Anon!! Thank you so much for posting. You have given me a lot to think about. I love learning new things and gaining new insight. I realized your questions because I have also asked myself the same questions. I encourage you to keep observing your thoughts and keep asking the questions. For me I just seem to learn more when I am quiet enough to slow down and observe/reflect on the details.

Mordo it so ironic you mentioned George Castanza. It was brought to my attention from a friend today totally unrelated. He was discussing w/ me George something mentioned in one of the shows. “If you know its lie but still believe the lie its not a lie.” (Something a long those lines.) Funny you brought up the Castanza wisdom today. :-).

Just a few thots of observations from ONE experience….

I love being out in the forest. With the trees and all the wildlife. I get the opportunity to observe so much beauty and I always learn so much every time I visit. I wish my current situation allowed me to be in the forest all day every day. I am usually alone when I visit but I am never alone. Everything I see is so full of life and I’m surrounded. (Its fucking awesome!!) I have also experienced a lot of bears in the forest. Its not as often as I would like… but when I do get to see one it is such a rush of energy. One thing I really respect about the bear is that they know what they are. They just know. Everything in nature just seems to know their role. Why is it so difficult for US humans to know what we are? How do we fit in to this world? So much doesn't make sense to my true nature.

Have you ever observed a bear in captivity? Or even a bear that was raised in captivity? They appear sad. Even depressed. They lay around and sleep a lot and they are not very active. The zoo keepers want them to thrive so they give them rich food to keep them fat and happy. They provide things to stimulate activity with the intention it simulates their natural environment. A swimming pool to swim, some logs, maybe log stuck in the ground so they can pretend they are climbing a real tree. They even give them balls and barrels to play with to distract them from where they really are. In a cage. Leaning against the bars staring at the environment they were given. They are still so very clear as to what they are regardless of their containment. How do they still know what they are even though they have never experienced the forest? They stand firm in their desire to be free. Roam where they want to roam. Climb a tree, find a stash of berries, pick up a few fish at the river, kick over a bees nest to get a little honey. They just want to be what they really are. I admire them because they make it seem so easy.

The curiosity of a child learning by experience will do some interesting things to figure things out. When they are at the zoo they observe in awe because they get to be so close to the wildlife with the protection of the cages the animals live. Its strange but I see this behavior consistently. They will tap on the glass, make faces at the animals, yell and wave their arms to get the animals attention. They want to see the animal react to them to see what they will do. If they had a stick long enough I guarantee they would try to poke a bear just leaning against the bars. Expecting it to rile the bear up. Maybe the bear will get pissed. Maybe the bear will just turn around and look at the child giving the child his attention with sad eyes because hes experienced so many children poke him before. Hard to know what a bear is thinking in captivity. In nature its pretty clear what they are thinking. They communicate it quite well.

If a bear at the zoo knows what he is… does he realize hes in a cage? Does the bear believe that he is already free because he has only experienced the cage? Does the bear believe the is child in a cage? What are the bars protecting at the zoo? The bear from the child? Or the child from the bear? Possibly both require protection from each other in the zoo world.

I do know Its always beautiful to see animals in the forest. In nature it is a rush because there are no bars. Just the rush of respect and beauty to observe them for what they are in their natural environment. Usually when I see a bear in their environment they run away. If they do see me as lunch I simply make a loud noise or clap to scare them away because they really don't want anything to do with us anyway. They cant tell what we are either.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for being. Thank you for sharing.

LLL