The Deer in the Shade

Heavens to Murgatroyd

The lily on the pond … floats in a display of … nature's hydroponics … and brings a delight to any observer. We realize from the way its roots … hang in the water … as a miracle of sorts … produced by nature … and I have never been able to view it … without some excitation of a presence of the divine … in the world. Its of course due to my training in the Indic culture … where the Indics portrayed the Goddess of learning … Sarasvati … sitting on its petals … with her veena.

 

Its a lesson in the mystery of the beginningless … endless nature of the universe. At the risk of being repetitive …  man cultivates a language and an expression to bring to our experiences … a cognitive perception of the world … that helps us to relate to our environment. In the growth of mind and knowledge … we make the note that we experience … a representation of nature … and often times apply ourselves with our wills … in the matters faced by man and society.

 

There are occasions when we are wrong about something … and we make a fuss about the efficiency of human thought … not realizing that … we are a part of nature … and its living creature experience. We are rightfully the inheritors of the earth … everyone of us … and when we fall on account of sloth … or greed … or any of the other sins … our regret extends to a certain point … and then we are obliged to overcome our weakness … and ring in a growing understanding.

 

In doing so we encounter the deer in the shade of our shadow. He does not speak … but his presence produces a contact with us … that is sometimes viewed as miraculous and magical. Its a gift by the creator to his children … when we are starting from empty. It is the basis of all passions … and from passion to thought. But the record of experiences that man has had with it … indicate a bizarre relation to Garrick … and emerges in our experiences … as self will and volition.

 

The ladies have sought its origin in our experiences … but by the nature of its quality of non-interference in human affairs … it produces the curious effect of reflecting its truths on the ladies … as themselves. It has an animal quality associated with it … that may be traced to the fact that animals … don't speak … are accustomed to the dark … and displays no will of its own … other than the influence of its body and the seasons.

 

The Vasudeva … in the Indic legends … portrayed an association with its qualities … and was thereafter called  Uttaman  … or the blameless one. However subsequent scholarship on the issue … appears to indicate an African … and perhaps Egyptian origin to its anima presence. Psychology theories … made the contact with it … and named it … as the source of the drives in us … that are inert until aroused by the libido. They also associate it with the shadow … and the workings of the native shamans in contact with it.

 

More recently wicca practices … made the connection with it … and brought into modern society … the use of the talisman … gems … and stones … as ways of warding off evil … or to usher in good luck. The Oriental engages its quality of non-interference … to cultivate the practice of Zen … and refers to an exercise of allowing the free flow of all thoughts … without trying to arrest them. Its therefore viewed as the independent … original qualities that we engage … that is sometimes described as the divine experience.

 

Venus in her toiletry practice … is viewed as sharing that experience with Aries. In what is obviously a latter day practice … Siva's consort Mahalakshmi … complains of his barging in during her bath. Her son … Ganesha … confronts the father about the mother's need for privacy … and they enter into a confrontation. But what is it about men who associate the deer in their shade … with the right to engage it at all times … especially in relation to women?

 

The insights generated by human contact with the deer … can only be described as a dream sensation … the way the Australian Abo speaks of the dreamtime. Its the stuff of old wives tales … home remedies … superstition … psychic practices and is a support for cultural traditions. Our academic conventions … made the break from their contact with it … and produced the basis of an observable … and verifiable standard regarding human knowledge. Today every individual may view his own experience … with regards to the way he balances himself … with objective knowledge and what may be referred to as intuitive knowledge of the Uttaman.

 

A civil society … in these times … creates a vow of disassociation from the deer. It marks the individual experience as a gentleman … and is an example to society … on the way the male maintains his decorum as man and father.  The ladies are obliged to maintain a similar decorum regarding their contact with it … even while being in contact. They are expected to attribute the deer experience to something else … in their disposition … that's representative of the female mystic … and cultivate a relationship with it.

 

There are a lot of diverse stories about the origin and life of the Uttaman … in all cultures. An Indic songs says … ' Ye floating clouds respond to my inquiry … Is the beauty of the earth a comfort to me? … ( break ) … How will I continue my journey beyond this?' I have no doubt that the inspiration for this by the poet was drawn from the Uttaman. My own understanding of the phenomenon … persuades me that he is not of this world. He may be a future specie that's going to combine with man … and set down his roots some place else … and we ought to relate to him as such.