"Now We Can Breathe"
The title of one of the poetry anthologies in my room reads "Hier kan ons asem haal", which literally translates to "Here we can breathe". The English do not read nice, but I in some sense mistranslated it to "Now we can breathe". I find this translation somehow better. Now that we can breathe symbolizes that rare feeling of "at-homeness" or being in a place where you feel you can belong.
Before I go on the usual philosophical tangent, let me first showcase to you the photographs I took of this beautiful butterfly. I have no idea what butterfly it is, or what species it is, but I could not let the opportunity pass to photograph this beautiful insect that visited the garden. I first showcase you the beautiful insect before I muse a bit about it and being "at home" or the fact that we can now breathe.
A series of Butterflies
Now That We Can Breathe and Musings on Being "At Home"
The garden is calm and I feel a weird at-homeness between everything. Yet, I know that this is not my home. I will not survive a week alone in the cold wilderness of nature. We naturalized living comfortably; we do not struggle to get food, we do not struggle to find shelter. Yet, this calming feeling does not reside, it stays with me as I stay within this cold harsh world.
The butterfly's wings are so delicate, yet they can cause tornados on the other side of the world. Jokes aside, the delicate wings of the butterfly open it to be attacked. Its most valuable asset is also its most vulnerable one. Without them, he cannot fly, without them, she will die.
Yet, she is at home in this wilderness with this vulnerability; she carries it with her, she does not hide away in the corner. She uses her agility to maneuver through life to find food, to find a mate, and to reproduce. Yet, she does not ponder these things, as she does not have the luxury. It is merely a vulnerability to us because we can ponder these things, we can think about them. We actually make them a vulnerability because we think about them.
For us, the statement Now that we can breathe makes sense, we can feel the gravity of the statement. We know of the feeling when we stand in front of something bigger than ourselves (think of a waterfall) or when a burden is lifted from our shoulders or if we stand in front of the ocean. We take that literal deep breath and think of the metaphorical statement of at-homeness or at peace.
Yet, the butterfly keeps on flying, thinking the same thing although never like us. We think differently, we think, they live or do. We ponder, their lives are activity driven. The actually live what we think. Yet, we will never be at home in the purely animalistic "living in the moment". We are slaves to our own demise, our own downfall, our own overthinking, and not enough doing.
Postscriptum, or A Small Piece in a large Cog
Such a small insect, yet, without it the machine will surely collapse. Nature equals a machine, but is this idea not already misguided? Nature is not a machine; that metaphor was created so that we could dominate nature. Surely, things are a little more complicated than that.
All of the photographs were taken with my Nikon D300 and 300mm zoom lens. The musings are also my own. I hope you are well. Happy photographing and stay safe!
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Beautiful pictures, that butterfly looks very happy in your garden.
Thank you so much! It was indeed, fluttering around endlessly searching for the good nectar!
We are nature. I wish more of us could think though. Many of us seem to have turned off our brains, prefering to let their government do the thinking for them.
Very nice. thank you.
Willful ignorance and a false sense of security. People have become too complacent.
We are nature. Thank you so much for the visit!
Your description is so substantial. It reveals how humankind is akin to butterflies. We are often vulnerable, a weakness we have been trying to hide as if a disease. And yet, unknowingly, it is in fact what makes us human and one with nature. Vulnerability is inherent to our existence, even in every creation there is.
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment.
Life is indeed inherently linked to and created in vulnerability. We merely need to stand close to a fire or look down from a tree to see how easily we can cease to exist. But this vulnerability makes life wonderful, I would say, it makes it worth living and feeling and experiencing all the emotions we can experience.
Thank you, @fermentedphil for your beautiful pictures of the butterfly!
Monarch butterflies migrate from the eastern United States down to Mexico to mate and lay eggs.
That is 2500 miles that these tiny delicate creatures fly!!!
Then the hatched butterflies migrate back up to the United states from Mexico!
This is astounding for such a delicate creature!!!
The butterfly is an amazing creature indeed :)
Barb
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That is really amazing! Such a small animal that travels such a big distance. Most insects have the most amazing phases and stages in their lives. Thank you so much for sharing!