To be a bat

[vaneramos]

My office window at dusk yesterday

From "What is it like to be a bat?", a classic article on consciousness by Thomas Nagel (1974):

It will not help to try to imagine that one has webbing on one's arms, which enables one to fly around at dusk and dawn catching insects in one's mouth; that one has very poor vision, and perceives the surrounding world by a system of reflected high-frequency sound signals; and that one spends the day hanging upside down by one's feet in an attic. In so far as I can imagine this (which is not very far), it tells me only what it would be like for me to behave as a bat behaves. But that is not the question. I want to know what it is like for a bat to be a bat. Yet if I try to imagine this, I am restricted to the resources of my own mind, and those resources are inadequate to the task.

Little brown bat

~~~~~~~~~~

Eek eek eek. What lovely ears he has. Eek eek eek. He doesn't know I'm listening to them, deep into the lobes, resting my screech in him. How lovely: soft, cupped, tender as the petal of the flower where the night moth hovers. I like to hang here amidst trembling soft-winged cousin bodies just listening to him. Is he ignoring me, or is he listening to my ears, too? Eek eek eek.

The light is falling, I can feel it through my little eyes. And now it's safe to fly, except for the barred owl deep in the woods, but we can hear even the down-muffled edge of his silent wings. We can listen to him coming. And now quickly, while he is sleepy, I slip from this hollow birch and dip toward the dusk-shining circle of the bay. Slide and flutter. The air is rich with noise spots, sweet food dapples past shuddering shapes of my family.

And him. I can hear the particular nub of his ear, know the special shift of leather, remember the rich smell of his fur rubbing when he settled next to me three dawns ago.

But hunger sits and raises the shape of my voice. There's a fly shining my call. Eek fleck eek.

Hear the huddled shapes on the structure there: the creatures who built the smoke castle. Jostled their artificial cave like a mountain among the trees. They sit, soft giants like walls against shrieking. Sometimes they mutter voices almost too low for us to hear. Mum mum hum bum. Why do they sit in the falling light and jerk when I fly near, like they couldn't hear me coming? Maybe they can't hear the woods or symphony of food.

Along the shining water surface I hear a strider skimming. Dipping down, I fix my voice in a crescendo. What is it like to be a water strider? Not much now, no longer. Lunge, scoop, yum. Eek eek eek. Listen to them dancing, a long elegant swirl of dancing delicacies. And I am a high breath in the air, feeling the cool night under my leather. Dance amid whispers. Taste, flutter. Eeek eek. Now my eyes can't even feel the down of great day eye's last lashes. Behold gentle silver night eye rise against the banked homes of trees.

I have all night to sing the flight and feast, to wonder at the tiny tasty ones, and scan the circling crowd for his voice, his beautiful ears.




The view from my kitchen window this morning.

Comments

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

Ack.
=(
I removed you accidently one day when I took off a whole bunch of communities from my friends list and I see in my error I have chased you away. I am feeling sorry to have lost you.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I was sorry, too, and surprised, but I make a habit of moving on and trying not to worry when someone unfriends me. I would prefer to have you back. :-)

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

me too Van!
I am so sorry about my error.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should know better. That is the second time (that I know of) someone has removed me in error. :-)

[vaysha.livejournal.com]

I was removing a whole bunch of photo communities and communities from my friends page so I could focus more on individuals and then I went away- yesterday I thought, where the heck has Van gotten too.
I am glad you were open to my return- I think it might be good to check but I can understand merely moving on and respecting someones choice to do so as well- it's what I do too.
YAY!
I am happy to continue sharing and glimpses into your beautiful self and your artistry.
=o)