It splashes, bubbles, flows and stands, it glistens, roars, roars and sprays, it splashes, runs and drips – the water that we experience outside, in deep mountain lakes, wild and leisurely rivers or at waterfalls or – as here – in an artistically created watercourse especially for the “water spirits”.

Undine Path, designed by employees and students of the free spiritual college in Naone, in Trentino, Italy. The interaction between man and nature for a forward-looking ecology is one of her subjects of study and research.

The preoccupation with water in its various forms of expression leads our attention outwards as if by itself. How our eyes love to follow the sparkling and jumping, how soothingly our ears perceive the gentle splashing, the funny bubbling and even murmuring. It seems almost impossible for us to experience the wet element as dead matter, as a physical formula in such a sunny, serene watercourse – no, there must be living forces, water spirits, forces of light, natural beings at play.

Indeed, in spiritual science there is the concept of “undines”, the elemental spirits of water. Apparently they live there “Where the stone touches the spring, the beings that are bound to the element of water embody themselves: the undines.”

(Reference: GA 98, p. 91 Rudolf Steiner)

It is extremely interesting and invigorating to spend some time observing the play of the water, its sparkle, its lively flow, its dripping impact and continued flow.

Lingering by a mountain lake has a different effect on the viewer. Here you can see Lake Tenno, which is located slightly above northern Lake Garda. In summer, when the temperatures are warm, it shines in a deep blue turquoise, which is caused by algae. This mood is also magical, calming and uplifting. As a viewer, you become calm and inwardly hopeful.

If, on the other hand, you spend time at a powerful waterfall – I have chosen the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, which I experienced impressively myself years ago – then you become aware of the entire elemental force of water for humans. The indescribably powerful, heavy roaring, roaring and foaming awakened in me the immediate experience of a force of nature, in the face of which there is almost a moment of standstill in the soul or also a feeling of being touched by the forces of death, which place one’s own person in an inescapable presence. Nothing else is alive at this moment. And in the aftermath of this experience, I am left feeling moved and somewhat more humble as a person.

And finally, the longing draws us humans to the sea. Literature, poems, dramas and hymns are dedicated to this endless expanse of water; poets, writers, painters and musicians have been and continue to be inspired by it. How it shows a mirror of a cosmic action with its tides, its coming and going, its flood and ebb.

The sea fascinates with its vastness. There is no end in sight. The disc of the sun seems to emerge directly from the wide expanse of water on the horizon in the morning and sink back into it at night. The sea is moving, never completely calm, always in rhythmic motion, calming, sometimes frightening in its force, and in its endless expanse also extending to human consciousness.

For many, the sea is the vacation destination they long for year after year. It is ideal for swimming, surfing, sailing and long walks on the beach. We generally find the salt air pleasant and regenerating for the respiratory tract, and the salty, moist element is also good for our skin.

Water, in its many, if you look at it closely, infinite forms and manifestations, seems to me to be particularly suited to touching and enriching us humans in our emotional life. A contemplative and exploratory approach to this element also promotes our appreciation and a more conscious approach to this precious gift of nature.