Here and Gone
I was going to use a picture of a far-away gull shrinking into the clouds to introduce this post, but by the time I got the tripod set up and the camera configured properly, the bird was gone. (Anyone who even occasionally tries to photograph the creatures will tell you that another name (perhaps a better name) for this hobby known as "casual birding" might be "exasperation"...) Anyway, I did manage to get some cool shots of a cardinal including the one above.
Now about that gull... If I had been able to get the pic, it would have been a wonderful intro into today's ramblings. But I guess we can muddle through regardless...
One of my earliest memories was that of being in kindergarten, and staring out the window at a gull. I made up my mind that I was going to watch the bird until it was no longer visible, and that is exactly what I did. (Needless to say, my teacher was probably slightly "less-than-enthused" with the dumb kid who was staring out the window at a dumb bird...) But stare I did until the bird was gone. And the questions I had then linger 45 years later... What happened? Where did it go? How long did the creature live? How did it meet its fate? The questions just go on and on and on. But more importantly is the bigger, underlying question... What was the real intrinsic nature of the thing? Did its "being" change moment by moment, year by year... Even children know that people change as they age... Which one was/is the "real" person? How was/is it that mommies and daddies make thinking beings out of virtually nothing? And how was/is it that thoughtful creatures suddenly go cold?
Anyone who's studied philosophy would recognize these sorts of questions as the stuff of ontology, the "philosophy of being".
Practical bottom line? My little kindergarten observation was probably as good as it's going to get. As far as we know, things consist of "the here" and "the gone". And only magnificent things like faith, principles, reason, courage, cardinals and even gulls lie in between.
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
eBirdseed.com photo library
Comments
Very nicely done, sir!
{Thank you... CCA}
Posted by: Josie | March 14, 2009 6:19 PM