The Renaissance Doctor Paracelsushalfway between science and magic, saw a parallel between external physical phenomena and what happened in our body. He related, for example, lightning to epilepsy. And he was not wrong, since both correspond to electric shocks.

It is true that our moods are not only sometimes influenced by the outside (hot-cold, light-dark), but There are psychological situations that can be compared with external phenomena. In fact, when we are happy it is as if the sun were shining inside us, and if we feel depressed, as if it had set.

But the truth is that, although rain sometimes causes discomfort, It also awakens positive feelings.

Water can make us feel renewed

The symbolism of rain is related to that of water and has feminine characteristics. It has the gift of nourishing and also purifying. That is why within Christianity the first rite is baptism. And it is clear that the rain cleans what it touches.

Although, like all symbols, It has a double positive or negative meaning depending on the circumstances. The gentle rain that fertilizes the fields is appreciated and the torrential rain that causes flooding is feared. This ambivalence is seen in various mythologies.

For example Tlaloc, the aztec god of rainwhich is difficult in the cold season, can cause both a beneficial rain and send devastating storms. But even this possible destructive aspect can be seen as an act of renewal. As happens in the biblical story of Genesis with the flood that symbolizes a new cyclea new creation, and the protective ark that allows that continuity.

Rain, to a greater or lesser extent, always causes a subtle variation in the perception of time and space. It is clear that there is a before and after having rained. The aroma of the earth, the tones of the landscape, the brightness of the vegetation, the animal life… everything changes after its passage. And there is also a during.

Thus, under a gentle rain without wind or cold, it is possible to admire a garden or nature as if we were in a tropical country.

In those moments, the water, rather than falling from the sky, seems to float in the landscape or be an inseparable part of it.

A stone acquires a celestial shine and the greenery of the vegetation multiplies, because, as Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio wrote in Alfanhuí: «There were greens that seemed the same and, however, the water, when wetting them, brought out a hidden shine from them and revealed them to be different. And these were the so-called ‘rain greens‘, because only in the rain did they make themselves known.» Let us, then, let the rain inspire new paths and be grateful for its magical presence.

The rain is melancholy but also love

Lovers love his presence. They are even amused when it catches them off guard and they have to run down the street holding hands.

And nothing is more romantic than hugging afterwards in front of a fireplace or between the sheets of a bed while the rain outside patters on the roof or caresses the window panes. Many novels and movies use rain to recreate these situations..

As Woody Allen states: «Whoever has not been kissed on one of those rainy Parisian afternoons has never been kissed.»

Rain is related to fertility and consequently with erotic love. But it also inspires sometimes melancholiaespecially if it happens in autumn or winter. It evokes a kind of nostalgia for what was or for what, although desired, could not be. We read in a poem by JL Borges: «Rain, without a doubt, is something that happens in the past.»

The rain always surprises us

Even when the meteorological service warns of its imminent arrival. Its drops fall on fields and cities, as so often, but each occasion seems new and different.

We are familiar with its often unforeseen appearances that we cannot control. But there is always something mysterious in his presence that inspires us with respect.as if it were an immemorial rite to which nature invites us.

Rain is an indirect gift from the sun. For it to rain, the air must first rise and then cool, so that it can no longer retain water in the form of vapor. And that ascent would be impossible without solar heat. Every day, a billion tons of water evaporate from the oceans and another billion fall as rain, snow or dew. That figure is equivalent to a tenth of the total volume of water that the winds move through the air.

Therefore, It takes about ten days for the atmosphere to replace its water content.. After a year, the layer of water evaporated from the oceans would reach a meter thick if it did not return to them through various channels. Thanks to this process, fresh water renews its purity on our planet since the beginning of time.

In a way, evaporation could be compared to an «inhalation» or rising of water from the Earth’s surface by the sun; and rain, to an «exhalation» or descent from the heights of that already purified water.

The rain is inspiration

Poets often see rain as a source of inspiration. Surely because Japan is an especially rainy countrytheir language has more than forty words to refer to rain.

Within his poetic modalities, the haiku It is a short poem of only three verses that subtly captures the beauty of a moment. Here are some examples referring to the four seasons:

• Spring rain, everything is beautified. (Chiyo Ni)
• bThe summer rain left, the trail disappeared. (Yosa Buson)
• Rain last night, covered this morning by leaf litter. (Io Sogi)
• There is no heaven or earth, only snow that falls endlessly. (Hashin)

Rainwater as a gift

The fact that rain falls from the sky and guarantees the continuity of life has been seen by humans throughout history as a heavenly gift and in which some divine being must have intervened, for example Indra according to the Vedic texts.

Although science describes the physical mechanism of rainthat is, how it appears before us, the very fact of its presence is still something miraculous. As is being able to see or touch the things that surround us, even though we know that neurobiological processes are involved.

The mystery is not exhausted with a merely physical explanation. There are psychological and spiritual aspects that cannot be denied. Within the physical and metaphysical conception of reality that most civilizations have sustained, the human being is situated between two poles which are synthetically called Heaven and Earth.

The first corresponds to spiritual or subtle worldand the second to material or physical world. Natural phenomena and our own body participate in both levels, the dense and subtle. That is why meteorology describes physical processes that at a given moment can be read symbolically or analogically by the initiate, the farmer or the artist.

In this sense, clouds, lightning, rain or rainbows sometimes have the value of being mediators between the physical and spiritual worlds. Thus, in texts of the islamic sufis It is said that life in our world was possible because a drop from heaven fell to earth, or that sometimes God sends an angel in every drop of rain.

Inside the buddhism Rain is considered a good omen during and after a ceremony. As is the appearance of a rainbowespecially at the time of the birth or death of a spiritual teacher.

So rain is seen as a gift for physical life, but it is also the image of spiritual influences or blessings that reach the human soul.

The story of the monk, the elephants and the rain

The following story about the Buddhist monk Luang Phor Doem (1860-1951) may seem like an oriental tale full of fantasy, but according to various testimonies it really happened in the middle of the last century in Thailand.

The Buddhist monk Luang Phor Doem was very loved and respected in his region. He dedicated himself to giving teachings on the Dharma and helping to build temples.and he was also recognized for his effective protective amulets that he distributed among the faithful.

Also He had the ability to communicate with wild elephants who lived in the area and whom he always safeguarded. So much so that, when he was already an old man and had to go to a meeting with other monks, an elephant would mysteriously appear and kneel in front of the entrance door so that Luang Phor Doem could climb on its back.

Upon reaching its destination, the animal would leave it there and get lost in the thicket. But at the end of the ceremony and apparently without anyone warning, the elephant appeared again and took him back.

Years passed and the monk, now quite old, became seriously ill. Knowing that I was going to die soonannounced his next departure by gathering his monks and also local peasants. At the same time, some elephants began to arrive and surrounded the monastery peacefully. but giving pitiful moans as a farewell to the one who had been his benefactor.

His last words, spoken half an hour before he died, were the following: «I am about to leave this world, if there is anything I can do for you, tell me.» Those gathered there looked at each other and responded that what they needed most was… watersince it had not rained for months and the ponds and cisterns were about to dry up.

Hearing these words, The monk nodded silently, clasped his hands on his chest and entered into meditation.. After half an hour, a roar was heard, the sky flashed, and heavy rain began to fall.