Depression as an "Impurity"

"Negative states such as sorrow, sadness, or despondency are impurities, which you have allowed to penetrate you and upset your psychic organism, just as poison or other toxic substances upset your physical organism."

(If this is the case, what does Aivanhov recommend for individuals to do? A great many things, including purification, meditation, certain forms of dance and motion, and other practices. One he mentions specifically in relation to the above is a simple and gradual practice of learning to understand, or meditate on . . . water.)

". . . by learning to use the power of water you will acquire the methods with which to remedy these states. Watch water flow, listen to it. It does not matter if it is a spring, a stream or a waterfall, water that flows frees the solar plexus by taking away the dark elements that previously troubled it. Flowing water is symbolic of the perpetual renewal of life and by watching it flow, we are influenced by it.

Of course, it is not easy to find a spring or a waterfall in our everyday environment, especially if you live in town. Well, you can turn on a tap. It is less evocative, but it can be just as effective. The main thing is to concentrate on the water 'flowing.'"

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov