Of Waterfalls and Wonder by Beth Bartlett

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder . . . . If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life . . . .”[i]   – Rachel Carson

When I flipped my wall calendar on May 1^st, the accompanying photo was of a waterfall.  My two-year-old grandson noticed it immediately, and said “waterfall!” I asked him if wanted to go see waterfalls, and ever since then we’ve been hiking local trails along rivers and streams in search of waterfalls.  Fortunately, we live in a city and surrounding area with a wealth of waterfalls, many within a few minutes of our home.  Each one is unique and changes with the volume of water as it varies from day to day.

I was lucky enough to be raised by parents with a love of waterfalls, so they were a staple of my childhood. We lived near waterfalls on the Cuyahoga River, where we would sometimes go for picnics and hikes, and our family vacations when I was young were often to visit waterfalls – Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite, Tahquamenon Falls in the UP of Michigan, and of course, Niagara Falls.

Now it was our turn to share the wonder of waterfalls with Marty. Our first waterfall hike came the day after a steady 24-hour rain and the water in the nearby creek was rushing.  We stopped first at the smaller waterfall – he wanted to see both a big one and a small one – and then went on to “The Deeps,” the large waterfall that drops twenty to thirty feet, and that after the heavy rain, was full and gushing.  When we got to the spot with the best view of the falls, Marty looked awe-struck.  I first asked him if he was scared, and he said, “No, dinosaurs scary.”  Then I asked if it was wonderful.  And then, completely mesmerized by the sight of the power of the falling waters, he nodded “yes.”

We’ve gone on to explore several other waterfalls on the many rivers and streams that run throughout this city. Marty is an eager hiker, but we’ve kept him tight in hand since the ravines along the streams are so often steep and one misstep could send him tumbling over the edge into the still swiftly moving waters. In the places we can, he loves heading down to the banks of the streams where he can throw stones into the water and watch them splash, or watch sticks and twigs make their way down the current and over the falls.  Mostly, he loves the wonder of the falling water.

“What is the value of preserving and strengthening this sense of awe and wonder . . .,”[ii] asked Rachel Carson. Scientists can tell you all the benefits of spending time by waterfalls. The air near waterfalls is filled with negative ions – ironically a good thing, a powerful antidote to the time positive ions – a bad thing — emitted by so many of our electronic devices – computers, phones, televisions, fluorescent lighting, smog, cigarette smoke, heating and air conditioning, carpeting, upholstery, paint – the indoor environments for most of us in the developed world. There’s even a name for it – “sick building syndrome.” The negative ions help cleanse the air, removing pollutants and allergens. They also boost our immune system by increasing our white blood cell count. They increase the flow of oxygen to our brains, making us feel more alert and clearer, more energetic and alive. It is thought that negative ions create chemical reactions in our bodies that create more serotonin, helping to alleviate depression and stress. Just being by a waterfall is soothing in itself. The sight and sound can help us relax and feel calm.  Spending time by waterfalls can bring a sense of peace and serenity that we need so badly in these chaotic times.

But more than any of this, I believe, waterfalls fill us with a sense of awe and wonder.  I have previously written about Dacher Keltner’s study of the effects of awe, but they bear repeating.  He found that awe makes us better. People who experience awe are more open to new ideas, curious, thoughtful, generous, kind, willing to put aside self-interest in favor of others, less prone to political polarization, less likely to experience anxiety and depression, and more likely to experience joy. In other words, just what the world needs now.

I am fascinated with Keltner’s findings on awe, and am grateful for them, yet, like Carson, “I am sure there is something much deeper, something lasting and significant. . . . Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”[iii]

I am reminded in this of Carol Christ’s reflections on a thealogical vision found in so many feminist voices – of finding in the wonders of the natural world the experience of the divine – “the whole of which we are a part.” Whether in the power of rushing waters, or “the grace of a swallow,” or the endurance of “the endless tossing of the sea of stone,” we encounter, in Christ’s words, the “profoundly relativizing function” that we are a part of a great and wondrous universe – “no more valuable . . . than a field flowering in the color purple, than rivers flowing, than a crab picking its way across the sand – and no less.”[iv]  This awareness, Christ argued, is “the essential religious insight” to which we respond with dance and song, rejoicing and weeping, prayer and praise.  As Cris Williamson expressed so beautifully in her song, “Waterfall,”

When you open up your life to the living
All things come spilling in on you
And you’re flowing like a river
The Changer and the Changed.
You’ve got to spill some over, over all
Filling up and spilling over
It’s an endless waterfall

The past few months of this administration have been wrenching, but our grandson’s nudging us to go in search of waterfalls has been a gift – getting us out of the atmosphere of positive ions emanating from the screens bearing ever more negative news and instead filling us up with the positive effects of negative ions, of water, and of awe. Perhaps he is the good fairy sent to us remind us of our sense of wonder. We have many more waterfalls to explore, and each one promises to open our lives to the living.  Filled up, we can spill over more life and love to others.  It’s an endless waterfall.

Sources

Carson, Rachel. The Sense of Wonder.  New York: Harper & Row, 1956.

Christ, Carol P. “Rethinking Theology and Nature.” In Plaskow, Judith and Carol P. Christ, eds. Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality.  San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989. 314-325.

How Negative Ions Produce Positive Vibes | HuffPost Contributor

Keltner, Dacher. 2023. Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.” New York: Penguin.

The Harmful Effects of Positive Ions on Your Health – IonLoop

What Are the Health Benefits of Visiting Waterfalls | Wild Trails

Williamson, Cris. “Waterfall.” From The Changer and the Changed.

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[i] Carson, Rachel.  A Sense of Wonder, 42-43.

[ii] Ibid., 88.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Christ, 321.