Warm, Underground Water: Brief histories of Harbin 'place' as its waters, The warm pool, the warm, heart-shaped pool, ethnographically

Harbin ethnography:


... Brief histories of Harbin 'place,' as its waters, with their effects, follow.

As actual histories of the Harbin warm pool, here are some notes from my field notes, that bring into focus some of the fascinating aspects of the Harbin Pools that I'll explore in this ethnography.

“There’s a quality of seeing people’s true, lovely ‘spirits’ when soaking in pools – their soft selves. When people are naked and relaxed and in a beautiful place, and talking quietly, and meditating, something good emerges. It makes me want to spend a lot of time around warm pools. This is the poetry I’d like to write of Harbin, and which I’d like to explore in part (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, January 21, 2008).”

“As T. and I went into the warm pool separately, some folks were doing water dance, very intimately, normally, erotically, relaxedly and as part of the fabric of life at Harbin, and what happens in the pools, probably since when Ish came 36 years ago (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, February 1, 2008).”

“Meditating in the Harbin warm pool this morning, in padmasana (lotus pose in yoga), at the far end of the pool, I mirrored the bouquet of flowers above the hole where the hot water comes out (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, February 1, 2008).”

“Scott: . . . and I was camping, with good equipment, fortunately (in wintery, rainy, freezing January) [smile]. The warm pools, community kitchen, nice restaurant, lots of comfortable spaces to come inside to, like a library, a beautiful, masterpiece of a temple (hippie-minded), etc., make such living as good as it gets. (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, February 1, 2008 - from an online chat conversation in a cafe in Middletown, near Harbin, with a friend in Massachusetts).”

“I saw HeartSong give a Watsu last night (Fig. http://www.soulscode.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mas_watsu365_pic.jpg) in the warm pool to someone. It was beautiful, and will be interesting to try to model the movement and art of it in Second Life (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, February 14, 2008).”

Each note highlights aspects of the Harbin warm pool with their effects on people. 'Place,' here, is the geothermally heated waters which flow into the Harbin warm pool and the aqueous milieu they create. Place's significance relates to what emerges in this milieu.


The warm, Harbin, heart-shaped pool is shaped like the heart symbol (Fig. http://www.harbin.org/assets/p-heartpoolL.jpg), slightly cooler in temperature than the Harbin warm pool, and kids can play in it, in contrast to the warm pool which is too deep for children. ...


















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/09/warm-underground-water-brief-histories.html - September 7, 2010)