Light, water and fire are essential to
human life everywhere
and everywhere people use their constantly changing
forms as symbols for other worlds
for beliefs. for as means of reaching and
connecting with supernatural forces.
A figure that wonderfully brings together
all of these elements is the image of
Shiva Nataraja one of the great symbols
of the Hindu traditions
Shiva here is shown dancing, bringing the world into creation
he's surrounded by a ring of fire, which has so many practical and important uses
but also is destructive, in his right hand he 
holds up the drum of creation
around another of his right arms he has a cobra, 
ready to to spit and poison
but his hand is up saying don't be afraid, under his feet there is a figure being trampled down
that is Ignorance. His hair is flying out to the side reminiscent of the sacred waters of the Ganges
but Shiva can also destroy and this constant energy, this constant dancing
which brings the world into existence, which keeps
 it going, which cuts it down
is a wonderful, wonderful symbol which is so 
evocative of the energies of all life
that it's used the CERN nuclear physics Centre in Switzerland
as a symbol for the how
science is trying to understand
the subatomic particles that are the very
basis of matter
and so outside CERN there is a wonderful sculpture of Shiva
Nataraja
the shadow of which at night is cast over the entire building
because this is the energy of the particles the dance of the particles
that make matter and life possible.
