Pictured above is a black swallowtail butterfly who, prior to freedom evergreen, was trapped around the roof of my back porch. Upon aiding its escape with patience, persistence, and a most convenient broom handle, it flapped over to the shrubbery for a well-deserved rest.
Urgency dictated half a dozen pictures be taken. I knew this period of rest would be fleeting. The sun’s shifting light revealed an array of textures, subtleties, and intensities of colour a quick glance fails to register. It all got me thinking about the totality of any given life form and the symbiosis within nature that we are a part of. But within that larger frame exists a kind of symbiosis we attempt to cultivate with other people (however misguided) in the hopes of connection.
This misguidance is informed by a neglect to register the totality of another as they are. Who they are competes with who they are in relation to our own universe. We neglect to remember that they, too, are ensconced in their own. Who they are, the world they come from, and the inner world they forever inhabit is revealed in phases and through countless moments. Of critical importance is our ability to notice and respond to them.
If we are to further our ability to really see someone, consideration of and intentional application of stillness, slowness, and presence are essential. We do not neglect to be cognizant of these qualities if we are to understand the natural world; neglect of them in the context of person-to-person interaction makes knowing the nature of another more mystifying than it needs to be.
This knowing doesn’t involve a complicated practice. It is ultimately one where we pause and consider how much we apply an egocentric lens to anyone we engage. It requires us to examine how much we are preoccupied with the mundane, our immediate wants and needs, and how they all have us shrugging off the responsibility of being more intentional with those we want to know deeply.
