Viktor Schauberger

​Nature is truly a wondrous phenomenon. It is self-governing as it orchestrates a complex eco system which provides for all living beings that inhabit its domain. It has taught mankind ways to further their own development.  As time progressed, the focus of man shifted from nature to technology, leaving behind a sustainable path to development for a destructive approach. There are a few individuals who recognized this flaw in our ways and tried to learn from nature itself to negate the harmful effects of technology. Their aim is to derive benefit from nature while causing minimal or no disturbance to the natural order. Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian man of many talents, was one such individual. To restrict him to a particular title would be a disservice to his work. You can call him an inventor, a scientist, a philosopher, an environmentalist and much more. The reality is that his work encompassed multiple fields and revolved around the simple fact of learning from nature and preserving it in its original form.

Viktor Schauberger had a unique world view regarding learning. He believed that it is better to learn from nature directly than to invest time in theoretical studies in classrooms. This brought heavy criticism upon him from different academic quarters. At times, this critique stemmed from jealousy of Viktor’s capabilities. Once in 1922, the prince of Austria promised a prize for whoever can come up with an efficient way to transport timber logs. Viktor was able to devise an ingenious system which was much better than the traditional approach of transporting logs through river streams. The entire episode brought the ire of engineers who felt insulted by being out done by a man who rejected formal education. This remained a back and forth conflict throughout Viktor’s life. Despite all of this, Victor remained firm in his views and maintained that the methods used by modern technology will lead to our downfall. In his opinion, all efforts made manipulate nature to our own will cause destruction and chaos. He emphasized that we must realize the interdependency between humanity and nature in order to flourish.

The concept of “living water” is one of Victor’s great ideas. He believed that when water begins to flow, it becomes alive and can be termed as a living organism. It serves as the life stream for Earth, just like the blood in our bodies. The notion that water is simply an inert substance was absurd to him. According to him, if that were the case, then no life can survive on Earth. To maintain its quality, water should be in perpetual motion and kept safe from being over-heated. These ideas were again frowned upon by the scientific society but it formed the basis of various inventions by Viktor. One such invention was the trout turbine (later renamed the implosion engine) made for the generation of electricity. Its design was based on the behavior of the trout while swimming in a river. The energy was expected to be released when water, air and an element are introduced to each other while flowing together in a corkscrew motion. The exact status of the device is unknown but according to reports, Viktor believed that the device partially achieved its purpose. Furthermore, again by using Viktor’s implosion theory, different water cleansing devices have been made. The results achieved are said to lower the temperature of the water and ‘revitalize’ the water’s nutrients as well. These devices generally do not use any filter or membrane. This makes it even more impressive that this system was able to produce favorable results and lower the harmful content that may cause diseases like diarrhea.
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Viktor remained a misunderstood genius throughout his life. The proponents of modern technology found it hard to fathom his ideas. And those who understood his work, attempted to misuse it. He was forcefully recruited by the Germans during the Second World War for developing weapons based on his theories. After that, in hopes of getting funding to develop projects based on his ideas, Victor turned to the Americans. However, they too tried to misuse his intellect and this collaboration ended with him signing away all of his rights to them. The entire episode left Victor heart broken and led to his demise shortly after. We should learn from the sad end to Viktor’s tale. Visionaries such as Viktor should be seen as beacons of guidance and not merely as means to serve our personal goals based on greed.