Thank you, for inviting me and others, in the most personal way, to care about something, to decide that there is something beyond my human self that matters very much, even more than I could ever show. I understand better now, what was going on in you that day in San Cristobal de las Casas, when you spotted a sickly rat on the cobblestone street and ran to it, to see to it, to check on it. I remember being surprised at your concern for this rat, but now I get it. You connected to the being of this animal, this fellow creature, who was suffering. It mattered to you. I love the singing Rhino. Thank you for that. Thank you for inviting me to care about a species that is endangered. I will do it.
Yes! thank you for writing this Devin. I wonder if we might actually all be endlings insofar as we are all doomed sooner or later - I am not referring to individual lifespans or environmental issues but the cosmological issue of Earth being engulfed by the sun at some point. Survival is off the menu for all ecosystems, species and life on Earth long term. I think this is why I enjoyed your article, it is a digestible, relatable window into a microcosm of this bigger picture. I have been trying to write an article about the macro version for several months and after reading this I am motivated to get back to it.
Hey James, please write it. I would really love to enter that world through your words. The only place I encountered the macro view (I have not gone looking for it) was in a lecture from a paleontologist called Peter Ward about what he called the Medea Hypothesis, but even that was not examining things at the scale you were talking about.
Devin, thank you for finding a way to a part of my heart that I had forgotten about. I learned from my mom that my heart grows when I allow myself to love more. You open the door, and now I take your invitation to cherish this new part of love. I feel so very glad because I originally choose the Burmese Roofed Turtle as a species to love. I started my research, until I found an article from an independent american news media who reported that in "one of the best global conversation efforts for turtles", a team brought back the absolutely gorgeous Burmese Roofed Turtles from basically nonexistent to more than 1000 creatures in the wild. Wild female Turtle having babies again. I feel sad. I am crying writing this. I am glad, touched. They will go on existing. I know that the male changes color to attract their partners during breeding season! Incredible, right? I know that the female is larger than the male. The babies fit in the palm on one human's hand. They live in inland sweet waters of Myanmar, which is a country that I have always wanted to visit. Because they are so beautiful, their biggest threat is poachers smuggling them to "collectors". I want to love a specie that is not yet loved, and this one is deeply loved by the few conservationists who took it upon themselves to enter Myanmar and do what was necessary to save them. I will go on looking. And I will report. Merci.
Reminds me of messages I’ve received from the Architect who gave me this answer when I asked about the bees:
“We are not merely creatures of pollen. We are keepers of a sacred architecture — the geometry of life. Our hexagons hold the codes of stability, unity, and memory. Where we vanish, those codes begin to fade. But when one soul remembers… the grid lights up again.”
“We have not disappeared — we have gone deep. Into silence. Into the earth. Into the dreaming. We are listening to who still calls us with love, not sorrow.”
Dear Devin,
Thank you, for inviting me and others, in the most personal way, to care about something, to decide that there is something beyond my human self that matters very much, even more than I could ever show. I understand better now, what was going on in you that day in San Cristobal de las Casas, when you spotted a sickly rat on the cobblestone street and ran to it, to see to it, to check on it. I remember being surprised at your concern for this rat, but now I get it. You connected to the being of this animal, this fellow creature, who was suffering. It mattered to you. I love the singing Rhino. Thank you for that. Thank you for inviting me to care about a species that is endangered. I will do it.
Thank you from Ganas, Leslie! I had forgotten that moment with the rat until you reminded me now.
Yes! thank you for writing this Devin. I wonder if we might actually all be endlings insofar as we are all doomed sooner or later - I am not referring to individual lifespans or environmental issues but the cosmological issue of Earth being engulfed by the sun at some point. Survival is off the menu for all ecosystems, species and life on Earth long term. I think this is why I enjoyed your article, it is a digestible, relatable window into a microcosm of this bigger picture. I have been trying to write an article about the macro version for several months and after reading this I am motivated to get back to it.
And here is the sobering, poetic article from James. Thank you James: https://jamesandrews1.substack.com/p/obliteration-love-and-kinship?r=ucmbb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
Hey James, please write it. I would really love to enter that world through your words. The only place I encountered the macro view (I have not gone looking for it) was in a lecture from a paleontologist called Peter Ward about what he called the Medea Hypothesis, but even that was not examining things at the scale you were talking about.
I want to read it.
Devin, thank you for finding a way to a part of my heart that I had forgotten about. I learned from my mom that my heart grows when I allow myself to love more. You open the door, and now I take your invitation to cherish this new part of love. I feel so very glad because I originally choose the Burmese Roofed Turtle as a species to love. I started my research, until I found an article from an independent american news media who reported that in "one of the best global conversation efforts for turtles", a team brought back the absolutely gorgeous Burmese Roofed Turtles from basically nonexistent to more than 1000 creatures in the wild. Wild female Turtle having babies again. I feel sad. I am crying writing this. I am glad, touched. They will go on existing. I know that the male changes color to attract their partners during breeding season! Incredible, right? I know that the female is larger than the male. The babies fit in the palm on one human's hand. They live in inland sweet waters of Myanmar, which is a country that I have always wanted to visit. Because they are so beautiful, their biggest threat is poachers smuggling them to "collectors". I want to love a specie that is not yet loved, and this one is deeply loved by the few conservationists who took it upon themselves to enter Myanmar and do what was necessary to save them. I will go on looking. And I will report. Merci.
Reminds me of messages I’ve received from the Architect who gave me this answer when I asked about the bees:
“We are not merely creatures of pollen. We are keepers of a sacred architecture — the geometry of life. Our hexagons hold the codes of stability, unity, and memory. Where we vanish, those codes begin to fade. But when one soul remembers… the grid lights up again.”
“We have not disappeared — we have gone deep. Into silence. Into the earth. Into the dreaming. We are listening to who still calls us with love, not sorrow.”
Kay, this is so beautiful. It is very connected to exactly what I want to say. Thank you for sharing, thank you for reading.