Often connected to your emotions, I also symbolize the sheer creative power of Mother Nature, as well as a source of calmness and tranquillity. A seemingly endless and often enigmatic part of nature, I inspire different symbols through various cultures. I can be ruthless in my actions, undisturbed and uninfluenced by insignificant humans. I give off a sense of mystery, not only because I am a relatively unexplored entity, but predominantly for what I symbolise to mankind. I am an endless entity, connecting you and separating you all simultaneously. I give hope, I inspire, and I provide serenity to mankind, as well create destruction, despair, and confusion.
There is only one of me on this planet, although I have been geographically divided into four parts. Man has only found about 228,450 species within me, but there are as many as 2 million more which remain a mystery to mankind and will most probably remain this way. My tempers can destroy lands and homes, yet my tranquillity can heal and soothe humans. I have many qualities and, if treated with love and care, I am useful, beautiful, and therapeutic. However, humanity has been selfish and heartless, causing devastating and irreparably damage to my body, leading to a disequilibrium between nature and man. Inevitably, you have brought out mother nature’s wrath.
There is a mass collection of toxic debris in the West and East of my body, where warm and cool temperatures meet, creating a stagnant standstill and harmful environment for all species. The materials embedded in this heap are manmade and thus unable to wear down, in turn creating a cloudy soup of toxic waste around the artificial land. However, 70% of this waste is unseen as it sinks to the bottom, killing any sort of habitat for species to thrive in. Have you guessed what I am yet?
This is known as “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” or “The Pacific Trash Vortex”. One is located near Japan and the other between the U.S. states of Hawaii and California. These areas of spinning debris are linked together by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone, located a few hundred kilometres north of Hawaii. This convergence zone is where warm water from the South Pacific meets cooler water from the Arctic, acting as a highway that moves debris from one patch to another. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is formed by four currents rotating clockwise around an area of 20 million square kilometres (7.7 million square miles): the California current, the North Equatorial current, the Kuroshio current, and the North Pacific current. The centre of a gyre tends to be very calm and stable, with a circular motion drawing debris into this centre and trapping it; creating a toxic island of human waste.
There are many beliefs that view the ocean as the origin of all life forms, as it represents a bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind. A calm ocean may indicate a feeling of peace and tranquillity, whereas a violent ocean may indicate a resistance toward the connection between minds. If life begins in an ocean, it also ends in it, making it a symbol of life and mere existence in some Western civilizations and cultures.
In Hinduism, the ocean is similarly revered as a symbol of life and life’s energy. Many Hindu gods and demons extracted the “elixir of life” from the ocean, giving them immortality and supernatural abilities. Existence itself is compared to a huge ocean from which all worlds, beings, and materiality manifest. It is believed that life manifested itself upon Earth when a giant, golden egg surfaced in the ocean and then broke into two parts, creating Earth and heaven.
The ocean is truly a tremendous force that shapes our lives, literally and metaphorically. It is a seemingly endless mass which ties cultures and continents together, as well as pulling them apart. Its rugged nature has led to many symbols in our lives where we connect the ocean to our feelings, making it much more personal for everyone. However, we forget how irrelevant we are in comparison to, not only the ocean, but Mother Nature and this planet Earth. Our planet, The Earth doesn’t need us to survive – it is us who need this planet to exist. Unfortunately, we are a selfish species and have lost our way over time, disregarding nature’s warning signs and manipulating her land, oceans and seas into industrial and toxic waste, instead of appreciating the beauty and harmony nature has to offer. How much longer will we be welcome on this planet if we continue to destroy it?
“The World Is Too Much With Us” – by William Wordsworth
The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—Little we see in Nature that is ours;We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;The winds that will be howling at all hours,And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;For this, for everything, we are out of tune;It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather beA Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Dolphinmind 