Watching a Bird...

[Jeanne]

8 hours ago, Duncan said:

my mom has a phobia for birds, ornithophobia-Mind you it's miraculously suspended when we go out for KFC, Chicken Chef or Swiss Chalet 

I am with her...Alfred Hitchcocks "The Birds" did me in.  Those darn black things took my hair from both sides while I was riding my bike..

[Duncan]

5 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

I am with her...Alfred Hitchcocks "The Birds" did me in.  Those darn black things took my hair from both sides while I was riding my bike..

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! yeah, I can see that!  and to an extent the Wizard of Oz, although flying monkey's look like giant birds!! 

[california boy]

Sometimes we write a half of page condemning the choices of others in order to make our own choices look superior.  We flutter and attack the glass, thinking we are making progress when in fact, no matter how much we attack others,  it  doesn't change the reality that there is still glass in front of us no matter how much fluttering we do.  Attacking doesn't mean you are moving forward,

[hope_for_things]

3 hours ago, CV75 said:

What  a lovely parable for advancing from the light of Christ onward and upward unto justification and sanctification and onward to the Holy Spirit of Promise due to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! The process of the books in heaven according with with the books on earth! Thank you!

Thanks.  The fun thing about stories like this is that everyone sees something different in them.  

[CV75]

11 hours ago, hope_for_things said:

Thanks.  The fun thing about stories like this is that everyone sees something different in them.  

My point exactly--thank you for helping demonstrate that.

Edited April 25, 2018 by CV75

[6EQUJ5]

On 4/24/2018 at 7:49 AM, smac97 said:

I am interested in what sort of analogies, and how many, could be drawn from watching this bird attempt, over and over again, to fly from an actual tree to the reflected image of a tree in the window.

This reminds me of certain defenders of the Church.

Not so much of defenders of the Gospel, but certainly specific defenders of the Church.

[smac97]

13 minutes ago, 6EQUJ5 said:

Quote

I am interested in what sort of analogies, and how many, could be drawn from watching this bird attempt, over and over again, to fly from an actual tree to the reflected image of a tree in the window.

This reminds me of certain defenders of the Church.

Not so much of defenders of the Gospel, but certainly specific defenders of the Church.

Could you elaborate?

[Kenngo1969]

On 4/24/2018 at 4:18 PM, mfbukowski said:

... I actually had to spearfish for survival once in my life while stranded in Baja with a broken down car in the geographic center of "nowhere"  but that was another deal..... 

You've lived an ... interesting life.  

[6EQUJ5]

10 hours ago, smac97 said:

Could you elaborate?

Not without getting thread banned for personal attacks, unfortunately.

[mfbukowski]

On 4/25/2018 at 6:24 PM, Kenngo1969 said:

You've lived an ... interesting life.  

I have actually.    Lots of weird stuff has happened to me.  You couldn't make this stuff up!

Relating to the present direction of the thread:

When I was around 18 months old I was hospitalized with a high fever and put on IV tubes.  Because I was so small, they could only find veins in my feet to put in the IV and so they had to restrain my feet and stick needles into them. 

I was in a Catholic hospital with the Sisters of Charity who were nurses, and they wore their traditional habits.  This was around 1950.

I had nightmares throughout my childhood about huge white birds with wings on their heads grabbing me by the feet and pecking at them  .  Not much fun!

But despite them scaring the heck out of that little baby that became me, I am sure glad they saved my life!!

[mfbukowski]

On 4/24/2018 at 6:04 PM, california boy said:

Sometimes we write a half of page condemning the choices of others in order to make our own choices look superior.  We flutter and attack the glass, thinking we are making progress when in fact, no matter how much we attack others,  it  doesn't change the reality that there is still glass in front of us no matter how much fluttering we do.  Attacking doesn't mean you are moving forward,

Interesting.

And how does that fit with what you have over on the left side of your posts?

Quote

.....I adhere to simple truths. Love God, love others, let God judge and worry about my own faults.

 

[mfbukowski]

On 4/24/2018 at 5:31 PM, Jeanne said:

I am with her...Alfred Hitchcocks "The Birds" did me in.  Those darn black things took my hair from both sides while I was riding my bike..

I can relate!  See above.  But my birds were white!

[california boy]

7 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

Interesting.

And how does that fit with what you have over on the left side of your posts?

 

Actually I am quite fascinated by the posters responses.  He manages to disect line by line, ignore the whole point of my posts but gets to fully explain his own views.  I read every one of the posts when he responds to me, and try to figure out how he got the views he holds. And maybe even more interesting, how he can completely miss the point that I was trying to make.  And yes, I fully admit I can easily do the same thing.  But most of the time, I try not to chop up what someone wrote until it becomes unrecognizable.  It is all a part of being on the board.  If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't be here.   Hope that makes some sense.

[smac97]

On 4/24/2018 at 7:53 PM, hope_for_things said:

Quote

What  a lovely parable for advancing from the light of Christ onward and upward unto justification and sanctification and onward to the Holy Spirit of Promise due to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! The process of the books in heaven according with with the books on earth! Thank you!

Thanks.  The fun thing about stories like this is that everyone sees something different in them.  

Yes, that was my expectation.  I just wanted to test it.

Symbolism can very much depend on the subjective lens through which an individual views it.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Bernard Gui]

On 4/24/2018 at 12:41 PM, JAHS said:

Like maybe if someone opened the window?

Would that cause the bird to lose interest and go away or would it then feel free to fly into the room where it might perish?

Being freed from the illusion, or unknowingly making the situation worse?

[hope_for_things]

18 minutes ago, smac97 said:

Yes, that was my expectation.  I just wanted to test it.

Symbolism can very much depend on the subjective lens through which an individual views it.

Thanks,

-Smac

I very much agree.  Thanks 

[Bernard Gui]

On 4/24/2018 at 10:49 AM, smac97 said:

As I write this I am sitting in the Howard W. Hunter Law Library on BYU campus.  I am sitting at the north end, which has floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking outside.  Just in front me, only a few feet away from the outside of the building, is a tree.  I have been watching a small bird which is perched on one of the lowest branches in the tree.  The tree is reflected in the windows.  For the last 15 minutes I have watched the bird launch from the tree branch and fly toward the window which is reflecting the tree's image.  The bird doesn't ram into the window exactly, but bumps p against it, flutters up or to the side, then immediately flies back to the same branch on the tree.  He is doing this about six times a minute, and has been doing it for at least twenty minutes.

I am interested in what sort of analogies, and how many, could be drawn from watching this bird attempt, over and over again, to fly from an actual tree to the reflected image of a tree in the window.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

-Smac

We have bird feeders near our dining room window. We see birds exhibit this behavior. Occasionally one will thump into the window, probably perceiving it as just another open space in which it can fly. A mirror in a parakeet’s cage can provide the bird with hours of entertainment, but can make it less responsive to the humans who care for it. 

The reflections in window or mirror could represent the worldly illusions that distract us from the important things in our lives. They seem real, it’s fun and exciting to play with them, but constantly pursuing them can be a distraction or in some cases destructive, as when a bird actually crashes into the window and is injured. 

[Bernard Gui]

On 4/25/2018 at 11:21 AM, 6EQUJ5 said:

This reminds me of certain defenders of the Church.

Not so much of defenders of the Gospel, but certainly specific defenders of the Church.

Or critics of the Church. Just can’t leave it alone........

[smac97]

2 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

We have bird feeders near our dining room window. We see birds exhibit this behavior. Occasionally one will thump into the window, probably perceiving it as just another open space in which it can fly. A mirror in a parakeet’s cage can provide the bird with hours of entertainment, but can make it less responsive to the humans who care for it. 

The reflections in window or mirror could represent the worldly illusions that distract us from the important things in our lives. They seem real, it’s fun and exciting to play with them, but constantly pursuing them can be a distraction or in some cases destructive, as when a bird actually crashes into the window and is injured. 

Interesting thoughts.  Thanks!

I was particularly struck by the repetitiveness and tenacity that the bird exhibited.  I saw what I presumed to be the same bird on the day after I posted, and the day after that.  It continued, for hours on end, about 3-6 times per minute, for at least three days, to fly from the tree branch to the window, sort of bash into the window (not enough to stun, as there is only about 15 feet between the tree and the window, so not much room to build up momentum), then fly back to the tree branch.  Over and over.  Rinse, lather, repeat.  For hours on end.  For days on end.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Exiled]

It could represent any illusion that we chase in life, despite having good evidence of it being an illusion.  We desire to believe it is something real but are abruptly shocked when we hit the window, so stubbornly we try and try again to make our desired belief reality.

[Bernard Gui]

9 minutes ago, smac97 said:

Interesting thoughts.  Thanks!

I was particularly struck by the repetitiveness and tenacity that the bird exhibited.  I saw what I presumed to be the same bird on the day after I posted, and the day after that.  It continued, for hours on end, about 3-6 times per minute, for at least three days, to fly from the tree branch to the window, sort of bash into the window (not enough to stun, as there is only about 15 feet between the tree and the window, so not much room to build up momentum), then fly back to the tree branch.  Over and over.  Rinse, lather, repeat.  For hours on end.  For days on end.

Thanks,

-Smac

Sounds like a metaphor for addiction. Same thing every day, trapped in a relentless pursuit of nothingness, fixated on illusion, unable to break free. 

Edited May 1, 2018 by Bernard Gui

[6EQUJ5]

4 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Or critics of the Church. Just can’t leave it alone........

Most critics are like this, I have found.

That is why it is so sad to see defenders behave similarly.