattern amidst the absent center space.

STIRRED VORTEX EXPERIENCE

MATERIALS:

A glass of water. A stirring stick. Diluted ink. A syringe.

SET-UP:

Fill the jar with water. Maintain ink ratio and syringe set up. A special container with a hole at the base can be made so that the ink may be inserted from the bottom of the vessel.

PROCEDURE

Stir the water in one direction repeatedly to form a vortex. Observe. One may drop ink into the vortex and observe. One may drop ink at the periphery of the vortex and observe. Insert ink from the base, after stirring, and observe.

DESCRIPTION:

Initially the created vortex expresses with the water a form resembling a cone with its vertex directed toward the earth. This cone-like vortex begins to soften and become more round resembling a chalice. When the ink is added there are multiple cylindrical veils rotating around a snake-like tail that is pulsating, up and down, quickly and slowly. If the Ink is added from the base, this snake-like tail pulsates similarly, but appears to continuously rise.

NATURAL VORTEX EXPERIENCE

MATERIALS:

Container with an opening at the base. Water. Stirring stick. Plug.

SET-UP:

Plug the hole at the base of the container. Fill the container with water.

PROCEDURE

Stir the container to create a vortex. Pull out the plug from the base. Observe.

DESCRIPTION:

The natural vortex appears wider towards the surface of the water and tapers as it extends downward towards the earth. This vortex appears different from the stirred vortex resembling the astrological glyph Aries as opposed to a cone or chalice.

PUSHED VORTEX EXPERIENCE

OR RAM’S HORN VORTEX EXPERIENCE

MATERIALS:

A shallow container. Sugar. Water. A syringe or pipette. Diluted ink. A popsicle stick, butter knife, or ruler.

SET-UP:

Make sugar syrup in a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. Fill the container with syrup approximately ⅔ - ¾ full. Drop ink on the surface in a polka dot fashion.

PROCEDURE:

Hold the popsicle stick, butter knife, or ruler upright. Submerge one end of the stick in the solution. Push your popsicle stick through the syrup. Remove the stick from the solution. Observe.

DESCRIPTION:

Following behind the pushed stick and emerging outward from the wake are a series of vortices spiraling like a ram’s horn.

TWIN EDDIES & HALF RING VORTEX EXPERIENCE

MATERIALS:

A tub, the vessel should have room to push a small paddle and watch the eddies travel. A small paddle with a modified lip to hold ink. A syringe or pipette. Diluted ink.

SET-UP:

Fill the tank with water. Dilute ink.

PROCEDURE

Push the partly submerged paddle horizontally then lift the paddle vertically. Observe. Put ink on the modified paddle. Push the modified paddle as before, ensuring that the rear of the paddle is the side with the modified lip and ink. Observe.

DESCRIPTION

Two vortices appear after the paddle’s push. These vortices have two swirling motions, one that appears as the vortex itself swirling congruently with the direction of the push. Simultaneously, an inverse rotation appears on the water’s surface. These two vortices, eddies, travel in the direction of the initial push. They are also expanding and contracting between one another. When ink is added one can see a half ring below the surface of the water connecting the two eddies. This ring appears to roll in the direction of the push.

HEAD, HEART, AND HAND

There are three general concepts guiding my observations: thinking, feeling, and willing. Each one of these conceptual forces shall live, permeated by the moods of devotion, reverence, and veneration, within my striving. What is to follow is an offering of an imaginative picture illuminating their guidance.

The activity of thinking guides my experience of the apparent and expressed forms, i.e. the phenomena, by sharpening my focus, shifting my perspectives, and concentrating, simply, on what is presented before my very own sensory experience.

The activity of feeling guides my description of the phenomena through the power of the word. The word thoughtfully grounds the phenomena by precisely accounting the expressed appearance. Simultaneously, the word is able to paint an enlivened picture of the phenomena through poetic diction. The proper amount of resistance while describing is necessary here. If the account is too analytical, lacks creativity, and is mechanical, the image is dead, dry, and fails to ‘speak’ to my imagination. If the account is not sufficiently grounded in the precise appearance the account ‘flies off’ to fantasy, misconception, and presumptive anthropomorphism. But, when the balance is met, a rhythmic swirling of the phenomena’s essence appears.

The activity of willing guides my sharing and activism that is birthed from the essence of the phenomena. Appropriate resistance is critical to this concept, too. If the enrichment from the phenomena is greedily kept it rots, becoming unable to bear fruits for the whole of the world. If the essence is not consciously and willfully experienced by one’s own self when the enrichment is shared, that is, if it is inappropriately shared by telling one what they ought to perceive, it cannot inspire and encourage true activism for the en-noblement of humanity.

I perceive these concepts as being interwoven and operating as a threefold unity, although they appear successive in writing. Each feels to be enlivened by the humility of devotion to that higher power, met with nobility and respect that grows out of reverence, and offered selflessly with the intention to support the betterment of the world and humanity through the supreme love shining through veneration.