Questioning: Secret Spot Assignment #3

We are observers and inquirerors and always want to know “what is that _______”?

Especially if one is not a birder or a plant specialist…the “what is it?” question can be frustrating and lead to a dead end.

Jon Young, promoter of the secret spot practice, would say that once we know the name of a thing—a bird or plant, eg.—a door closes. “Oh that’s a blah blah…” and then we are off to the next thing with the illusion that knowing its name is the same as knowing it. So, we are asking to go deeper than that.

When I was leading young people in the outdoors, I invited my learners to do their own naming. When they came across a plant, insect, bird, they could name it whatever they wanted, with a suggestion that some characteristic that stood out should lead the naming. “Swamp edgie”…”brown darter”…”white-striped back crawler”. (In fact, I let them make up their own personal names for the day—this released them from their teachers’ opinions of and identities for them…they expanded significantly under these freer conditions).

For this secret spot assignment, we watch this propensity, and pivot to a different question or two. For plants, insects, birds, you can name them whatever you want, but then ask “what is it doing?” (birds, insects). Is it feeding? Looking for mate? Gathering for/building a nest/shelter? Storing food?

For plants, “how well is it growing here? Is it in a spot that it looks like it might like, with lots of light, water, room, or not so well, crowded? Or perhaps it likes the shade. Did it get there naturally or was it planted? What kinds of other plants are growing around it? What might eat it? Use it for some other function (shelter, nesting?) is it going to flower? When, I wonder?

So we are wondering about the life of these creatures, beings.

Jon Young called for us to ask 3 Sacred Questions:

I. What am I observing? (while it could be some organism, the organism is also doing something, displaying some pattern of being, in relationship with other organisms and their environment)

II. What is this telling me? (this leads us into relational information; and we can totally make up a story about what we are observing. The faeries might even be involved!)

III. What deeper meaning can I find in this? For example, how is this a reflection of what is happening within me? How am I sprouting out of the ground? Chirping incessantly? In need of some space?

Enjoy this as a jumping off point for some introspection, poetry, painting or drawing…a nature story.

Stay tuned for Secret Spot Assignment #4 and the Art of Invisibility!