The Relatives
Everything you do must be an act of sorcery, an act free from encroaching expectations, fear of failure, hopes of success.
Sun 4.7.24
Ever think about bears? Not crossed your mind lately, you say? Well, let me tell you about bears. They’re quite charming. They can stand and roar with the best of them, but mostly they are quadrupeds loping on all fours, their black shaggy fur rolling on their back like an oversized pair of furry pajamas. Seeing one running and playing in Baxter State Park I yearned to join it. I felt that at one time I had indeed been able to do that, to be part of bear consciousness, another reality.
I once saw a professional pool player being interviewed on 60 Minutes. Obviously a night person, longish hair, cowboy boots, strong, well proportioned body, intelligent eyes, witty, with the ubiquitous gorgeous girlfriend. The man traveled the cities and towns of the US playing pool with whoever cared to challenge him. I forget who interviewed him, but you can imagine from the 60 Minutes crew, a tight-assed, upper middle class, traditional values guy. I think it might have been Mike Wallace. The topic that most interested him was how much money the pool player made; it seemed like a precarious way to support oneself. The pool player was not interested in accumulating money, and he saw those who devoted their life to earning and amassing money as fearful people. Mike was taken aback, What about . . . and he named some upright, powerful citizens. Fearful, said the man.
My sentiments exactly. I want the best, and if I can’t have it, I will go without. I want to have dinner at the incredibly elegant Le Meurice restaurant in Paris, a meal that goes on all evening, where one is served dish after dish of the most exquisite food, matched with the appropriate wine, and served by a knowledgeable staff, all this taking place in a hall that is a replica of the Chambre de Paix in Versailles. A more cautious person might choose to have a good steak at a café, but not I. My extravagance could consign me to eating ramen noodles for the next 6 months if some unexpected expense appears, or it may not. Why pass up the opportunity to experience a once in a lifetime repas on the chance that something may cause me to regret my action. You have to believe in yourself and have confidence in your actions. How else are you going to win the game of pool, or the game of life for that matter?
And then you have crows: Everybody’s got a story about crows. What are these mysterious creatures with their insistent “Caw! Caw! Caw!” doing among us? I’ve read that, like pigeons, crows are now dependent on human trash for sustenance. We are linked. But unlike pigeons, they stay well above the human fray. Yet there is a connection between us, and these birds are often referred to as portents. Surely, that is a one-sided way of looking at it. We must also bring portents to the crow. I study crows most carefully to decipher the message they bring, how many are there, the direction of their flight, are they walking on the ground, staring at me (rare), etc.? Larely, I’ve taken to responding to their cry by whistling the sound they have produced . . . and they respond!
Ever see an eagle’s nest? It’s comparable to a kid’s tree house, huge and built at the highest peak possible by knowledgeable architects. The bald eagle has an eight foot wing span and is surely the most graceful flier of the bird kingdom, and the deadliest hunter. Many nations have chosen the bird as its symbol, its ikon. They want to possess that courage, that beauty, that power. If lion is king of the jungle, then eagle is surely king of the skies. Sometimes I imagine flying with the eagle, just the tips of my great powerful wings bending up or down to correct direction, or in rapid descent to capture in my powerful talons and beak a small creature or a fish. Eagles are not interested in the human species, although they might have been at one time when we were not crazy. Native Americans have many stories about eagle and its influence on them.