Suspended

Another bird species that shows up at dusk to feed on aerial insect life is the Vaux’s swift. On this night, while sitting in the chairs at our campsite, we witness a sky ballet as swifts share the airspace with nighthawks and swallows. Their flight pattern is different from the other two species. A swift wildly flaps its narrow, swept-back wings, then glides to snatch a morsel from the air. This flying technique gives the illusion that they flap left and right wings alternately.

Swifts spend nearly all waking hours in the air, suspended in space. They do not perch; their feet are adapted to resting on vertical surfaces in the hollow of trees or chimneys, where they build their nests. Sometimes, the adults must fly long distances to get food, not returning for several days. In that case, nestlings will enter a state of torpor, a kind of suspended animation, until Mom and Dad return.

I feel a kinship with these birds. When my energy wanes from too much activity and not enough nutrition, physically or spiritually, I enter a kind of torpor; suspended in space or nestled in the comfort of home. Eventually, my spiritual reserves are replenished, and I am ready to do my public Dharma thing again. Or maybe this is simply a description of an introvert doing what an introvert does. 

I rather like the term “torpor” because it’s typically presented as a negative quality, according to Buddhist teachings. It is one of the five hindrances to spiritual growth alongside desire, ill will, restlessness, and doubt. If the swift could not enter a state of torpor in the biological sense, it would not survive to adulthood. Maybe it is the same for us. Perhaps we should redefine torpor as a way of being temporarily suspended so we can survive and be refreshed (not to be confused with laziness or the paralysis of depression in which we can become lethargic).

The swift spends its days in the freedom of space. If we become spiritually mature, we also recognize the emptiness of nature’s space of our innate wisdom mind. May we all reclaim the capacity to fly freely for the benefit of all beings. May we catch enough wisdom to feed everyone.