news about a limpet
It's the truth
I have an announcement to make.
I saw a limpet move.
I know. It was amazing.
You know what a limpet is right? Those sweet little rocklike creatures that cling to the sides of rocks that look like they stick to the same spot of the same rock for centuries?
I saw one of them move.
I mean, at least, I’m pretty sure that I saw it move. I was watching it for a while, enjoying how utterly immovable it seemed, and then there was a kind of glistening that happened on one the side of it. An almost imperciptible watery glimmer.
It was alive! It was going somewhere!
That was it.
It was still again for a long time.
I’d never thought about limpets too much before, but I read about them when I got home and it turns out that limpets move around quite a lot. Te Ara encyclopedia says they have a “muscular foot” and this word choice makes me smile.
They move to get food and they prefer to do it when they are submerged in water at night. They return to the same spot to rest during the day. The limpet that I saw was out of the water at daytime, which is why I am now pretty sure, but not entirely sure that I saw it move. Nonetheless, it was a thrilling moment.
It makes me think about how so much of what we take in is pre-packaged, and predigested information about the world. We believe what we are told, rather than actually finding out for ourselves.
When we go to the primary source of information: the tangible living world around us, our own bodies, we get glimpses of how surprising and mysterious the world really is.
I’m pretty sure that if I already knew that limpets don’t move during the day, then I wouldn’t have seen that limpet (maybe) move.
Did you get the memo about the new group programme I have starting in August? It’s called Mischief Makers and I want to tell you a little more about it.
Making mischief is not about just being a brat for the sake of it (though that can be fun sometimes). Rather, it is about being awake and sensitive to what is happening in your world and responding authentically, in your own integrity, even and especially when that response disrupts the status quo and makes others uncomfortable.
Authentic responses are often (though not always) different to conditioned responses (which often look like sitting down, shutting up, and not making a fuss).
On the surface making mischief can look like you are causing trouble, or being naughty, when really what is happening is that you are revealing the truth.
People (often those in positions of power) don’t always want the truth revealed because they are deeply invested in maintaining the status quo.
Revealing the truth can be terrifying. It can also be dare-I-say fun when you have the right support around you. And it’s where the best art comes from.
More details here. Apply here.
Questions? Ask me.
With limpety love,
Rata
