It was said that Carl Jung’s favorite story went something like this: 

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The water of life, wishing to make itself known on the face of the earth, bubbled up in an artesian well and flowed without effort or limit. People came to drink the magic water and were nourished by it because it was so clean, pure, and invigorating. But humankind was not content to leave things in this Edenic state.

 

Gradually, they began to fence the well, charge admission, claim ownership of the property around it, make elaborate laws as to who could come to the well, and put locks on the gates. Soon, the well was the property of the powerful and the elite. The water was angry and offended; it stopped flowing and began to bubble up in another place. The people who owned the property around the first well were so engrossed in their power systems and ownership that they did not notice that the water had vanished. They continued selling the nonexistent water, and few people noticed the true power was gone. But some dissatisfied people searched with great courage and found the new artesian well. Soon, that well was under the control of the property owners, and the same fate overtook it.

The spring took itself to yet another place—and this has been going on throughout recorded history.

 

This is a very sad story, and Jung was particularly touched by it because he saw how a basic truth can be misused and subverted into an egocentric plaything. Science, art, and particularly psychology have suffered from this dark process. But the wonder of the story is that the water is constantly flowing somewhere and is available to any intelligent person who has the courage to search out living water in its current form.

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Water has often been used as a symbol for the most profound spiritual nourishment of humanity. It is flowing in our time in history, as always, for the well is faithful to its mission, but it flows in some odd places. It has often ceased to flow in the accustomed sites and turned up in some of the most surprising locations. But, thank God, the water is still there.

 

- SOURCE OF STORY UNKNOWN