In the old scriptures such as the Vedanta and the Old Testament, spirit is symbolized as water. One wonders why something which is near to the earth, as water is, should be considered symbolically as spirit.

The nature of water is to give life to the earth, and so the nature of the spirit is to give life to the body.
Without water the earth is dead, so is the body without soul.
Water and earth both mix together, so the spirit mixes with matter and revivifies it,
and yet spirit stands above matter, as water in time lets the earth sink to the bottom and stands itself above the earth.

But one may ask, "Is the spirit hidden under matter as the soul in the body?" I will answer, "So the water stays beneath the earth." There is no place where water does not exist, [although] there are places where earth is not to be found. So there is nowhere in space where spirit is absent; only the absence of matter is possible.

The symbolic way of expressing high ideas does not come from the brain, it is an outcome of intuition. The beginning intuition is to understand the symbolical meaning of different things, and the next step is to express things symbolically. It is a divine art in itself, and the best proof of it is to be found in the symbol of water, which is so fitting to express the meaning of spirit.