Actually, it’s not the first such experience. Two years ago, high in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, I came across this rock, with a cascade splashing over it. It reminded me of a similar view at Middle Emerald Pool in Zion National Park, to which I had already, some time after I got back home, attached the Buddha’s likely most famous phrase in a photo poster.
This time, it was just the second half of that phrase.
But, I also invented a word: “humaste.” It’s a secular version of “namaste.” It means something along the lines of “I salute, recognize and accept the human in you because of the human in me.” It’s secular, non-metaphysical, and unlike Gandhi’s use of “namaste” (or “harijan”) it’s not patronizing.
And, I had a third such experience while hiking locally. No need to go to Zion or the San Juans. And, no inanimate rock involved this time.
After getting newspapers done for the week, and more unwinding with having worked over the weekend to finish a graduation special section, I went out to the local town's city lake again, as I had the previous two Saturdays.
Two Saturdays ago, I had hiked a fair chunk of the longest trail, coming from the south, the main access area. This time I hiked the north end. Getting near to where I had come up from the south two Saturdays ago, I saw the spot where I had turned around.
But, I didn't immediately see something else.
Imagine this beautiful lady of a red-tailed hawk (looks too big for a male) standing, STANDING, in the middle of a trail no more than 8 feet or so, 2.5 meters, away when you notice it. Imagine having to zoom OUT with your telephoto zoom because it overfills the frame. Imagine changing angles to get different sun, and work around the grass, and it NOT MOVING other than moving its head to track you. Imagine watching it for 15 minutes, between original photos, walking around side to side, more photos, then talking to it, then even shooting a bit of video, with a clip here, too. I told it "humaste" when it started to hop off in the grass.
I have asked a friend on Shitter, former US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, if they have any "why" information from their background, since asking "why" is part of human nature. I haven't heard back yet, but will update as available.
An online and in-person non-local friend who's an even more avid hiker than me thought maybe a very close nearby nest was the answer, in a hawk's "stand your ground" world. Possible, I guess, but to me, it doesn't seem likely.
Another online friend, a birder of some sort herself, wondered if it might be due to injury. Possible. I never saw it fly, only ground-hop.
Red-tailed hawks, like some other raptors, can make a kill that is too heavy to lift back to a nest, something like a large jackrabbit. But, there's no blood on the beak, and as far as I could tell, none on the talons.
In any case, folks, it is possible to be delighted and challenged and, in a non-metaphysical sense, spiritually stimulated by nature, even without diving coral reefs or other higher-dollar adventures. (It wasn't a spiritual experience at the time, and I wouldn't call it that today, but a "bucket list" item? Walking on a glacier years ago at Jasper National Park.)
I’m trying to work in more non-political stuff on occasion here. And, this, by getting outside of politics entirely, certainly fits the “non-twosider” angle. As part of that, spread the word and idea of “humaste,” please. Also remember that human beings do have free will and that, in some sense, the spiritual blessing of “humaste” has to be in part earned. This isn’t Martin Luther’s sola gratia.
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