Confusion and Clarity

Bam! Our dining area window shudders from some kind of impact. Fortunately, the glass seems to be intact. Was it a bird strike? We’ve experienced small bird strikes before, but this was something much larger. Looking outside and peering below the window frame, we see a sharp-shinned hawk sprawled motionless in our desert garden. My heart sinks. I hope it hasn’t sustained a life-threatening injury. He or she looks like it is breathing, but the feathers are askew and ruffled. We watch over our avian friend for quite some time and offer healing prayers.

Eventually, the raptor begins to move and walk about, shaking off the daze of concussion. We watch the eyes stare blankly like it is a bit confused. I do not know when the bird took flight, but later in the day, there is no sign of it in our yard. Tarn and I breathe a sigh of relief. We try to mitigate the dangers of reflective surfaces on our windows, but when seasonal sun angles change, we inevitably host a collision or two. Most of the birds survive. For those that do not, we conduct a burial ceremony.

I reflect about reflection and the clarity that creates it. In a bird’s world, a window does not make sense, and it pays little attention until it turns into a mirror reflecting the natural environment. Then it attempts to fly “through” the glass into that environment. Bam! Humans also do this, symbolically, whenever we ignore the clarity of our mind. The ego sees its reflection and thinks it is something to become. We fly toward the apparition as if it has substantial existence.

Then we collide with ourselves and walk around in a daze trying to recreate the sense of self that created the illusion in the first place. If we are really lucky, however, we will smack into that apparition and wake up! If we can rest in the space created by our momentary confusion, we may be able to rest in the clarity and see the reflection of our true nature. We are then free to fly into the boundless sky-like quality of our mind and mingle our light with the sun and stars. 

The fourth Dharma of Gampopa invites the blessings of this moment: “Bless me so that all confusion may dawn as clarity (wisdom).”