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. :)