The Art of Confronting the Beasty
Last Sunday morning, a soft gentle sunny day, so typical of this
time of year around here, I was confronted by a snake.
"Was it a big one"? You may ask. Every snake who
surprises you is big. This one was.
Stepping outside my studio for a breath of fresh air, there it
was, basking its magical geometry in the mid-morning sun only just outside my
door.
First reaction. "Kill". I didn't though.
Why, I wondered, is our first reaction always to kill this
magnificent beast. This symbol of the
creative spirit. This unfairly cast character in Adam and Eve's play. This most exquisitely patterned primordial piece of living
rope. This silent slitherer.
Is this reaction built into our genes, is it the aggressive side
of my male nature or is it fear. Blind fear. As in not being able to see. Not
being able to understand.
The Adam and Eve sneaky seducer comes to mind, but only as a
childhood story. However, as that, it may even be stronger than fiction.
I am not by nature aggressive and there was nothing to defend. I
wasn't afraid of it in any way. A
little weary maybe, but not afraid.
In my case 'Fear' would have to apply to the meeting with the
snake. Fear in relation to failing to understand. I don't know the particular
ways of this marvellous mover. All I know about snakes are the indoctrinated
and scary stories, whether they are from the biblical times of my childhood and
therefore very strong, or more recent from anyone else, real or made up.
That is another consideration. Most stories based on fear are not
only exaggerated, but also largely
made up. In relation to snake stories, that would have to be the case.
I slowly stepped back inside my studio to consider all this and,
after considering, decided to try
and understand. To try and learn about the snake. After all, it is only
early spring and I had a long snake time to come yet.
I have stated that 'Learning is the best healer' in my blog
before.
First I re-looked at my 'snake history'. I started my life in
Australia at Bonegilla, where the
authorities scared us with horror stories about snakes and spiders.
Following this my first job was on a farm in N.S.W. It was hot and there were
many snakes. I was taught how to
kill them. Effectively. Next I moved to the city of churches, Adelaide.
The only snakes I had to watch
out for there were of an entirely different kind. After a short
stint in the city, for my education, I
returned to the country, the Flinder's Ranges in fact. There on the very
day I moved into an old farm house I found a snake moving in at the same
address. I didn't ask its name, nor did I introduce myself. I killed it. Afterwards I wondered why that made me
feel awful.
Many years have past
and a lot has happened. I have learned a great deal and one aspect of this learning
has been 'tolerance'. Since moving into the forest, locally, I have hardly ever
seen any snakes. Yet there are plenty around. Maybe I don't give them any
attention.
What I have been giving
attention is the idea of Man/Animal relations in a place such as this
forest. There
is an animal, it doesn't suit me, BANG. Kill it. It begs the question.
Doesn't any animal has as much
right to live on this patch as we have. Probably more so. It has been here
much, much longer.
What is it with this white man attitude? I know, the problem with
most animals is that they don't understand that they need to claim their bit of
real estate by going to the Council and obtain their claim with a proper
document, like us, superior beings. Then they would be able to do what they
liked. Shoot things, poison stuff,
take wood, the whole catas-trophy. Trophy?
After these thoughts ran through my head I still had to deal with
the snake. My 'concept' of snake,
which is different to a real one. I took off my glasses labelled 'Fear'
and sat down near the snake. I
talked to it. I explained that we could live together but that there
were certain rules. Easy. I sat and talked to it quietly for a long time. I was
able to get quite close. There was no reason for it to attack me nor for me to kill it. In reality there hardly ever is. I have shown it
the respect it deserves and now we will work on sharing this space, on living
together.
"Silly Bugger" a neighbour said. 'Blind fear' I
answered.
Petrus
Snake Charmer
