The Hidden Messages in Water Paperback – Illustrated, September 20, 2005

Before reading The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto, I pretty much viewed water as...necessary for survival, good with lemon, but not exactly a profound entity. This book completely, utterly, and fascinatingly changed that. I'm not even kidding, I actually started talking to my water bottle after reading it.I stumbled upon this book through a friend who was really into alternative science and spirituality. I was skeptical, to say the least. The premise – that water can react to human consciousness, thoughts, words, and intentions, and that this can be seen in the formation of water crystals when frozen – sounded pretty far out there. But the friend was persistent, and honestly, the title was intriguing enough that I finally caved.And wow. Just... wow. The heart of this book lies in the photographs. Emoto and his team exposed water to different words (like "love" or "hate"), music, prayers, and even just intentions, then froze samples and photographed the resulting crystals. The contrast is absolutely stunning and, for me, deeply moving. Water exposed to positive words or beautiful music formed intricate, symmetrical, and beautiful crystals. Water exposed to negative words or heavy metal music often resulted in distorted, incomplete, or even ugly formations. Seeing is believing, and those photos are incredibly powerful visual evidence of something happening.Beyond the captivating images, the book delves into the implications of these findings. It makes you think about the power of our own words and thoughts, not just on water, but on ourselves (since we're mostly water!) and the world around us. It shifted my perspective from seeing thoughts as just internal chatter to recognizing them as having a tangible, energetic impact.Reading this wasn't just an intellectual exercise; it felt like a gentle nudge towards being more mindful and intentional in my daily life. It encouraged me to think more positively, speak more kindly, and approach things with a greater sense of gratitude, even towards something as simple as the water I drink.Is it scientifically peer-reviewed in the traditional sense? That's a debate for others. But does it offer a unique, thought-provoking perspective that can inspire positive change? Absolutely. The Hidden Messages in Water is a book that sparked my curiosity, touched my heart, and genuinely made me look at the world (and my Brita filter) a little differently. If you're open to exploring fascinating ideas and seeing some truly beautiful and surprising images, give this book a read. You might just start thanking your tap water too!

I learnt about Masaru Emoto’s water research in the film 'What The Bleep Do We Know!?' It was an information that really left me speechless, and I ordered his books at once.I will not enter here the discussion about the credibility of his research. Allegedly, his water photography technique is not meeting the standard of double-blind tests. So, I will base my book reviews strictly on quotes taken from the books, and try to check his research back with my own twenty years of bioenergy research.This is an approach that allows me to avoid judging the controversy, or any of the positions as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, yet it helps to see that there is a certain probability that the memory of water is likely to reflect a certain bioenergetic functionality inherent in nature.I will try to bring some structure in this book review by relying not on hearsay, but on the author’s own statements. I will put some quotes and comment on them. If Emoto has not got full credentials, let us look what his writings reveal about him. I got the impression that he comes over as a wise man, a man with a very high level of intuitive knowledge, and also somebody who knows to write. His style is easy yet deep. He knows to express truth in a very clear and pristine way. To begin with, he writes:—So how can people live happy and healthy lives? The answer is to purify the water that makes up 70 percent of your body./xviFrankly I have never considered before in my life the fact that I consist mainly of water, and that because of this simple fact, I have to do something about that water I am consisting of. Have you? To be true, Paracelsus, one of the greatest healers in human history, said something similar. And my next question, logically so, would be: and why water? Emoto replies:—Water serves as a transporter of energy throughout our body. /xviiHaving studied virtually all written traditional knowledge about the bioenergy, after so many years, I overlooked the most essential and thus had to learn it from Emoto, that is, that this ch’i that flows through my body flows through my body because of water, because it basically flows through that watery substance in me. Now, Emoto puts it more precisely:—More now than in the past, the medical community has begun to see water as a transporter of energy, and it is even being used in the treatment of illness. Homeopathy is one such field where the value of water is recognized./xviiHomeopathy is indeed concerned with water. But most of us hardly ever knew why a homeopathic formula is diluted so much, and consists almost entirely of water? When we get to know that water is the magic here, and not the substances that are mixed with it in the homeopathic tincture, all becomes clear. Succinctly speaking, there are two major arguments that Emoto advances in order to explain his research, and that his detractors do not seem to catch up with. What is it that makes water to be a receptor and vehicle for thought? It is the fact that water, as all in life, is vibration and that this vibration can be manipulated through intent. But then, how and why does vibration change its frequency? Emoto writes:—What you really know is possible in your heart is possible. We make it possible by our will. What we imagine in our minds becomes our world./xxiiThe lesson what we can learn from this experiment has to do with the power of words. The vibration of good words has a positive effect on our world, whereas the vibration from negative words has the power to destroy./xxvNow, in fact this is true. The hermetic tradition taught since times immemorial that words are codified vibrations. The scriptures all converge in saying that in the beginning there was the Word, and that the Word was sacred and had creational power. In old Egypt and India, the hierophants used vibrations for healing.It is crucial to have a glimpse into the background of Emoto’s expertise, which is the Japanese Shinto tradition. Shinto is the native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. After World War II, Shinto lost its status as the state religion of Japan; some Shinto practices and teachings, once given a great deal of prominence during the war, are no longer taught or practiced today—yet they are still an essential part of the Japanese culture, be it only on the level of the collective unconscious.The fact that we vibrate, that we are a particular arrangement of frequencies, has been affirmed by not only the hermetic tradition, but also by clairvoyants. Not only do we vibrate, but we vibrate differently. In a sense, we all come with a unique vibrational pattern.I would like to add one interesting detail that was a surprising result of exposing water to positive affirmations, negative affirmations (insults) or else leaving the water completely unattended. The surprising outcome was that the worst water, the one with the worst crystals, was not the water that had received the insults from the school children who helped carry out the experiment, but the water that had received no attention at all from their part. Emoto comments:—To give your positive or negative attention to something is a way of giving energy. The most damaging form of behavior is withholding your attention./65This is a fact known from research on child abuse. Children who have been abused tend to go back to their abusers despite the fact that abuse is going to continue. And there was always a question mark in forensic research why children do that, and why they do not, or very seldom, betray their abuser in order to get rid of the abusive relationship?It has been found that it’s because the negative attention children receive in the form of abuse is for them still better than the total lack of attention they get in their homes. This fact may eventually lead us to better understand the true needs of children, because attention and love are one and the same thing. Try to show somebody that you love him or her and try to do that without giving them any attention. You will see that it’s impossible. The very thought of the person is already attention, and by thinking of the person you are sending out a vibration, and energy.What we commonly call love is exactly that bioplasmatic energy that pervades the universe, and that has been given so many names over the ages. And when we think in what Fritjof Capra calls the ‘systems view of life’, it is not astonishing after all to note that a natural element such as water can be impregnated with that energy, or its upside-down version, which is hatred.