5 things meme

[summer_jackel]

leora gave me five words that she associates with me, to explain a little about.



animals

Well, obviously, I live with a lot of them. I've always shared my life with animals, and I would be very unhappy if I couldn't have them around. I spend a lot of time, effort and money caring for, thinking about, playing with, training, learning about and from my various pets, and they are a huge impact on my life and my relationships with the humans in my lives. They live with me, eat with me, sleep in my bed, occupy my time and thoughts waking and dreaming. I most easily express my deepest feelings and symbols through animal imagery.

Intellectually, I'm fascinated by animal behavior, both wild and domestic, and spend a lot of time thinking about how animal and human behavior is shaped in relationship to one another. We've domesticated ourselves along with several animal and plant species, and in the process they've shaped or 'domesticated' us in their own ways. We exist symbiotically; I don't think we could survive as a species otherwise, at least at this point. I guess that all segues into 'introspection', below.

Why do I like animals so much? I don't really know for certain. It's been wired into my brain for a long time; I've always preferred the company of animals to the vast majority of people, even from a very young age. (It concerned one of my kindergarten teachers, in fact). I experience a strong emotional pull to them, a deep fascination and love. Biologically, I suspect that the desire to take care of animals stems from a displaced parenting or caring-for-family instinct. Our ability to abstract our caretaking instincts onto other species is one of the traits which has benefited humans (and our domestic critters), and I would be surprised if the behavior didn't have a genetic basis favored by natural selection. Maybe I have a disproportionate serving of those genes, who knows. But I am comfortable and happy with animals; they fascinate me intellectually, make me feel happy, and complete my life in a way I have a difficult time articulating.

water

Is life. Living, flowing, natural bodies of water with plants and currents and mud and stones and squidgy things and fish in them are places where I love to be, that make my life more of a joy than a sorrow, that bring me to a present moment with no room for anything but joy and delight. I love the existence of fish, and the way water flows and moves and is most of what I am physically and shaped everything. I love to splash around in rivers, to get thoroughly soaked in rain, to be reminded of my mortality by playing in ocean waves that could wash me out to sea if I'm not careful and might anyway even if I am. Water is context. It's OK, it's all brief and painful, there's always the possibility of drowning and hypothermia, and blood is mostly water, and it's all OK: I just want to experience moisture. Let there be Wet.

art

If I have something to draw on, I can trust that I'll be able to keep my hands and brain busy and so will probably not become frustrated, neurotic or otherwise unhappy and unpleasant to be around. Art is so much fun; it is a form of play, and is valuable just for that. It's a neat way to explore and articulate the worlds in my head, to nose around the connection and attraction I have to the natural world and the human, and to tell stories. It's also a set of sometimes difficult skills which I hope to improve throughout my life. This is another of those things which is central to my identity; I think I was probably attempting to draw before I could talk.

There's also the peculiar beauty of the media themselves; the purity of a new sheet of paper, the texture and flow and quality of ink and the way it interacts with water. But I won't start in on water again. Delicious.

introspection

I come across as unusually introspective? Neat. Well, we live in a complicated, endlessly fascinating world, and there is a lot to think about. So I find myself thinking about it a lot. On top of that, my emotional life is complex, compelling (at least to me) and mostly private. So, I try to stay on top of what's happening in my brain and proverbial heart, lest things go subconscious and manifest through unexpected and undesirable behaviors. Humans are not simple beasts, and I am one, and so I try as best I can to understand and care for myself with the same focus that I spend on my animals.

carnivore

If you are going to eat someone, I think you should first love them. I love to eat meat; it's delicious, and I feel happier and stronger when I've fed upon it. (everything to its proper balance, of course; my body will tell me when I need to cut it out with the protein for awhile). The ethical issues of eating meat in this day and age are obvious; I understand why eating lower on the food chain benefits everyone, and I do not condone the institutionalized torture of food animals.

I remain an omnivorous animal with a serious love of red, bloody meat, rare as possible, though. Yum. My inner beast is really not a plant eater (though if you go deep enough, some of them are). I try to do this in ways that harms the planet as little as possible, though of course the system isn't perfect; I scavenge roadkill when I can, and I plan to learn to hunt the local feral pigs (maybe this year). I strongly prefer to raise and kill my own animals for meat and, especially as my economic situation improves, attempt to purchase local, humanely raised and killed animal flesh as opposed to the tortured stuff from the supermarkets.

It all goes back to animals. I love them. I am one. I kill and eat them, and I try to do it with as much respect, knowledge, love and understanding as I possibly can, with humility and submission to the truth that I'm on the menu, too.

OK. Comment and I'll give you 5 things that I associate with you, to discuss. :)

Comments

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

Don't know if you know me very well, but what the heck. Hit me :)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd like to know you better. :) Fountain pens, Canada, furry, history, D.H Lawrence.

[leora.livejournal.com]

The ability to care for creatures beyond our own species is not unique to humans, there have been many examples of other species caring for young who weren't of their species. And I think Koko, a non-human primate, became very attached to a cat, basically keeping a pet cat.

It is probably largely based on how general our care-taking instinct is. It must have developed fairly early into things, and I believe it is present in all mammals to some extent. And while it surely got tweaked in each species, it probably didn't get massively changed. So, the instinct we have is just modified from the early version when our ancestors were small rodent-like creatures. The key features it clues off of are fairly universal young mammal cues, and they even apply to some non-mammals.

Human babies are, as far as I am concerned, actually very bad examples of young. I believe it is because we have to have them so damn early into their development to allow for both big brains and the ability to walk upright. They are essentially born premature compared to other species. And I think this is part of why they're really not all that cute. Maternal hormones do seem to help though by magnifying the cuteness effect. I remember one friend commenting on how kittens are normally cute, but looking at them while pregnant was an even stronger effect.

It's not surprising that animals can play on the same drive. And I do think it is useful that they can.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I think that you're right about human babies being born too early for cute...they're a lot cuter (at least physically) at 1 or 2. Of course, most newborn animals aren't that cute, either. But I'm sure that the parental brain is pouring out some pretty powerful chemicals at that point anyway.

Displaced parenting among animals fascinates me. The incident of a leopard taking care of a baby baboon (whose mother she'd killed) until it died of exposure comes to mind, and this lioness that keeps stealing and trying to raise antelope calves...I think she'd gotten something like 5 of them when I read the article.

oh, and for you, should you care to accept: psychology, larch trees, games, tea, literal interpretations of requests.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Updated my post to include them.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

I find the dynamics of cross-species relationships to be absolutely fascinating, in the ways that they're like and unlike human friendships and parent-child relationships. Reading your entries about your pets is always interesting, because you do take an introspective approach to writing about them, and your insights are good.

Hurray for socially responsible carnivoraciousness, too. :> I don't particularly care what people choose to eat, but I think it's important to be aware of the implications of your choices. There are questionable vegan options out there, too.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased that you enjoy my critter ramblings---cross-species (and intraspecies) interactions fascinate the heck out of me.

Meat...oh man, I totally scarfed the stuff after all the discussion of it yesterday. Red and rare and bleeding, please.

For you: Vultures, dog training, plush, conures, independence.

[a-rowan-dryad.livejournal.com]

I may not be able to answer quicky due to the joy of homework + mommy responcibilities... but what the heck. Lay it on me. :D

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

oh, no hurries or need to do it at all---you have lots of other priorities! And congratulations about being back in school, if I haven't mentioned it elsewhere yet. I wish you lots of luck and fun. :)

Parenting, masssage, grace under pressure, play, travel.

[cphoenix.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll bite. What (up to) five things do you associate with me?

Chris

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Phoenix, Science, Harbin, Art, spinning

[pelzig.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Some wonderful insight in those five things. Sometimes I think I know you better than I know myself! :)

I'd be curious on what five things you'd associate with me. :)