Root of Spirit

Hirasawa wrote the song to be performed for the opening ceremony of the Takayama, Gunma-based "Human Earth - Awakening Village" (人間大地・めざめの里) psychological counseling healing center, founded by his Jungian counselor, Toshiaki Minejima (who also gave the song its title). He asked for something easy to understand, like a school anthem, so that everyone attending could sing it together.

An "elementary school song", Hirasawa gave it a classical arrangement, as he believed that was the best option to highlight the songwriting. His decision came after an exploration that consisted of listening to various pieces for the writing craft, something outside of his pop/rock past. It features a Vangelis-style "sacred" chord progression.

Versions
Made to help out the Awakening Village. Hirasawa recorded his vocals (put through reverb) in the middle of the night with a futon draped over himself. Features a drum machine rhyhtm, synth strings (playing a slightly different part from the Water in Time and Space version) and a slightly different guitar solo.
 * Charity Original Tape, 1988

Hirasawa made engineer Yoshiaki Kondo replicate (with an echo machine) the way his vocals sound when he sings with a futon draped over himself. It's beat is formed from a sample of bird chirping. It's also the ending theme to Showdown, the third and final episode of the Original video animation series Detonator Orgun, whose music was composed by Hirasawa. It was used on a Suntory Old commercial, which aired in March 1992. Around the same time, the ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS best of album was released. The album was titled after the song, which was released as a single to promote it; the artwork is two stills taken during the commercial's production.
 * Water in Time and Space, 1989
 * Susumu Hirasawa - vocals, all instruments
 * Asuka Kaneko's Section - violins, cellos, violas and double basses
 * Jun Miyake - string arrangement

The "bird chirping" rhythm is performed on electronic drums. From the first chorus following the solo onwards, a drumming pattern replaces the string rhythm that appears in the album version on this part. A short bit of the opening white noise of "Skeleton Coast Park" marks the end/beginning of a bar.
 * Error, 1990
 * Susumu Hirasawa - vocals, electric guitar
 * Hikaru Kotobuki, Kazuhide Akimoto - keyboards, backing vocals
 * Katsuhiko Akiyama - bass, backing vocals
 * Kazutoki Umezu - wind synthesizer
 * Shingo Tomoda - drums, electronic percussion
 * Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Nurse - strings, horns

Cover, with new lyrics by Richard Lam and arrangement by Dominic Chow (周啟生), performed by Hong Kong musician Danny Summer (ダニー・サマー/夏韶聲) for the 1991 album Acid Rain (酸雨) with the title "Childhood Reverie" (童年夢想). It samples the original's "bird chirping" rhythm while keeping the overall structure and vocal melody, however, the new string parts have a traditional Chinese feel to them. The vocals, sung in Cantonese, and the guitar solo are completely different. Hirasawa has said that he might have not been paid his royalties, but has given Summer proper permission to do the cover.
 * "Childhood Reverie"

Connections

 * The bird chirping sample is the same one used on "Karkador". It later appears on "Grid" and "Snow Blind".