I was outside, standing alone, it was quiet. Suddenly, a big bird jettisoned out of the sky, felt too close to me and veered back up making a v shape. In that instant I felt that animal's essence. I had a moment of knowing it's way of being.
The words that come to mind to describe it are:
Doing
Focused
Instinctual
Primitive
Basic
Oriented
Determined
Adult
Purposeful
Intent
Strong
Sure
Vibrant
Powerful
Right now, in the Springtime, animals are at their most robust. There's water available but it isn't raining, there's plenty to eat, they are mating and getting ready to reproduce, the air is clean, and the weather is kind. They are in their element and full of strength and vigor.
This bird was doing what it does, and doing it neutrally---in that there was no right or wrong, no moral imperatives, no questioning. It was just living in the doing of what a bird does.
It occurred to me, in reflecting upon this intense albeit brief, encounter, that we humans have the capacity of wild animals at our core. The overlays (remember the onion skin metaphor in an earlier post) tend to muffle this basic, primitive, simple and straightforward part of ourselves.
A bird, or a fox, or a bear do not second guess themselves.
~~~~~~~~
I shared this story with my colleague, Tom Clark. When I finished, he said two things:
"Free as a bird!"
and, "You should write about this on your blog." And so I did.
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I have had many encounters with wild animals and was most struck by my only encounter with a mountain lion in Kings Canyon National Park. I had gotten there early one morning gottten out of my car and was between my car and another when a huge mountain lion walked across the parking lot just 20 feet in front of me. I was really struck by it's size and by it's look at me, like ... a meal possibility, maybe not. Before I could take in all that was going through my head it bounded effortlessly into the forest not to be seen again. I know to this day, that it was a close call for me. It was 4 feet at the shoulder and BIG.
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