Water is remarkably yielding. You can force anything you wish into a body of water, it will not resist you. There is no shape that water will not accept to take, no path, no matter how rough, uneven, which water will refuse to travel through. Water is so willing that it fully merges with any who will have it, disappearing into more dominant fabrics. Colorless, odorless, shapeless, water is Nature's blank canvas.

A blank canvas is an open invitation. An object designed with the purpose of not only being used, but of becoming a reflection of the one who uses it. Much like a mirror, a canvas holds meaning only in what it can show about the world which is exterior to it. However, the canvas reflects a higher reality, a dimension which is not easily accessed. The canvas is to the mirror as the soul is to the body, a light which reveals elements of a world rarely perceived.

Some lights are so bright you instinctively close your eyes and look away, yet they still shine. In an instant, the light has let itself into your mind. Some, discontent with their initial metamorphosis, are drawn to this light which promises another. It is here to be noted that the Phoenix is born of ashes.

Ashes make for excellent fertilizer; Nature thrives through rebirth, but I am veering too far off-course. Ashes are born of fire, and I did not intend to speak of myself, my purpose today relates to water.

I'm surveying the lands, seeking the perfect river. A river is not water. It is not still, it cares nothing for your designs, it is free and of many minds. A river will fight back, drown those who do not tread carefully, escape your designs and has no intent to be controlled. It wishes to carry on its course uninterrupted. To meet an ocean, seep anonymously into something too large to comprehend. An unremarkable, uninteresting end to the river's journey if you ask me.

I would rather divert it, tame its waters, stunt its journey and encourage it to become a lake. In this lake I will delight in seeing my own reflection. I'll mold it to perfectly suit my aesthetic sensibilities, delight my senses. I will know the change is complete when I look to the lake's surface and find it blindingly bright. If you stare long enough, you will go blind and find that your thoughts now cast shadows.

Reject the ocean, embrace the still perfection of my lake. Be drawn close enough for this flame to scorch, divert, blind and transform you.