This lovely red-winged blackbird landed not far from me and began singing. As I enjoyed his serenade, I studied him. So much beauty…and I wondered, does he know how beautiful he is? Probably not, at least not in the way humans perceive beauty.
I suspect animals aren’t aware of how they appear, so they don’t learn to be self-conscious. Maybe it’s because there are no mirrors in the natural world. Mirrors to gaze into and see beauty, but also to see flaws where there really aren’t any.
As humans, we’re trained to evaluate and judge ourselves. And then encouraged to purchase things to fix our perceived flaws…concealers, cover-ups, enhancers…all suggesting that we’re not quite good enough, which is not the truth.
As I watched this lovely bird, I had a wondering. What would life be like if there were no mirrors? Perhaps we’d simply be ourselves, our true nature, like the beings in the natural world. No judgment about how we look and no worries about how others might be seeing us. Simply a loving appreciation for who we are, exactly as we are.
I love that idea…
(New photos on website Gallery: wandernature.com/new-photos)