Image: Beauty and it’s underbelly
Canadian Wildfire haze over the Lake: Hummingbird Lessons – what’s it like to live at the lake?
Today’s daylight through the haze of Canadian wildfires is a challenge. It’s bright so sunglasses are a help but it’s hazy so when I put them on it’s too dark. Do I squint without the sunglasses and get a bit of a distorted view, or do I put them on and get a darkened one? How to see clearly and carefully in the mist of the wildfire lake haze prompts internal reflections, an opportunity to contemplate nature, another natural phenomena at the lake.
As in life how to understand which view of the world reveals the creative universe at work? What tools do I need to help me discern the work of today? How to shift and compare perspectives, unite them, enhance the present picture of the lake from my upper deck perch that might give me insight into today’s tasks?
In this reflective mood, I look to Laura Sewall’s book: Sight and sensibility: the ecopsychology of perception for insight. “Insight” the precise word needed this morning.
“…in the act of perceiving, our intention and imagination are cast both outward and inward to varying degrees. Consciously or unconsciously, we choose where the marriage between the inner and outer worlds occurs.” Page 36.
In the same way the view from the deck causes me to ponder the inner images as the outer world of wildfire smoke occurs over the lake.
In her book, Sewall traces the history of visual science and cultural approaches to different ways of seeing. She explores the edge of our visual field where our known visual experience becomes flavored with a not quite know vision and imagination penetrates the realm of possibilities.
Once again, a concrete challenge of living on the edge of the lake presents itself. Through Sewall’s insight the challenge of living on the edge is not just the external vision of the edge of the rocky landscape of sea and shore but the internal landscape of imagination. As she states: vision and imagination co-create one another.
The question then becomes: how can our imagination play in a world of wildfire ash/dust haze from so far away?
As if on cue, a hummingbird appears gathering nectar from the Rose of Sharon bush seemingly unphased by the haze of dust and ash from the forest fires across the lake.
What does the hummingbird know that I don’t about the art of contemplative play during a time of national and international fog and the haze of fire?
Wanting to find out more about Hummingbirds and their significance in the world, I go to Ted Andrew’s book Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. Turns out Hummingbirds have a lot to say.
- Their wings beat in the figure 8, a symbol of infinity; Lesson- Today is but one day in the infinite universe. Don’t fret.
- They have long bills and tongues to extract nectar from flowers; Lesson- Extract sweetness from flowers and find beauty where you can even if it is the orange sun of sunrise through the hazy smoke of wildfires.
- They’re skillful flyers that look like they are having fun as they hover, fly backward, forward, sideways and stop/start at high speeds; Lesson- Move in different ways to explore new situations from various perspectives.
- Hummingbirds are very playful even in water and chase each other sometimes even pretending to fight because no one seems to get hurt; Lesson- Even in during the morning’s fog there is a hummingbird call to play with words, images, crayons etc.
- Lastly for now, hummingbirds are a marvel of migration seemingly accomplishing the impossible traveling sometimes 2500 miles without stopping; Lesson- Do not be afraid to take on the necessary tasks that may seem impossible.
Turns out the challenge of today with or without sunglasses can be an opportunity for contemplative play. Playing with words as in this blog. Playing with the image of the orange sunrise caused by the vary haze of fire. Or playing with crayons creating an opportunity to color, smudge, draw, sketch etc.
How will you choose to play and reflect within the circumstances of your life?
References:
Andrews, Ted. Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. Woodbury, MN. Llewellyn Publications.
Sewall, Laura. Sight and sensibility: the ecology of perception. New York, NY. Penguin Putnam Inc. 1999.