Reflections on Water and Oil (1990)

Abstract

W ater might be best understood in comparison with that other liquid to which we in the twentieth century are beholden: oil. Water as rain, ice, lakes, rivers, and seas has shaped our landscape. But oil has shaped the modern mindscape, with its fascination and addiction to speed and accumulation. The modern world is in some ways a dialogue between oil and water. Water makes life possible, while oil is toxic to most life. Water in its pure state is clear; oil is dark. Water dissolves; oil congeals. Water has inspired great poetry and literature. Our language is full of allusions to springs, depths, currents, rivers, seas, rain, mist, dew, and snowfall. To a great extent our language is about water and people in relation to water. We think of time flowing like a river. We cry oceans of tears. We ponder the wellsprings of thought. Oil, on the contrary, has had no such effect on our language. To my knowledge, it has given rise to no poetry, hymns, or great literature and probably to no flights of imagination other than those of pecuniary accumulation.