A friend of mine sent me these a while ago. You probably have already seen this but I so loved it, I thought I would share these again.
This is the Diga del Cingino dam in Italy.
But look closely. Can you see the tiny spots on the dam wall?
(You can hit the control button which is the "ctrl" button on your keyboard, and the + (plus) sign button, at the same time, anytime you want to make images on your screen larger, and the control button and the - (minus) sign button at the same time to make images on your screen smaller.)
In this picture, you can begin to see them more clearly.
What?
Doesn't it seem impossible?
They are European Ibex. They eat the moss and lichen, and lick the salt from the dam wall.
I love this picture. Doesn't she look happy?
Lao Tsu, the mystic philosopher, author of the Tao Te Ching and founder of Daoism, lived in the mid 4th Century BCE and was influential in creating a major shift in Chinese cosmogony (understanding of the Universe and its origin's).
He was a shamanic mystic, and he taught that all of the answers that humans are searching for, on a personal or societal level, can be found in nature. Through meditation, immersion and observation he understood that the natural world around us is the perfect expression of the Dao, that one, perfect, balanced, mystical source of all things, and that people must simply look to nature to help us regain the right alignment with the Dao in our lives.
This happy goat is not daunted by the harshness of her environment, the steepness nor height of the wall, the precariousness of the purchase she will gain on the stones, or the meager offerings she will find there. This is her dharma, the full manifestation of her truly unique gifts and abilities, and it doesn't matter to her that the fulfillment of those abilities seem to be, quite improbable.
Nature finds creative, happy, successful expressions in even the most unusual circumstances.
I am going to listen to my friend, Lao Tsu and remember this goat's happy face and the inconceivable images of goats -goats on a wall!- the next time I am facing limited resources, a daunting task, unsure footing, or something that, from any reasonable perspective, could seem impossible.
"Perseverance is failing nineteen times and
succeeding the twentieth."
- Julie Andrews
And speaking of Ibex...
My friend who sent me the pictures above, said he had to look up Ibex, because he was not exactly sure what an Ibex was. I thought I knew, but just to double check, I too looked up Ibex on Wikipedia.
There I found this. Another remarkable picture of an Ibex!
Just one more example of the miraculous creativity of Mother Nature.
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