One of the topics that recurs in my philosophical ruminations, dicsussions with close friends, and reading, is that of the importance of inteltionality. It is who I am when walking, when working in the kitchen, and who I am when bird watching. I’ve just picked-up Simon Barnes book, “How to be a bad bird watcher: To the greater glory of life.” In it I came across this compelling descripiton of what I mean:
“The only real skill involved in this perfect birdwatching moment [ed. he has just seen a hobby dive into a flock of purple martins] was the willingness to look. It was not skill that gave me the sight; it was habit. I have the developed the habit of looking: when I see a bird I always look, wherever I am. It is no longer conscious decision…I once found a questionnaire in a birdwatching magazine. It asked: ‘How often do you go birdwatching?’ I reject the question out of hand. I don’t go birdwatching. I am birdwatching. Birdwatching is a state of being, not an activity…It is a matter of keep the eyes and ears and mind open.”
It is delaying any conclusion about where you are or what is happening, and living in a sort of hope of what might happen. It is to live life always asking the question, always expecting an answer, and sometimes getting one.
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I couldn’t help but have a few tears after reading your last paragraph. really sweet words Dave.
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[...] am not a birder, not in the sense that Dave Humphrey has described in a recent post, where the bird watcher is the one who is always watching. I need nature to be a little less [...]
[...] spend a lot of time thinking about what I call seeing. By seeing I mean a sort of intentionality of purpose that pays attention to what might be there. [...]