As I walked out my door, LOOKED UP, there they were…TWO bald eagles just overhead, sliding over the low line of trees beside my flat, 60 metres, at most. Seconds…and gone.
AWE pulsated through me. Wondering followed, curiousity stirred – to make meaning. Both white-headed, showing that they were past their first 5 years on their way to 30 or more. A mewling cry, not the dubbed screech of a Red Tail Hawk so often a part of our movie lore. What does it see when it looks down with its vision 5 times sharper than mine looking up? Together, maybe two mated for life in their way? Making me question, when one dies, perhaps poisoned from scavenging carcasses containing lead ammunition a common cause of mortality, does the other mourn? Would it feel sadness, anger, all the signs of sentience? Opportunistic eaters, just like us, fish caught or stolen or scavenged, reminding me what it is like sitting atop the flow of food chains in our interconnected world. Growing up here, I never knew that I might see a Bald Eagle, a being that felt so familiar on the west coast, flying over the Thames River. A river that I now also know as ‘Deshkan Ziibi’ in Anishinaabemowin, the language of one of the traditional peoples who long inhabited and cared for this land. I continue to learn to see this place with new/old lenses grown since leaving many years ago.
Then purposefully continuing to let that moment of wonder…’echo’ over these last days, inspiring me to weave a sighting of eagles into a yoga class. And now to writing it, letting its energy stir broader examination of cultural stories, science and symbolism in becoming more leader/full. In doing, integrating an understanding that cultural symbolism grounded in the nature arises in many cultures around the world, including some that might connect to my own Eurocentric lineage somewhere in the flow of time. Which means, as in drawing from any cultural knowledge, using respect and care. Where science and ecology, the ‘storymaking’ of my Western cultural upbringing illustrates certain forms of relationship within a web of life, Indigenous ‘storymaking’ often sees inspiration or guidance for one’s actions in a being, or plant, or element. Offering me possibility to respectfully and caringly interpret the glimpse of an eagle as a reminder to look far with eagle’s vision, or act in loyalty to a bonding; perhaps a move to act with courage or continue the search for freedom. Motivating one to see beyond the ‘business as usual’, of mainstream life. Manifest loyalty to our practice. Courage to walk our own paths. Even realising more clearly what it takes to ensure freedom for all beings.
Ecological interconnections, or guidance, or perhaps, just letting the reverberations of awe remind me that being open to awe and wonder are part of living life fully and wholeheartedly knowing how easily it can be so dampened, or even lost for a time, in the living of life. And with awe and wondering, enquiry, looking outwards, and inwards…oh so yoga!
Once, overhead two bald eagles flew….and I looked up, and paused…
