NEPHOPHILE

“I see clouds of words, I see clouds of love, I see clouds of pain, I see

clouds of shame, I see clouds of time, I see clouds of rain, I see clouds of

thunder, I see clouds in my mind, I see clouds of given time, I see clouds

of hell, I see clouds of hate, I see clouds of ME.” -Paul Hardwick

Nephophile is a person who has immense fondness for clouds. We as

humans can find happiness in the tiniest of things, and I think clouds are

delightful entities to be obsessed with, aren't they? We look up in the sky

and see colossal cotton candy like thingamajig floating in the middle of

nowhere, leaving us with a feeling of ‘only if I could touch them’, but alas as

we grew up we were taught that clouds are created when water vapour,

turns into liquid water droplets and form tiny particles, like dust, that are

floating in the air, also known as ‘water cycle’ but we know it is more than

that. Clouds are emotions. Emotions of the nature. There are good days

and bad days like our moods, and it’s the nature’s way of portraying her

mood through the clouds.

I am a believer of the theory by Jacques Benveniste that water holds

memory. Water memory is the ability of water to retain memory of

substances previously dissolved in it even after an arbitrary number of

serial dilutions. However the research surrounding this concept is shallow

but water having a high dilution factor as stated by physicians and

originators of homeopathy makes water as a great healing substance which

no other substance can accommodate, in turn making the water an

essential element. Reverting to my original topic, water is an indispenaible

element which helps create clouds through evaporation and condensation

into liquid water droplets, thus forming clouds. Therefore looking at the

bigger picture, we use water on a daily basis and hence clouds above us

act as souvenirs, holding the reminiscence of the old times and of all the

memories we make down here, just floating above us taking up all our

bygones and joys and we continue to live everyday unaware that they may

be right above us.

Clouds are simply not meteorological phenomena but also have a

metaphorical presence in our psyche. Clouds speak as they float,

portraying the mood of Mother Nature to us, where the dark clouds carrying

thunderstorms portray her anger and wrath and white fluffy clouds portray

her calmness and forgiving nature. They carry, conduct and channel life

unto every living organism from flora and fauna to humans. Neither humans

nor any living organism can sustain without the life-giving support of gentle

rains, a blessing from the nature.

We have a connection with the clouds in our own way and in our own

perspectives. A cloudy day has us all looking up at the sky at some point of

time and subsequently are inspired to take photos of the nature’s

aesthetics. In that moment of admiration we forget our troubles and woes

for a second to look at the graceful yet detailed and intricate work created

by Mother Nature.

A nephophile person is similar to a person having fondness to read, paint,

or cook, the only difference being, a nephophile cannot touch or feel the

clouds but can only see and sense a kind of emotional connection uplifting

their moods. Nephophilia is more common among us than we realize, on a

cloudy day we appreciate the clouds being our saviour from the fury of sun,

and on rainy days for rejuvenating agriculture as well as our spirits.

Clouds being the integral component of water cycle teach us the basic

lesson of ‘what goes around comes around’. Taking in the water memory

theory and the captivating nature of clouds, we pass day after day making

memories which then through water cycle turns into clouds and returns to

us in mint condition to keep the entire life cycle running and the

nephophiles wondering.