out of the trap of individuality

 

out into our self

a friend described the moments of falling in love with birds:

in middle school he looked out the window

and thrilled at a nuthatch,

its movements in its just being itself captivated him,

he described the nuthatch as his "spark bird,"

igniting a lifelong passion to connect with its cousins all over the world,

something outside of us

can click a switch inside of us

and we are larger for we find that that "other,"

gives us "the chills,"

shakes us awake,

completes us in a way we didn't know we needed,

our Western culture shouts at us that we are individuals:

unique, self-determined, complete in our own selves,

yet to be alone easily can degenerate into loneliness,

a condition increasingly common in our world,

love for, with a partner,

can pull us into realizing we may be of worth,

it seems to me, now, that we deeply need the "spark"

from outside ourselves

so that we can leap into the larger

and escape the prison we can easily feel ourselves to be in,

a painting might pull us out into awe:

music, sports, nature,

for me, it can be a gingko tree transforming 

into a golden pillar in the fall,

or an animal in its own world, 

briefly intersecting with mine:

bears, a heron, a wolf,

or a place and time that profoundly shakes me:

a waterfall, a vista, a sunset, a flower,

other people can profoundly move me

when they shake me out of familiarity

and help me expand who I think I can be,

the love we feel for a partner

can be echoed in the love

that pulls us out of the trap of our own individuality,

so that music, art, sports help us to be larger,

we find such meaning whenever, wherever we find connection.

by Henry H. Walker

October 24, ‘25