Totems

Traditionally totems are thought of in terms of their spirit.
Guiding us with their unique personalities through this life.

A raven's slyness.
An orca's wisdom.
A bison's strength.

But the biologist in me wonders about their physical form.
Why and how they came to be.

This Earth, the ultimate sculpturist, carving these animals.
Shaping their bodies.
Making each species unique and special allowing them to find a small space in which for them to belong.
Forming them to fit just perfectly within a small niche.
A crack of space on this crowded planet.

The pressure, uncomfortable, but necessary.
Pushing and pulling them until their forms are just right, and as soon as the niche changes or moves, reshaping them.
Never tiring of perfecting their bodies.

The ocean waves undulating over the whale.
Smoothing it's skin.
The current stretching and elongating it's body and forming fins powerful enough to resist it.

The strong winds, blowing through the bones of the raven.
Hollowing them and allowing the bird to take flight.
Creating space for itself amongst the clouds.

I imagine the plains where the bison roams carving a body strong and robust.
Built for endurance and survival.
Shaping a head harder than the limestone grounds in which it travels.

I think about our journey through this life.
The uncomfortable, but also necessary pressures that we experience.

No longer subject to evolution, our bodies are precise yet clumsy.
Instead these pressures, if we are open to receiving them, shape our heart and mind.
The parts of us that are still malleable.
Soft like putty.
Changing daily.

Instead of the land shaping us it's our experiences, our perception and our reactions.

I've come to be a unique being because of these experiences. Similar to my peers, yet different enough to be myself.
Just like Darwin's finches, I fit a particular niche, a place in this world just for me.

I don't know about you, but that my friends in comforting.

So I will sit in my space that is meant for no one else,
and I will be.

♥ Carin

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