Compassion

This afternoon, as we were riding the motorcycle on the little road that serpent through the banana trees and the rubber trees, at the border of the jungle, we saw on the side of the road a young dog laying down. Here, often you would see dogs resting on the road, sometimes just on the middle, half asleep. There is not much traffic, the drivers usually avoid them, or the dog just get up and move to another place if he perceives the vehicle too close.
But what attracted our attention was the, somewhat odd, posture of his small body. We stopped and walked to see him. But three meters from him we understood, by noticing the great number of flies around, that he had already passed away. Another dog who was not far came to us barking, but not aggressive, even a bit shy. It was the mother, you could see the same colors and traits, and she was trying to keep away this intruder. The young dog probably had been bumped by a car.

Later in the evening, we returned home via the same road. The sun had already set and now there was a clear night, and on this deserted road, you could stop and look at the stars. There were so many of them in the indigo/black velvet of the sky. So bright, and some of them so close that you could have tried to touch them. Alone, there, in this quiet night, with many crickets filling the silence with their noise, the air scented with the many wild flowers and plants releasing their natural fragrance, after a hot day, you would feel like a guest among the tall trees standing still and silent, since there was no breeze. Feel like a guest only if you could keep quiet, tune to the spirit of the woods, immerse yourself in this harmony that you didn't create, and which was not created for you.
Just be quietly part of it. You are not more important than the firefly with its green blinking light or the old tamarind tree on the side of the road.
He has been there long before you came, and it will be after you leave. Even the black scorpion crossing slowly the road is the host, there. You can't kill him. If you are scared, leave this place and find somewhere more comfortable and secure. Go to the town, to the noise, to the dirt, to the world of entertainment and pleasure . Here, none of these. Here, you can stay if you accept to be part of all. Nothing else is required. Just to not invade the space and the silence of each creature. Because here, each one has his own life, his own business.
Far away, there were the sound of dogs barking.

As we returned on the place were we had stopped in the afternoon, everything was the same, like a déja vu. The mother dog was there, looking, sniffing at her dead child on the road.
Was she expecting that he would get up and play again with her?
Nevertheless it was so evident that she was missing him so much. She barked again to this stranger, as we stopped for few minutes, wishing that she could understand that we were not here, in the night, to harm her or take her child. We felt really sorry for her. We felt her loneliness and the void left in her heart. She would have to forget, to let go, and live her life the new way. After a while, she seemed to feel that we were not a danger for her, but still waited for us to leave. So we did.
And returned home, with these mixed feelings that we share now.
Have we ever seen a living creature that doesn't mind to be hurt, or killed?
Each creature, animal, vegetal - or in between -, will avoid the dangers of life. Each creature has to learn to detect what can be dangerous or harmless, to remain alive. No creature accept blindly death.

This morning, all the birds were singing in the sunshine. They were so excited, flying, jumping from one branch to another. An intense life was animating these little creatures. A big black crow came on the banana leaf and the small birds disappeared for a while.
Tonight, they are silent, sleeping probably, and you can feel their absence.


Compassion: a passion that encompass all the creatures sharing life, like you and me do.






L'homme d'Art

Portraits of animals part 03

Looking straight ahead

Conversation

Frog, you were attracted by the lights of the car, which went on you. And now you are dead flat.

Sneaking around?

Happy to be with you

From the most familiar to the less familiar.
Since we were born our relationship with anything is dictated by familiarity. Familiar the face of our mother, father, members of the family; we will remain attached to these images, portraits in particular. We will frame them and keep them on the piano, the furniture or inside our wallet.
Portraits of dogs, cats, hamsters, any pet which has become part of the family, part of the familiar. We will become soldiers to defend them, and cry when they are gone. But we keep their portrait.
The rest, which is not familiar, is foreign, strange, scary at times. See this little boy, he run to his mother and want to hide in her dress, because he has seen a stranger, unfamiliar being, different from what he knows.
And he knows so little.
The same with this dog; familiar with his master and relatives, and barking to the new visitor, human, animal, whatever.

We derive a feeling of security with the familiar. It feels at home. The unfamiliar, we don't know; it requires attention, observation, energy.
But as we look, a transformation take place.
The unfamiliar slowly become familiar, as we learn about it. By Looking, Listening, our brain Learn, there is a curiosity that we share with all species. This curiosity makes us look, listen.

At the other end of the line is the most unfamiliar, the most different from what we are used to know. The world that is ignored by the eye. And because we neglect to look at it, it remains very unfamiliar, and thus sustains the feelings associated with fear.
If it hasn't one head, two legs and two arms, and remains in a scale similar to us, it is not part of our family, of our community, of our species.
So why should we pay attention?
Well, wrong question.
Or better said, immature question.
As we mature, we learn to look, listen, come closer to this unfamiliar. It maybe risky, if we go to fast. And as we come closer, we go through the wonderful transformation of maturation. This learning, observing silently, understanding, are freeing our mind from its ignorance, its fears, its obstinate attachment to the familiar.

When you mature, you feel that you are not going to spend the rest of your life with always the same familiar objects, which don't disturb you anymore and give a permanent sense of comfort.
When you start to mature, you feel that you want to learn from what is NOT familiar. Which has not one head and two to for legs. Which is of a completely different nature, different shape, different color, different movement.
Can this be familiar?
Can my sense of family expand so much that it will include all beings on this planet? Tremendous challenge, one may think!
Well, ultimately, can the whole universe become somewhat familiar, or at least not so unfamiliar ( since our life won't be lasting forever, we guess...) ?

Painters will tell you that looking from every angle, under different light sources, at an apple, is necessary to be able to paint it correctly. More one look, more the image become alive in the brain, full, complete, rich. And as this apple start to be so familiar, it is so easy to paint it. But to paint is not the main point. The main point is that this apple which was a bit unfamiliar in its details, is now so familiar that the distance between the apple and you is not anymore, therefore the apple is you and you are the apple.

No more division.
Simple.

Next time you'll see an apple, it will be part of your family too. One might smile, yet isn't it wonderful that, just by using our senses and letting our curiosity (together with vigilance), "surf" the unfamiliar, we can merge with the whole universe, and leave fear as a thing from the past.
And now that the present is so rich with all that is unfamiliar being looked at, listened to, and learned from, what is the use to cling to a dusty past with all the same familiar routines, and old venerable portraits?

Now, go off the track, just a little bit.
Transpose, invert, change, look from a different perspective, listen to what you never noticed before. Look not with the eye which is expecting the familiar, but with the eye of curiosity for the unfamiliar. Can you look at things which have no names, hard to describe. Not categorized objects, familiar and evaluated, but to the light, the colors, the curves and shapes, the textures, the movements, and the relationships with all neighboring things. Observing the relationship is of great importance, to discover why things and creatures are what they are, and to learn from our false conclusions, prejudices, distortions.

Me, my family, my friends, my pets and familiar objects stored in my room, my house and my car, my land and my country, apes and mammals, animals and plants, animal/vegetal/mineral, our planet Earth or Gaia ( as you wish to call it), the other planets, the sun, the galaxy and many other galaxies, and... the UNIVERSE.
And perhaps beyond the Universe...
All these categories, a kind legacy from Aristotle and followers, show how words conditions the way we look.
Looking without naming is a great Art.
Looking with our eyes and not just with our knowledge.
Looking deep with our heart to be able to learn what makes this life worth.
Looking and Listening to be part of the great family of Living things.
Living together, related, in a dynamic ever changing flow, not stuck in this old portrait in the dark frame, which - by the way - has its own charm and charisma.

Portraits... of animals.

L'Homme d'Art

Portraits of animals part 01

It's hard to describe the wonderful feeling to carry

in one's hand a little bird like this one.

His soft feathers and the little claws hanging to one's finger.

Birds usually don't trust much the presence of man.

Puppies playing

The big eye of the dead fish

A baby snake on a leaf

Let me go out, show me what you have in your hand...

This parrot is very curious.

It's not fun to stay in a cage all day.