More Birds of Monterey Bay

“The forest does not ask you to be anything but what you are. The river does not demand that you solve all the world’s problems before it will offer you its song. The earth does not require your perfection—only your presence.”
– Angell Deer

We’ve been back in the Monterey Bay area for a few months. Longer than we had originally planned. Proceeding with the next phase of our journey has been postponed by unpredictably changing circumstances, one of which has been health issues for me that have required surgery and rest. I am okay but that event was not foreseen in our vision for 2025. Who plans ahead for gallbladder problems? So what is actually next for us? Finding the answer to that question is still unfolding. Uncertainty is the ruling force of our lives.

But this extended time in Monterey Bay has given me additional opportunities to visit the seashores and wetlands that are unique to this area and are home – if only for part of the year – to a variety of wildlife.

Most of the birds I see are familiar to me and I already have hundreds of photos of each species. But there is always that chance sighting of a rarely seen bird or one in a particularly interesting setting or engaging in surprising behavior.

In any case, my outings are a process of wandering, feeling open and receptive, present and sensitive to the sensuous world around me. In a way, my photographs are an aesthetic byproduct, not the point, of my rambles in wild nature.

You could say that I am drawn to the eros of existence. Eros, in the Jungian sense, is “a fundamental life force, encompassing both sexual and spiritual love, a desire for wholeness, and a drive for connection and psychic relatedness.” Going into wild nature is all about immersing myself in that life force. Being repeatedly showered by eros brings a deep sense of aliveness and completion, in which nothing more is needed. It wears away the sharp edges of separation and the heart-numbing bleakness of modernity.

Jung has said that eros exists in opposition to “the will to power.” In other words, if one is living from within that life force love, then one cannot be seduced by the destructive influence of “the will to power.” It has seemed to me that power hungry leaders and politicians severely lack the ability to feel or embody eros as if they are blind to the true beauty of the world. Grasping after power becomes an attempt to unsuccessfully make up for a fundamental – and tragic – deficiency in their humanity. A deadening soullessness arises as a kind of mental illness or brain disability. They remain unbalanced and insatiable. And dangerous to life.

If they could walk quietly in nature, just patiently listening, receiving the potency of a living, breathing, vibrant world, possibly they would have no more interest in oppressing others and greedily taking what is not theirs.

I thought it was only a few months ago that I posted the first “Birds of the Monterey Bay” but it was almost a year ago. You will see here some of the same birds and a few different ones. Enjoy.

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