TITLE: Big Energy Dolphin

DESCRIPTION: Animism shows nature to be a congregation of spiritual cousins; some members are ill-behaved, some cooperative, others are tricksters, gift-givers, communicators. All are peers, all possess wisdom. Humans are the best at being human beings, just as worms are the best at being worms, and coyotes make the best coyotes. In this view, nature is emphatically not a pyramid, but rather a vast and mysterious intellect some call Gaia. Gaia's essence flows bountifully from the Earth like myriad springs gushing from a cliff face and flowing into a huge lake. A noble objective for anyone is to find the lake, then float in it without drowning. Once there, we attain a suitable place to view Gaia unimpeded by human culture. Why can't we find the lake? Consider Ishi's famous dictum that "human beings are smart, but not yet wise." Some assert that we need a totem animal to serve as our mentor. A totem is an animal, a plant, or even a rock we treat as a member of our immediate family, like an older brother or sister whose steady presence in our lives affirms a sense of belonging to the community of nature. A totem is a navigator able to guide a person who has strayed too far from the lake. A totem speaks to us directly, although only a believer can plainly hear the advice. Many people I know personally hold the dolphin as their totem. They swim with dolphins in the sea, that the dolphins might oneday invite them to swim with them in the lake. (From The Charged Border by Jim Nollman [Holt]).