Philosophy, The Love of Wisdom
I believe that everything we experience in life here on Earth has a Spiritual Purpose- the ‘good’, the ‘bad’, the ‘beautiful’, the ‘ugly’- and that every manifestation of all our loves and fears eventually leads to Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom when we turn within to Remember our Essential Nature, our Spirit. This can be achieved in one moment of one lifetime or through the course of many lifetimes. We are all co-creators with God, the God Force, the Life Force, the Process and the ‘chi’ of everything.
The crown of Wisdom is symbolized beautifully in the crowns of Royalty here on Earth and in the halos depicted around the heads of Spiritual Masters. These are recognitions of the majesty, power and glory of Spirit in everything and the Great Oneness of Ultimate Reality.
Life on Earth can be messy, chaotic and intimidating as we experience ‘predator and prey’ realities in our limited and linear world of spiritual amnesia, but even this has Spiritual Purpose.
Owl Symbolism
Owls have come to represent Earthly Wisdom, a positive symbol in Western Cultures and a more negative one in Eastern Cultures. The Owl sees and hears through the darkness (of ignorance) what others cannot see or hear, like clairvoyants and clairaudients, having abilities to know what others try to hide- their secrets. The Owl doesn’t waste energy. It observes carefully before acting.
Owl See You
My dear Mother, Dixie, a compassionate, empathetic, gregarious woman with psychic abilities, identified with the Owl. Shortly after she died in Northeastern Ontario, September 2015, my daughter, Alissa, and I were gifted by the visit of a Barred Owl sitting in a tree here in Victoria, BC. We learned through the Humane Society later that the Owl died shortly after capture. It had been accidentally electrocuted just before we saw it, so it was a Miracle that it was still able to fly to that tree and sit there while we shared those special moments.
The Owl At School
I grew up in the presence of a stuffed and mounted Great Horned Owl in my Grandfather’s ‘Man Den’ where stuffed trophy fish decorated the walls with a sign that read ‘All Fishermen are liars except you and me and I’m not so sure about you!’ (The mailman, the milkman, the salesman and just about any man passing by his garden were often invited in to have a drink and share their hunting and fishing stories. The Owl witnessed it all.)
I brought the Owl to my young classmates at Queen Elizabeth Public School one day for ‘Show and Tell’. It’s head mysteriously disappeared there. I had to bring the headless bird home.
I learned some Wisdom that day. You can ‘lose your head’ by showing and telling your Wisdom, a price to pay through the ignorance of the less mature, mentally and spiritually one might say.
Owl Power
My Husband, Roger, and I were trudging through Winter snow and ice on our way home in typical Northeastern Ontario mid-Winter temperatures. It was a long walk from our little log cabin in the wilderness. Along the way, we had the company of a large, white Snowy Owl. It followed us, with periodic observational rests, for several kilometres, flying from one hydro power line pole to another as it kept us in sight. I envied its ability to fly, remembering so many dreams of me freely flying over and between power lines. ( No, not a sex dream, Mr. Freud, just a ‘chi’ freedom dream…) I thanked the Snowy Owl and Mother Nature when it finally flew away.
Something Unusual
A few years ago, Alissa and I were hiking through the forest of East Sooke Park, here on Vancouver Island, down to the coastal trail there along the Salish Sea. Along the way, I said to Alissa, “We’re going to see something unusual today.” We continued walking and saw nothing unusual until we turned back onto the trail leading back to my car. A few hikers were gathered on the trail, looking up and taking photos of something. As we approached, we saw that it was a Barred Owl and her two Owlets. They were calmly sitting on low tree branches, eyes wide open, watching the behaviours of humans. It looked like ‘Owl Class’ to me. Having two children myself, I quickly identified with Mother Owl. She and her ‘children’ observed us with piercing intensity. After about fifteen minutes of Shared Observation, the three Owls flew away. Alissa and I left with reverent wonder of Mother Nature and God’s creations- Life in those forms- and the precious experience we shared.
In all the times we’ve hiked those trails, in all seasons, we’ve never encountered Owls there before or after this sighting.
Tea With An Owl
Alissa and I were renting the lower half of a back-split house in Westshore, a part of Victoria, where our large deck faced a wooded area adjacent to a park. Alissa was at work and I was enjoying my usual, solitary cup of tea after lunch. I glanced out our large living-room window and was surprised to see a Great Horned Owl sitting on the lower branch of a tree near the deck fencing. It was staring in the window at me, or perhaps it was staring at the little pewter Owl head window hanging? I reached for my cell phone and took numerous focused and out-of-focus photos and videos. It continued to stare in the window through much of the afternoon, closing its eyes then opening them again to survey the ground and woods where many Squirrels stopped all movement. (The Squirrels visited me so often, Alissa started calling me The Squirrel Whisperer.)
The Owl continued staring and stretching its wings and tail, not bothered by my movements or that of the Internet Service Provider Technician on call and clearly in view on his walks to and from his service truck.
I began to wonder if that Owl was going to be my ‘Harry Potter Pet’ but it eventually flew away. Well, it didn’t actually go far because it woke me up many nights with its hooting and the sounds of Squirrels going Home With God. Yes, I prayed for both Predator and Prey. That’s the reality of this planet.
Who Gives A Hoot?
Somewhere in the ‘Conversations With God’ or other books by Neale Donald Walsch, God suggests we do the ‘Who’ exercise- standing in front of a mirror and staring deeply into our own eyes, we begin asking something like”Who, Whoo, Whooo am I?” or it was “Who, Whoo, Whooo are you?” I forget…lol…I’ll have to look that up again. Anyway, its the same Message that Krishnamurti and other Spiritual Teachers also advised. “Know Thy Self”. Perhaps that was ‘my’ Owl’s Reminder Message to me too.
Who gives a hoot? Who, who, who?
I do. I do. I do. Look deep within to see.
I Am In You and You Are In Me!!!
Okay, that’s not a great Impromptu Poem, but it works for me.
God is Omnipresent. Now that’s a Feast of Thought!!!
The Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut (Queen of the South) travelled far to seek the Wisdom of Solomon in the land of ‘Punt’, the ‘Holy Land’, bringing many valued ‘trade’ gifts. Some day that hidden history will be known. What will we be or do to gain Wisdom?
(True stories and a bit of Philosophy- believe it or not- retold November 3, 2021)
Thank you Mother Nature!
Shelley Wilson
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