well – KabbalahSecrets.com

Sukkot Once Again: Time to Revitalize and Nourish the 70 Nations.

This year, more than ever in our history, more than ever in the 3330 years since we entered the desert, it is imperative we make the Sukkot connections with conscious and utilize the G-d given technology to make the highest possible linkages to Binah/Moshiach for ourselves, for Israel and for the world. When we’re called to the Torah we’re supposed to channel and share our energy with the entire congregation. Even more so when we’re called before the King of Kings and receive his blessings and energy for the new year; we are suppose to share it with the whole world, hence the holiday of Sukkot. Through the proper meditations and the implementation of the ancient knowledge with the proper traditional technology the well-springs will open and flow for everyone.

We are repeating and updating below an article that we have posted over the years to explain many of the secrets and kavannot of the shakings of the lulov within the sukkah. This year, if we shake with our hearts we will shake the world awake and shake open the gates. Let’s do it together.

The Shakings

Regarding the daily shakings of the four species, there are 5 sets, each of which is done in the 6 directions of the cube, for a total of 30. This corresponds to the 30 blasts of the shofar in each set on Rosh Hashannah and the large letter Lamed(ל), which is spiritually connected to Binah and has the numerical value 30, that is found in the Torah reading just prior to Rosh Hashannah. The word Lamed (למד) has the numerical value of 74 or 70 +4, representing the 70 Nations, the 4 species, and the 4 exiles, and not coincidentally the large Ayin (ע) and Dalet (ד) of the values 70 and 4 respectively of the Shema.

That Lamed (ל) connects to the Lamed (ל)of Lulav (לולב). According to Abraham Avinu, it is also the letter Lamed(ל) that along with the letter Pe (פ) controls the month of Tishrei (Libra), the month in which we do both the shofar blowings and the shakings. It is also the lamed (ל)of the word Aleph (אלפ, the first), and when the controlling letters of Tishrei, the letters Lamed(ל) and Pe (פ) are completed with the letter Aleph (א) they spell out the word Aleph (אלפ), connecting them to keter and the beginning, as in Aleph B’Tishrei (permutated to spell Bereshit, the beginning). It also connects the month to premordial Aleph (א) and the upcoming 1000 (eleph, אלפ) years of Binah.

If you have not figured it out yet, most things in Kabbalah come in threes(3’s) or triplets, corresponding to the 3 column archetype of the our 3-dimensional universe. The 3 shakings that we make per each of the 6 directions of our essential cubic sukkah, correspond to the 3 beats per type of blast of the shofar that we just did on Rosh Hashannah. Therefore, there are 18 shakings in total per set, and as Rav Abraham Brandwein of blessed memory points out, “The Lulav hints at the vertebral column that has 18 vertebrae and every movement indicates vitality. Thus all 4 species need to be damp and alive and not dry.” The 18 shakings also corresponds to the value of the word, chai(חי), life. And straightening this connection is that the word value of lulav is 68, as in chaim (חיים),life and the Tree-of-life.

With 18 shaking per each of the 5 sets plus the shaking at the blessing there are 91 total shakings per day, which corresponds to teh numerical value of amen and the all-important unification of G-d’s Names the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) with Adonai (אהדונהי) that we should meditate on when we same Amen. 91 is most appropriately the value of the word Succah (סוכה)itself, which helps us to integrate the inner and outer light.

Moreover, at 30 daily shakings x 7 days, there are 210 total shakings, as in the 210 years of Egyptian exile. The 210 total shakings in the complete cycle of 7 days are very significant and are not coincidentally related to the 210 years of Egyptian exile. It is well known that the maximum height of a sukkah is 20 cubits, though what is concealed in that cubic space that is contained within that maximum 20 cubit cube are 20 concentric cubes, each diminished by 1 cubit at a time. In other words, there are 20 cubes within one another like Russian dolls: one of 20 cubits³, the next of 19 cubits³, then 18 through …1 cubit³. If these cubes were stacked on top of one another, we would have a towering stack of 20 cubes equal to 20+19+18…1, which equals 210 cubits in total height and 44,100 cubits³ in total volume. The number 20 (twenty) in Hebrew is written Esrim (עשרים) of numerical value 620, the same as the word, Keter, the highest dimension, and the same as the 620 letters in the 10 Commandments. This is like the Holy of Holies itself which measures 20 x 20 cubits square.

When we reach Keter in our counting or stacking from 1…18+19+20, we reach 210 levels, or years in the case of the Egyptian exile, so is it coincidental that we also reach the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza at exactly 210 levels and 210 cubits in height? The volume of those 20 cubes, 44,100 cubits³, is awfully evocative of the Hebrew word for truth, Emet of numerical value 441.

Why make this comparison? Because just as the pyramid was an antennae built to all the right codes and specifications, so is your sukkah. It is designed to help us end our exile and connect us to the highest levels, allowing us to tap into and share the pure and powerful energy of Binah.

Then when the 3 shakings per direction are considered over the full 7 days, there are 210 x 3 or 630 total shakings in the 7 days. 630 is 10 x 63, the value of the Tetragrammaton in the aspect of Binah. The number 10 always corresponds to the 10 sefirot (dimensions), and in this case to the 10 sub-dimensions (inner sefirot) within Binah. During the entire process of Sukkot, we’re drawing down the energy from Yesod of Ima (Binah) so we see how the overall Binah connections are very fitting and part and parcel to the technology involved in the shakings.

For these reasons it is very important to do the full 7 day cycle of shakings, and even though we do not physically handle the lulov and etrog we should go through the motions and meditations as if we were. This is what Rav Berg of blessed memory did and we diligently went through each one with their associated kavonot. This is what I suggest you do as well. It is 5778; it is time to utilize ALL of the technology available to us.

Over the 7 days of Sukkot, we’re making 70 sacrifices to share the energy with the 70 nations of the world. Each of these sacrifices corresponds to a specific one of the sub-sefirot in order as we descend through them during the 7 day period.

The 4 Species

Regarding the four species: As we know from the Arizal, the four species correspond to the 4 letters of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה): Hadas (י), Aravah (ה), lulav (ו) and Etrog (ה). So since the numerical values of Hadas and Aravah = 346 (שמו), and those two species correspond to (יה), they spell out “The Name YH(יה שמו).” The three sides of the sukkah itself forms the shape of the letter Bet (ב), completing the B’Y-H ShMV (ביה–שמו) sequence that comprise the 6 letters that occur at the top of the 248 columns of the Torah that are specifically not vavs(ו) and whose numerical value is that of H’Moshiach (the Messiah).

As for the lulov, it can be said that the word lulav (לולב) represents the entire Torah in two different ways since it begins with (ל) and ends in (ב) and since it also ends in the letter combination Lamed-Bet (לב), as in the first (ב) and last (ל) letters of the Torah. This letter reversal is an allusion to the recycling of the Torah that occurs during this period, when we read the last verse of the Torah and immediately twist it back to the beginning and read from Bereshit.

While the numerical value Hadas and lulov together (68+69) equals 137, the numerical value of kabbalah, meaning “to receive” and “parallel,” the numerical value of Hadas (הדס) and Aravah (ערבה) and lulov (לולב) together equals 414, which is twice the numerical value of Or, light, 2 x 207, thus representing the running and returning light.

As for the 4th species, the etrog (אֶתְרוֹג) has the numerical value 610, as in parnesa (sustenance) and ma’aser (tithing), and their corresponding kabbalistic meditations for drawing the Shefa into our lives. This numerical connection makes logical sense, considering that the Etrog corresponds to the malchut of yesod, the place where we earn our parnesa (sustenance).

Nevertheless, the total value of the 4 species (610+277+68+69) is 1024, which not only matches the 1024 unique word values in the Torah and is 32² , as in the 32 Paths of the Tree-of-Life, but is also representative of the number of vertices (points) on a 10-dimensional hypercube. In simpler terms the 4 species combined connect us to the 1024 portals of the Torah in the spiritual hyperspace (Binah). Moreover, not coincidentally 32 x 32 cubits is the measure of the Holy Alter in the center of the courtyards of the Third Temple.

Fortunately, this connection to the 1024 portals happens for us automatically once we incorporate that understanding into the consciousness of our shakings. To fulfill our responsibility of sharing the light with the 70 nations we can connect to the 4 final letters (בסהג) of the names of the 4 species, which add up to 70.

These connections that have existed as is for 3330 years are all the more imperative since the 4th exile is supposed to end 70 years after Israel became a nation in 1948 (5708), which would be this year, 5778 (2018 CE).

Given the importance of the sharing of the light with the 70 nations at the end of the 70th year, the letter Ayin (ע) with the numerical value 70 stands out as the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so it’s not coincidental that there are 16 letters in the names of the 4 species. The sum of the ordinal value of those 16 letters is 151, as in the value of the Name, Ehyeh (אהיה) spelled out (אלפ–הה–יוד–הה) which is the Name of G-d that it is at the level of Binah from where we are drawing down the energy into the 4 species. I highly suggest you use a kabbalistic siddur (prayer book) for doing the shakings in order to make the proper, purest, and highest connections. It is complicated technology and when we are going through the repeated circuits of the shakings we become one with the mechanism. It needs us at the center to manually do the movements and make the right visual connections to the associated Names of G-d and everything else is divinely driven.

Moreover, the sum of the ordinal value of the letters in lulav is 32, as in the numerical value of the letters Lamed and Bet (לב), which spells Lev, the Hebrew word for heart. This is another connection to the 32 paths of Wisdom, which is in essence the Tree-of-life (Etz Chaim), as represented on Sukkot by the lulav, whose standard gematria value is 68, which as we noted earlier is that of chaim (life).

We mentioned earlier that the Alter in the very center of the Courtyards of the Third Holy Temple is 32 x 32 cubits. Since the Inner Courtyard measure 100 x 100 cubits, the distance from the Alter to the edge of the Inner Courtyard is 68 cubits on all sides. So when stand in our sukkahs doing the shakings, we can connect to and imagine that we are at the central Alter in the Third Holy Temple and extending our lulavs outward, metaphorically and metaphysically, to the boundaries of the Inner Courtyard. The Third Holy Temple is already here spiritually and the more we connect to it the quicker it will be here physically.

The complete gematria value of the word Lulav (לולב) is 68 + 32 = 100, which is also the value of sach (סככ), the roof (covering) of the Sukkah, an extremely important component in the Sukkot technology. The sach represents keter, the highest sefira, and is evocative of the height of the Third Holy Temple, 100 cubits.

So when we shake the Lulav we not only want to bring it back to our heart, but we want to mediate on the light and love channeling back and forth through it, as we stand both in our succahs and in the center of the Third Temple, channeling for the entire world.

Now, if we add all the elements of the holiday together, we get 100 (Sach) + 91 (sukkah) + 1024 (4 species) = 1215, which as we discussed in our previous article is the numerical value of “70 Languages,” and therefore representative of the 70 Nations that sit on the branches of the Tree-of-Life waiting to be watered from our connections. Like the first 4 words of the Shema, the complete value of the first 9 letters of the Torah is also 1215, as are the 11 unique letters in the Torah’s first verse.

In the portion of the Torah read just prior to Sukkot, there are 11 extraneous dots over the letters, a phenomenon that occurs 10 times in the Torah. Now, while the last of those 11 letters in the words under the 11 dots is the letter ayin, with a value of 70, the complete value (standard and ordinal) of all 11 letters under the dots is 422, which is the exact numerical value of the word “seventy (70).” These, of course, connect to the destruction of the first Two Holy Temples in –422 BCE and in 70 CE, respectively, as has already been detailed and chronicled in The Divine Calendar.

Once again, it is our responsibility to mediate on sharing this light with the 70 Nations, and this is why we were blessed to be the channels and given these magnificent divine tools to use. As it says in Isaiah 56:7, ” I will bring them to My holy Mountain and make them rejoice in My House of Prayer…For My House will be called the House of Prayer for all the nations.”

These self-same 70 Nations are gathering this year to attack Israel, as the Zohar prophesied nearly 2000 years ago. Every manufactured twist in the world tension brings the world closer to global war and mayhem, yet by fulfilling our G-d given role, we can inject enough Binah consciousness into the world, and have mercy rain down instead.

Sukkot is usually the time of joy, when the energy of rejoicing is drawn down upon us by our actions within the succah for the entire year. This yea, it is the time of action, when what we do has the power to determine the sake of humanity. Evil and its conduit, the Erev Rav are running rampant throughout the world. Physically, it may be too late; spiritually, we have the tools we need to triumph. This Sukkot, let us put joy in our hearts; let us stand at the Alter of the Holy Temple as we stand within our Sukkahs; let us use the gyrating wand of the 4 species to channel the energy of Binah into our lives and out to the whole world; and let us bring Moshiach consciousness to the world once and for all.

Chag Sameach

Ezra

“Song of the Well” from which we Draw the Light

…continued from the “Song of the Sea” at Shmot 15:1-21, paragraph 42, where we discussed the connection of the flowing Light to water, the mikve concept, the name Ehyeh and the 42-Letter Name of G-d, all their conjoined connections to H’Moshiach (the Messiah), and also the importance of joyful singing in appreciation of Hashem.

The next song sung in the Bible is also about water. It is the “Song at the Well” found at Bamidbar 21:17-20, and not coincidentally we find that the first well drank from in the Torah is found at Bereshit 21:17-20, when G-d gives Hagar and young Ishmael relief and offers to make him a mighty nation. This cannot be a coincidence, but the difference was Hagar and Ishmael didn’t give thanks. Yet G-d kept his promise and made him a mighty nation, a nation of unquenchable thirst.

And neither can the fact that the word well, Ber (BER) is found 22 times in the Torah, an indication of the flow of light through the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and that all the permutations of Ber, such as in the Torah’s 2nd word, Barah (BRE) add up to 28, the same total number of time2 the word “river” is used in the Torah.

Well and River?

Wells are dug. Rivers flow down from the mountains. The rivers refer to the flow of Light from the upper rivers above, while the wells are the vessels, recipients of this flow, which is why Abraham and the Patriarchs were always digging wells, to prepare our vessels for the Light. This is also why Miriam, a female, was in charge of the well. She was a natural vessel, while Moses was a natural channel, and more like a river in nature.

The first verse of the Torah also has 28 letters, and of the first 9 of those letters, the permuted BER (well) to BER (to create) was included twice, BRESHYT BRE because it takes two drops from below to cause one to flow down from above, which is also why the Moshiach prophecies are based on 666, or 2/3. We have to move 2/3 of the way ourselves and G-d will do the rest.

And that BER (well) and BER (to create) are spiritually related is easily understood if one sees BER (well) as the feminine principal or vessel, which is what creates, gives birth, or manifests. While a river can flow all day long, the water (or Light) must be drawn into a vessel in order to irrigate and nourish and breed life.

Interestingly enough, those 9 letters, including their ordinal value sum to 1215, and as we discussed in our article on the Shakings of the Lulav, all the diverse elements of the Sukkot holiday add up to 100 (Sach) + 91 (sukkah) + 1024 (4 species) = 1215. There is a reason for 1215, but we wont go into it now, but when we take away 1 for the kolel, and get 1214, much of the technology gets revealed. For example, amongst the 28 letters of the Torah’s first verse, there are 11 unique letter and they also have a complete value (ordinal plus standard gematria) of 1214. Also 1214 is the exact numerical value of “70 languages” (ShBAYM LShVNVT), corresponding to the 70 nations and the 70 faces of the Torah. And furthermore, 1214 is the exact value for the “permutation of the letters” (ZYRVP H’EVTYVT), which the Torah seems to be telling us to do, as did Abraham, the Patriarch, in his Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation).

This helps explains the water connection, “Pouring of the Water” (nisuch hamayim), during and to the holiday of Sukkot. And during the time of teh Holy Temple, “Pouring of the Water” was accompanied by signing and dancing and much celebration, just as it should be, considering the first songs of the Torah are about water, and the flow of the Light.

That the exact word well (Beer, BER), found 22 times in the Torah, is obviously connected with the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, through which Light flows into our world, but a deep secret revealed in The Genesis Prayer is that the Well of Miriam is located at the very center of 42-Letter Name matrix in the Reish-Zaddi (RZ) pair, at letters #21 and 22 of the 42 letters, at the place also known as the Brit of Mashiach, as discussed in previous blogs. Moreover, the numerical value of the RZ pair is 290, the same as Miriam. Because of the special properties of the mikve, those concerned about fertility and the conception of righteous children, shold read the special section in The Genesis Prayer regarding the 42-letter Name and this special connection within it. Many people for many generations including ours have received so-called miracles from it, which we know to be just the tree-of-life reality at work.

…to be continued with the rest of the 10 songs. And we will soon be discussing the “Sword of Michael,” which some say is also the “Sword of Moses,” hidden within the “Song of the Sea.”

“The Song of the Sea” through which the Light Flows.

…continued from The Secret of 10 and the River of Light, where from the unique 10-letter word in the Torah we were discussing the flow of Light through the 10 sefirot and the word river found concealed with it.

As previously discussed the word “the river” is found 21 times in the Torah and it’s usually translated as the Nile, and also the word “river” is found 151 times throughout the entire Tanakh. So it’s interesting that the first of what the Midrash enumerates as the 10 preeminent songs in the history of Israel–the 10 songs of thanks and redemption–is the “Song at the Sea” found at Shmot 15:1-21, paragraph 42.

The number 151 to any kabbalist is synonymous with the name of G-d, Ehyeh spelled out with heys (ELP HH YVD HH) and also the word mikve, the ritual cleansing bath so important for removing negativity. Moreover, the 21 verses of the “Song of the Sea” also correspond to that same higher Name of G-d, the Name at the level of Binah, Ehyeh, whose numerical value is 21, just like the 21 times “the River” is mentioned in the Torah.

And because Miriam’s Song goes hand in hand with the “Song of the Sea” as an intercalated response on behalf of the women to the men’s verses, 1 for 1, we have 21 + 21 verses = 42.

River, Sea, Mikve, Ehyeh; 42-Letter Name; It all seems to be interconnected pretty tightly.

Arguably, the passing through the sea was akin to a huge Mikve and final cleansing of the Israelites on their way to receiving the Torah at Sinai and to complete their 42 journeys in order to reach the Promised Land. And while the first word of the liturgical poem (Ana B’koach) that accompanies the 42 letters is Ana (ENE) of small gematria value 151, the first letters of the first 3 lines of the 42 Letter (6 x 7) matrix are EKN of numerical value 151, so not only is this connection far from coincidental, but one of the purposes of the 42-letter name is to act as a mikve and cleansing away of the klippot (negative shells) and selfish desires for our prayers as they pass from malchut through Zeir Apin to Binah and the upper worlds.

The Ana B’koach (42-Letter Name) is a river, a river we can sail at any moment. (For sailing lessons see The Genesis Prayer)

This auto-cleansing mechanism is one reason why the 42-Letter Name cannot be used negatively, as opposed to many other Names whose usage can backfire, as advised by Rabbi Chaim Vittal of blessed memory, unless we’re in a highly pure and holy state. When the Ana B’Koach is recited, the dams are released from below and the waters rise up. With most other Names, we’re calling upon them above and thus must be in a much holier (more righteous) place.

And along with our prayers, it’s our actions below that cause the waters (ma’im nukva) to ascend and for Heaven to respond and the river of light to drench/quench us. According to chazal, the equation is two drops from below cause one from above, and it’s illustrated in the Name Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, whose two Ehyehs are 2 x 21 = 42 since both activated by the 42-letter Name (Shem Mem-Bet) recited below by us.

It takes two drops from below, and as illustrated by the Torah for us in its first song by the responsive singing of Miriam and Moses, the women and the men, the male and female attributes must be in harmony for heavenly light to flow freely.

It’s also an illustration that we need to show our appreciation and celebrate it with the community with enlivened joy, harmonizing our voices in one spirit and soul. When miracles are done for us, it may have been our personal actions that Heaven responded to, but they are for the benefit of everyone. Managing the waterworks is a community project if we want the waters to reach the trees and the fields and not just our own backyards.

Trees, Fields, Water and Moshiach

As Zion pointed out in the blog at www.RabbiShimon.com, the Tanakh has established the relationship between Man, trees, and the field with these two verses: (Jeremiah 17:8) וְהָיָה כְּעֵץ שָׁתוּל עַל-מַיִם “For he (man) shall be as a tree planted by the waters” and from parsha Shoftim, paragraph 73, which relates to Chochma/Wisdom (of gematria 73): (Deuteronomy 20:19) כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה “For is the tree of the field a man…”

Not only do these verses relate to Man as Zeir Anpin and our need to connect to the flowing water of the tree-of-life, but the verse Devarim 20:19 is also alluding to Moshiach, a man who will be the tree-of-life, and thus we find the reason why this verse, ostensibly about not cutting down trees that bear fruit during a siege, is found at paragraph 73, the numerical value of the sefira of Chochma (Wisdom) and at 20:19, an allusion to the year 2019 that, as explained in The Divine Calender and Nothing is Random in the Universe, the tzaddikim have designated as the year the reign of Mashiach will begin, at the tail end of 5778.

The full 6-word 18 letter phrase begins with Lo Ticrot, (LE TCRT) so the final letters of the phrase (ETYMZH) add up to 546 the 10 initials of the 10 sefirot (the tree-of-life), while we can permute the letters to H’Etz Emet (HYZ EMT), the Tree-of-Truth, which may be why the word H’Adam (“the man”) has the gematria sofit value of 611, that of Torah, which is known as Truth.

Moreover, the sum of the last two words in the verse add up 49 + 314= 363, the gematria of H’Moshiach (the Messiah). There’s much more divinity in this phrase, including the sum of the 6 words, plus the kolel of 6 equaling 1610 or 10 x 161, the highest value of Ehyeh, spelled out with yuds (ELP HY YVD HY), but back to the songs.

One last note for now about the” Song of the Sea:” if we examine its unique 3-column structure that all kabbalists agree mimics the 3-column structure of the tree-of-life, we see that the first four letters vertically of the right column spell out ELUL, as in the month of Elul (Virgo), the month of tshuvah (repentance), when we prepare for meeting the King of Kings on Rosh Hashanna. If we consider the 5 Mem-Bet Names of the 72 Names, as discussed in recent blogs, that were used to help split the Red Sea, separately, there are 72-5, or 67 other Names, and the gematria value of Elul is 67, the same as that of Binah (understanding). Binah is the upper sefira (dimension) associated with the Name Ehyeh. And it’s to Binah that are voices rise when we sing out in songs of praise and appreciation to G-d.

This is what the angels do every day, and what we do far too infrequently. We do do it as part of our daily and Shabbat prayers, but we have to ask ourselves if we’re doing it with the consciousness of appreciation or with a more robotic spirit. The beauty of the angels is that they can only focus on one thing, and when we are truly singing from our hearts, it’s very difficult to focus on anything else, which is why if we can shift our consciousness to true appreciation of all that G-d does for us and sing out loud, we can become like the angels and our words and spirits will elevate to Binah automatically. Our voices will be heard in Heaven above.

This is why there are 10 songs of appreciation in the Tanakh; this is why they are so important to us. There is little else that we can so easily do that will connect us to Binah. And that is also why singing songs of joy from our hearts makes us feels so good, so ecstatic. The Light is so pure.

And to show us what the songs of appreciation can lead to, we have initiating the top of the Torah column that “Song of the Sea” appears in, the letter hey (H). Normally, the 248 columns of the Torah begin with a Vav (V) but there are 6 special columns that begin with a different letter and these 6 letters spell out BYHShMV (In YH His Name, a reference to Mashiach) and their numerical value is 363, the same as H’Moshiach, “The Messiah.”

And the word that the letter Hey (H) occurs in at the top of this column is H’baim (HBEYM), and while some might say it looks like a permutation of the name Obama (EVBMH), it does for sure indicate by the letters Hey and Mem-Bet the 5 MB’s discussed above. And we could even say that the sofit gematria value of the word being 618 is a reference to the 6 words and 18 letter phrase from Devarim 20:19 also discussed above and often connected with this Torah portion.

Nevertheless, water, like Light, like wisdom, like the music and notes of song, flows, and should never stop, not even when we’re signing the 10th song in praise and appreciation of H’Moshiach.

This Shabbat take the extra time to do the kavannot (Focusing your arrows) on appreciation of Hashem and all He’s done for us before the songs, especially the Az Ishir (“Song of the Sea”) and sing from your heart with joy love and awe, celebrating with the community. And together, let’s split the Endless Sea (Ym Sof) that separates us from Moshiach, Hashem, and the tree-of-life reality. And B”H let it become a joyous habit for us.

…to be continued with our discussion of the 2nd Song, the “Song of the Well,” which is closely related to the “Song of the Sea” through the metaphor of water….