Fox and Air
In my recent film you can see the event that spawned this painting. I had been sat watching the lake when I felt a presence behind me. I turned to see the fox stood motionless, silently, about 2 metres away, staring intently into my eyes. My instinct was to shoo it away. I suppose I feared it may have rabies, or some other disease. By the time I started filming it the fox had circled round and was approaching me from beyond my campfire. The fire had been out for over an hour, as I'd eaten early that day. The moment when the fox enters my camp can be viewed at about the 4:55 mark.
Why did the fox enter camp? Merely because it’d been fed by previous campers and thought I’d be good for a few scraps of food? Or was it something else? Was it trying to communicate? Or did its very presence there communicate something more about the wider landscape. Does a fox in one place indicate bear or moose in another? None of this I considered as I tried to shoo the fox away. All I had space for in my mind was the fear that it might bite me.
Shame accompanied the fear. Fox was a guest in my camp, how could I act so dishonorably?! How could I be so unkind, and so riddled with fear. Is this reaction not at the root of so much destruction these days? Humans destroy so much of nature just to feel 'safe'. What right do we have to feel 'safe' in this world, at the expense of other living beings. I thought I was more evolved than that but here I was, as fearful as a factory owner.
I wasn't too committed in my shooing away of the fox. It backed away a few metres, then closed in again. I flicked my hand at it and it retreated, then returned. I sat back down on the rock and when it got closer again I said 'No fox, I have no food for you.' It gazed at me awhile with what I thought was a look of great curiosity before searching the camp, I presume for food. I keep a clean camp so it found none, and after 5 minutes it went on it's way along the shoreline.
Since then I have modified my thoughts to, it maybe wise to be cautious in such a scenario, but not to respond initially with fear. Should this happen again I will attempt to pause, to give the interaction space to develop, such as an interaction might be between one animal and another. If it's looking like it might turn into a bear/salmon relationship then ok, I'm out of there. But if not, who knows what wonders might occur if I pause, observe, and meet the feeling of 'the other' halfway.
The painting also recalls David Abram and his sentence “We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.” An important thought. I want to be a full human.
The campfire smoke illuminates the air. I added the smoke as a final touch to remind myself of more of the wisdom passed to me via the books of David Abram and of my studies of indigenous lore here in Ontario. The wisdom involves the grouping of breath, wind, spirit, and soul in ancient languages, which offers insight into how closely our ancestors thought these things were connected, and of the significance of smoke as an intermediary between earth and sky.
The painting also recalls David Abram and his sentence “We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.” An important thought. I want to be a full human.
The campfire smoke illuminates the air. I added the smoke as a final touch to remind myself of more of the wisdom passed to me via the books of David Abram and of my studies of indigenous lore here in Ontario. The wisdom involves the grouping of breath, wind, spirit, and soul in ancient languages, which offers insight into how closely our ancestors thought these things were connected, and of the significance of smoke as an intermediary between earth and sky.
For instance...
The term ‘spirit’, from the Latin ‘spiritus’, signifies ‘breath’ and ‘wind’.
The Latin word for soul, ‘anima’, also meant ‘air’ and ‘breath’. From anima comes animal, animism, and unanimous - being of one mind, or soul. So the air, the breath, and the soul were/are joined in the mind.
In Sanskrit, ‘atman’ means ‘soul’, also ‘air’, and ‘the breath’.
The Greek word ‘psyche’ signifies the soul, and also the mind, and breath, and a gust of wind.
Air is all around me and as real a thing as earth or trees but so often I forget it's there, merely because I can't see it. I understand how my ancestors considered breath and air and wind and soul and spirit to be part of the same thing and I think there's something in that which will alter how I live life. The painting reminds me to contemplate this.
In my painting, during the process of providing me with sustenance, the firewood, signifying the earth, is turned to smoke, which then dissipates into (and illuminates) the air/sky realm. Some indigenous people consider smoke to be an intermediary point between the earthly realm and the sky realm, taking prayers from us to the creator. That's partly why smudging (burning sage, tobacco, or sweetgrass during ceremony) happens, to carry our prayers to the Creator in the form of smoke. I say 'partly' because in high-context cultures, which means indigenous societies where people seek to understand their existence within the natural world, many actions are performed for many reasons. I myself come from a very low-context culture and have scant knowledge of such matters, I am just repeating thoughts that passed to me from indigenous sources.
So, to recap, the painting reminds me to create space for natural interactions, to suspend fear, and to give frequent thought to the air, the wind, and breath.
