Naming Birds, Taming Egos

 

Don't mind my inexplicable delight

in knowing your name,

little Wilson's Warbler

yellow as a lemon, with a smooth, black cap..

 

Just do what you do and don't worry, dipping

branch by branch down  to the fountain....

 

A name is not a leash.

-Mary Oliver (in Swan)

 

 

 

Just two days ago a man came up to me brimming with ideas for a "bird ministry."  He wanted to teach troubled youth bird identification as a means to connect, focus, and move towards wholeness.  Without dropping a beat I said, "Count me in."  I'll do anything to get people to enjoy beauty, so that they can respond to it.  Though I have degrees in birds and they are my vocation and calling, I've never been overly concerned with their names, or teaching people names.   Beauty is beauty no matter what you call it. In fact, I have seen the pursuit of adding bird names to a "life list" detract from the objective wonder of the bird itself as the ego asserts its control in the field.

 

In this case, however, teaching the names to young people and helping them recognize the individuality of species is a discipline that is liberating.  Identifying birds gives them a choice to contribute as citizen scientists, and is a means to better understand their world.  Naming unleashes the wild possibility within.

 

Here comes the paradox.  We need to "know" names to contribute to this world, and we don't need to know names to contribute wholeness and healing.  Name it and then let go knowing anything about the bird so that you can meld with pure interconnection. 

 

Dogen the Buddhist might write (if he were a Birdist):

 

There is a Wilson's Warbler.

There is not a Wilson's Warbler.

There is a Wilson's Warbler.

 

What might you un-name today?

Comments

[No2 Maximus Supplement]

Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to take a look. I'm definitely loving the information. I'm book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Outstanding blog and excellent design and style.

[muscle bulding]

When some one searches for his required thing, thus he/she desires to be available that in detail, so that thing is maintained over here. http://tiny.cc/ox882w

[http://blog.uny.ac.id/]

Thanks for the marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and may come back someday. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great work, have a nice holiday weekend!

[http://penny-stock-social.com/]

Thanks very interesting blog!

[video one productions]

Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked hard on. Any suggestions?

[http://musclezx90reviews.net]

Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I'm getting fed up of Wordpress because I've had issues with hackers and I'm looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

[Xo ECig]

whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading your posts. Keep up the good work! You realize, lots of people are searching around for this info, you can aid them greatly.

[Angeles]

Hello There. I found your blog using msn. Thiss iis aan extremely well written article. I will make sure to bookmark iit and come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I wil certainly comeback.

[Denver Colorado SEO]

I am really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility problems? A few of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this issue?

[maineseo.org]

Piece of writing writing is also a excitement, if you be familiar with then you can write otherwise it is complicated to write.

[Wilson]

Hi there, its pleasant piece of writing concerning media print, we all understand media is a wonderful source of facts.

[Stephan]

I usually do not create a ton of comments, but I read a few of the remarks here Liberating Wings : Naming Birds, Taming Egos. I do have a couple of questions for you if you tend not to mind. Could it be simply me or does it look as if like some of these responses come across like they are left by brain dead people? :-P And, if you are posting on additional social sites, I would like to keep up with everything fresh you have to post. Would you list of the complete urls of your shared sites like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

[splendyrblogs.net]

Howdy are using Wordpress for your blog platform? I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Website]

I always emailed this blog post page to all my friends, because if like to read it next my links will too.

[avcanada.ca]

Heya this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I'm starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Garcinia cambogia pure select diet]

Fantastic site. A lot of helpful info here. I'm sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thank you in your effort!

[Shavonne]

Hello, I want to subscribe for this webpage to get most recent updates, so where can i do it please help.

[Luma Repair Skin Care]

I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an edginess over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this increase.

[web site]

Vous nous concoctez constamment des posztes fascinants

[Lose weight fast]

Greetings from Los angeles! I'm bored at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you present here and can't wait to take a look when I get home. I'm amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my phone .. I'm not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, fantastic site!

[Seo Company Review]

Hey there, You've done an excellent job. I'll certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I'm confident they'll be benefited from this site.

[Skin Care Review]

Asking questions are genuinely good thing if you are not understanding anything fully, but this post offers good understanding yet.

[www.amatrice.xxx]

Bon je n'ai point fini de lire mais je repasserai plus tard

[http://www.allreddresses.com]

I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don't know who you are but certainly you're going to a famous blogger if you aren't already ;) Cheers!

[alllacedresses.com]

Excellent post. I was checking coontinuously this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful information specifically the last part :) I care for such info much. I was seeking this certain information for a long time. Thank you and bbest of luck.