You could easily walk past it if you weren’t paying close attention. The path rises slowly, with a stream on the left, at first at almost the same height but gradually increasing in depth.
Then, you had almost passed it, in a kind of niche on the right, almost hidden under exuberantly growing ferns, you discover the work Wall of TapsMichael Johnson, Wall of taps, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance, Cornwall, UK.
It consists of a wide basin with a wall above it with various old-fashioned taps. The work is largely made of red copper, the taps of brass. The taps are each located in a group of concentric circles, such as those created when a drop hits a water surface. Each tap has received a drop of water and can then generate a stream of water. All that water comes together to continue to flow together.
Inspiration is a wonderful thing, it affects those who are open to it. This artist has designed something that seems to be independent of time, even apart from space, although of course it isn’t possible to design a physical work of art independently of space-time. But regardless of whether this work was thus accomplished consciously or unconsciously, we are here faced with an expression of something that has been given to all of us, without exception. Very concise and so to the point. The omnipresent flow of inspiration has touched an open and uninhibited heart to express a universal truth. A solid execution of a given, transparent like a flowing mountain stream. In all its simplicity it speaks to the viewer of a truth, as clear as crystal.
The drop is the same for everyone, but everyone who consciously receives that drop can work in their own unique way to pass on the flow of water. As we open ourselves to what wants to touch us in our core being and asks for our conscious cooperation, we discover that in our heart there is a contact point that gradually opens a portal to a whole new field of life. That point appears to be a source of an ever-increasing flow of life-giving energy, the universal power of love. That deep source in our hearts wants to transform us into a conduit for an immense flow of spiritual riches that wants to touch every person, no matter what our relationship to the other person is. Unimaginable wealth then not only becomes perfection as an individual possession, but appears to be intended for everyone who wants to seek, find and tap into it, and communicate it. Then what is apparently separated becomes again a unity that rises far above the day-night consciousness, into true unity. What a blessing it would be for all of us if we had the open-mindedness to open ourselves to that loving flow of life-giving water. Then everyone can experience in their present reality: ‘Come to the source of the eternal fullness‘.
As the water flows, so the living light flows
‘I, the highest and most ardent force, have sent out sparks of life. I encompass all reality. With my wings I carry the journey of the earth through the universe, with wisdom I have established justice. (…)
I, the highest and most ardent force, have sent out every spark of life and I radiate no destruction (…)
I, the fiery life of the divine BEING, radiate over the beauty of the land, I am seen in the water (…)
As the water flows, so the living light lives.
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (1098-1179)
