Observations from the African Soul Safari 2011
Life has a beautiful flow – of birth, growth and decay. Robert Fritz outlines this beautiful process in his book The Path of Least Resistance. We humans fall out of flow all the time. I’m especially prone to it. The irony is that humans have the best capacity to conceptualise this flow, but it is this thought capacity that leads us astray. Too much thinking, analysing, blaming, avoiding obvious action and questioning ourselves.
My trip to South Africa and Swaziland (as part of the African Soul Safari 2011 with William Whitecloud) brought me back to the natural cycle of life, especially at the Kruger National Park. As a reformed vegan/vegetarian (whatever that means), it was interesting to see the large variety of meats available on the menu. More interesting was observing the food chain interactions in the natural world, the leopard would wait with great patience for an aardvark to come out of its hole at dusk. Another leopard hides in the bush with its prey, eating and sleeping to make the most of its meal – knowing that other carnivores will soon follow the scent to steal its prey. The cheetah moved on months ago for a plain more suited for its size and strength – it knows the futility of competing with the larger animals in this region. Instead of a projected bully-victim perspective, I started to observe that this is just the way of life and that the animals were just in flow.
It reminds me of the song in The Lion King – The Circle of Life. The leopard walks alone through the night, marking his territory for kilometres. The elephant decides to knock down a tree, then proceeds to act on his decision with purpose and determination until the tree cracks. The lions sleep with pure innocence throughout the day. The hippo holds his territory through loud and obvious communication signals to the rest of the world --- and the rest of the animals listen and stay back, even the fearsome crocodiles scurried out of the water.
The animals stay true to themselves; they don’t try to be something else. The hippo doesn’t try to knock down a tree – it stays near the water where its strength lies. The elephant doesn’t eat other animals, its mouth structure is for eating leaves and bark – it knocks down the trees to get to the leaves that aren’t secreting protective chemicals. The leopards work best hunting alone and the hyenas and lions work best in a team structure. No one is complaining that life isn’t fair or that the herbivores need protecting from the carnivores. They get on with their lives.
The animals stay true to themselves; they don’t try to be something else. The hippo doesn’t try to knock down a tree – it stays near the water where its strength lies. The elephant doesn’t eat other animals, its mouth structure is
for eating leaves and bark – it knocks down the trees to get to the leaves that aren’t secreting protective chemicals. The leopards work best hunting alone and the hyenas and lions work best in a team structure. No one is complaining that life isn’t fair or that the herbivores need protecting from the carnivores. They get on with their lives.
It became obvious too, that the animals and plants were strategic. One particular leopardess had her cub killed by a male leopard (who was not the father). Instead of staying in a state of grief, she proceeded to mate with as many male leopards as she could find, in order to secure her next cub’s life (all the males would think it was their own offspring). The hippo would issue the same 3 warning signals that you are in their territory – loud chainsaw noises, then opening their mouth wide, and finally coming out of the water and throwing faeces everywhere. Most of us left by the 2nd signal. Even the trees would start to secrete chemicals that made their leaves taste bad and also warn other downwind plants, as soon as animals started eating at them. Therefore, the giraffes eat downwind.
Things were done with purpose, for a reason true to that particular species or creature. The animals stayed true to who they were, working with their own strengths and weaknesses. An impala didn’t forget who he was and then act like a leopard. I’m pretty sure he didn’t wish to be a leopard or hippo, either. Action with purpose, and staying true to yourself – that is the flow of life.
for eating leaves and bark – it knocks down the trees to get to the leaves that aren’t secreting protective chemicals. The leopards work best hunting alone and the hyenas and lions work best in a team structure. No one is complaining that life isn’t fair or that the herbivores need protecting from the carnivores. They get on with their lives.
It became obvious too, that the animals and plants were strategic. One particular leopardess had her cub killed by a male leopard (who was not the father). Instead of staying in a state of grief, she proceeded to mate with as many male leopards as she could find, in order to secure her next cub’s life (all the males would think it was their own offspring). The hippo would issue the same 3 warning signals that you are in their territory – loud chainsaw noises, then opening their mouth wide, and finally coming out of the water and throwing faeces everywhere. Most of us left by the 2nd signal. Even the trees would start to secrete chemicals that made their leaves taste bad and also warn other downwind plants, as soon as animals started eating at them. Therefore, the giraffes eat downwind.
Things were done with purpose, for a reason true to that particular species or creature. The animals stayed true to who they were, working with their own strengths and weaknesses. An impala didn’t forget who he was and then act like a leopard. I’m pretty sure he didn’t wish to be a leopard or hippo, either. Action with purpose, and staying true to yourself – that is the flow of life.
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