The tame and the wild
The part of us that is tame. The part of us that lives our lives based on culture and tradition, on upbringing, on habits long established, on fitting in, on the comfort of the nest. Tamed. Not just tame. Tamed.
The part of us that is wild. The flights of imagination, the dreams, the daring, the good and uncomfortable risks, the reach beyond the grasp, the opening up when we thought we could not, the road not taken, not paved, not marked.
I think about these things when I look at the cat: Tamed but wild too, curled on the couch now, minutes ago eating Iams from a plastic feeder in the laundry room. The cat, equally capable of taking care of himself, of stalking, eviscerating and gnawing voles, finding warm places to sleep outside during icy nights. And the Peacock, who came to visit: Wild but tamed too, making his way across the meadow to poke at bugs and worms, hunkering down in the cold protected by the warmth of that gloriously feathered coat. But now here he is resting in the dry garage on a rainy morning, eating Panko breadcrumbs and barley from my hand.
Both of these creatures, outside this morning, rush to the French door in the living room when they see me. Both stare at me. Both want to come in. Only the cat gains entry. (For those who have been around peacocks or geese or chickens…you know why.)
What do they want, these tame-wild beings? What attracts them? They both want food, and although they are capable of getting it themselves, they know it is much easier to eat from an outstretched hand or a filled bowl. They crave warmth, although the cat has fur and the peacock has feathers. They crave safety. (See what I’m doing here? I am making my way up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.) And I think--continuing up the pyramid—that they want and need a moment of connection. They both want to be seen. They want to belong.
The tame and the wild.
They are both. And we humans are too. Or we need to be. We need to be less tamed, less boxed in by convention and habit, less closed to what could be. We (okay, I am speaking to myself here, in case you didn’t guess) need to be open to delight and surprise. Hell, as always, Mary Oliver says it best:
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
Over and over announcing your place
In the family of things.
(from Wild Geese, Mary Oliver)