"The instructions are simple: 'Read the Prayer … / Drink the Water … / Believe in God! / Believe in Yourself!‘ Spiritual Water, the faith-inspired venture of two Sunrise, Fla., businessmen, offers its drinkers clearer focus, positive thinking and connection to a higher power.“ This fascinating waking dream is desribed by Audra D.S. Burch in her article "Sip your way to salvations with Spiritual Water?“ (The Denver Post, 06 May 08).
Purveying spritual goods, it turns out, is not a unique dream. "Spiritual Water joins a broad slice of feel-good products – Testamint, Bible Gum and other bottled holy waters – emerging at the intersection of religion and commerce, entrepreneurship and pop culture.“ Such seemingly disparate intersections are the territory of dreams. "The New Jersey firm that makes Testamints offer berry, spearmint and pepperming mints wrapped in a verse of scripture. Bible Gum promises consumers they can chew their way to spiritual enlightenment.“
The official goal is idealistic in its aspirations. Elicko Taieb, 33 and CEO of the company, launched Spiritual Water last fall „as a way to inspire Protestants and Catholics.“ Taieb explains that "church is on Sundays, but people need something to help them through the week.“ Purchasing and drinking this bottled tap water is given transcendent powers. "The whole idea is for people to feel better and to know God is with them,“ he says.
The ideal was then made manifest in the prosaic materials of the waking world. The water is "purified from a municipal source in Santa Ana, Calif.“ While not available in stores, Taieb says independent distributors sell "about 2,000 to 3,000 cases a month.“ Aha – part of this spiritual dream does involve the tricky issue of money!
As when working with any dream, we can examine the particulars of this waking story. "Spiritual Water’s message is delivered in a 16.9-ounce plastic bottle that sells for $2. The Formula J variety carries the image of Jesus in a crown of thorns and the Fatima prayer: Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins. / Save us from the fires of hell. / Lead all souls into heaven, / especially those in need of the mercy. Amen. The 11 bottles in the company’s collection bear prayers and impressively detailed images of Jesus Christ, St. Michael and the Virgin Mary.“
In addition, "alongside the standard nutritional facts – zero calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates, protein – the bottles are printed with prayers in English and Spanish. Product varieties include Power Water with the Apostles‘ Creed, Strength Water featuring the Serenity prayer and Essential Water with the Guardian Angel prayer.“
Taieb (who, the article nonchalantly informs us spent several years in the pest-control business!), had been thinking about a faith-based venture for more than a decade. It seems that water, "central to religious experiences, had not fully tapped the growing faith-inspired market.“
The symbolism of water is universal, archetypal. "Across the spiritual spectrum, water is used for baptisms and blessing, ordinations and ritual cleansing."
"Water just made sense,“ Taieb says. "Everybody always has bottled water with them. In the car. At home. In the gym. Because it’s the most important liquid for the body. The ingredients are the image and the prayer, which is for your body and soul. It’s water from God. It purifies your soul and helps you to think positive.“
As in the best of sleep dreams, the universal and the particular intersect in the most jarring of ways, as do the divine and the prosaic. It become difficult to be certain whether this waking dream is about the divine or about money. Perhaps the dream invites us to question our relationship to both.