Before there were tablets and parchment, humans passed down history in an oral fashion through storytelling (mythology) and music (poetry/bards).
In our haste to be the top apex predator and maintain that crown, we forgot that humans are not the only intelligent life on the planet. To illustrate, Mother Earth is the most obvious intelligent life that we live on. Our own living guardian spaceship careening through a galaxy. Some people rant and rave about how people are the cause of this and that, but fail to give Mother Earth any credit whatsoever. She has survived cataclysmic events: asteroids that have cracked her crust, magnetic pole reversals, and hot magma on her surface for millions of years. Mother Earth gave us this bounty to use for our survival. If we screw it up, she will continue on. Promise.
From what I understand, 500 nuclear detonations have been carried out after World War II. The Earth is still here. You are still here.
So why do humans keep running around screaming: me, Me, ME! Humans did this! Humans did that! It's the end of the world as we know it! Stop everything. We need to tax the air!
Well, immaturity. Without knowledge, wisdom, and discernment, a person cannot see beyond themselves and that is the true tragedy of living in a psychological bubble. That is why we must always seek out information. Most un-researched, un-studied, and un-sung data is often just gibber-jabber fed to us for our entertainment. Knowledge is messy. Wisdom is experiencing the world through that knowledge. Discernment is taking that knowledge and wisdom to create a better way to live.
In humanity's quest to find their own discernment, we come to remember that we share this planet with other beings. I have lived with birds, dogs, and cats. Many humans have shared their lives with Mother Nature and her creatures.
Have you ever thought how you are incorporated into an animal's life story?
On March 16th, 2014, I became a part of a hummingbird's family story. A hummingbird made a nest high up in my gazebo to sit on her two little eggs. April 3rd, the eggs hatched. April 21st, baby hummingbird graduation day as they learned how to fly.
That is the data. The story is something different. The hummingbirds knew I existed and watched me every day. I interacted with my felines and greeted them. For over a month, I was this giant walking around the front patio.
Graduation day turned into one for both of us to remember. I walked out of the house, and the babies were flying with their mother. One zoomed over to me. I offered my outstretched hand and open palm. The baby greeted me: see what I can do? I was so happy to see the babies hovering, but the one who came to me turned and zoomed too fast away. The baby hummingbird hit the patio wall and bounced around until the baby slammed onto the concrete floor.
I was stunned. I was, but not my feral cat, Irene. She snatched that baby into her mouth without hesitation. I stepped to Irene, pointed at her, and said: no, three times. She released the baby. I then grabbed the baby into my hand. The baby hummingbird was scared and confused. I petted the baby's head and spoke softly. I pushed over a chair, stood on it, and placed the baby back into the nest.
I waited. After the coast was clear, the mother hummingbird returned and calmed her frightened baby down. I watched, but the two birds did not move until the next day.
Without fanfare, the hummingbirds departed, never to return to their nest. The nest still sits empty. It awaits another fearless mother.
A nice story... for me to retell, but what about the hummingbirds? These small creatures can live 5 to 7 years. So 2014 plus 7, and the mother hummingbird is most likely deceased and so are her babies, who I befriended. The grand babies and their babies, well that is a different story.
Every year from springtime through autumn, I hear hummingbird calls in my yard, especially by my kitchen window. I still receive visits. So the babies have communicated to their offspring about the giant who lives in the huge mushroom.
To them, I am a character in their storytelling. Their oral tradition has passed down graduation day and how one of theirs was saved. I am now a living myth.
How long will the story be passed down? Who knows?
All I know is that every turn to the warmer seasons, I am greeted by the sweet tweets of hummingbirds, who are telling me as part of their ongoing living history.
The lesson here is that we must turn off the noise and get back to what is real. Turn off the news, sports, and entertainment. Is that real?
Or, are we being fed a pseudo-reality in order to convince us of a mythology that someone else would like us to believe? What myths are being passed down to you? What is being re-tolded? Re-imagined?
Not all mythology is taught to better humanity. Some stories we are told are created to control how we think. Do you know of any stories that we are not allowed to tell? Who we are not allowed to follow? Are these stories, fact and figures, relegated to the realm of forbidden knowledge? If so, why? And who determined what information, stories, and people are harmful to our mythology?
Maybe without the noise, we can read the classics and discern for ourselves which mythological stories makes us stronger. And which mythology creates the illusion of reality...
The hummingbirds can visit me anytime and see that I am real.
Do you know what is real?
Have a great and wonderful day.
