Why does Tim Girvin love crows and ravens?
Some people have equated the raven as being something inextricably linked to me — my personal brand. That is, when people see something on the raven, or the crow, they presume that I know about it, or should. And they tell me about them, of course. And yes, out there, I know there are others that are captivated by the raven’d compulsion, endlessly fascinating they are.
“Say, did you hear that story about the Raven starting up a bulldozer and driving through the shopping mall?”
“Hey, my Mother was tracked by Ravens for years — finally, she moved to Australia. Then they found her there, too.”
“Man, a Raven called my name — I’m not kidding.”
“Hi, I’m from the Crow tribe, I’m 15% Native…”
All are interesting of course.
With all the talk about the concept of the personal brand — or what Girvin calls the Human Brand — the concept of linking forces of nature to your personal state of being is merely additive to what one would hope would be the robust character of your personality. And your brand.
It’s recognizing a deepening sense of relationship to the phenomena of another world — one which perhaps you’ve forgotten. Why then, might you consider that a personal brand might have something that relates to the spirit of nature — or a force — in reckoning, from it? I’d suggest that it’s about reaching deeper in the psyche of who you are, and what elements might be part of your persona, expressed in the learnings and exposure to — and from — the world around us.
Why then, the Raven for me? It goes back decades to my childhood — and it is not ever initiated as something to the notion of the personal brand — rather, it’s about story. Persona(l) story told — in a sense of significant retelling. Only because they’re the smartest birds on the planet. My thinking, to the international state of mystery, fear and revulsion? They’ve been reviled because they are so hyper-intelligent. And, being black winged yet simultaneously “rainbowed”, their feathers like the oiled rainbows of fuel in water, they’re more magic than others. Looking at you, rather than in your general direction.
Of course, beyond beauty and suspense, mystery and imagination — there are the facts (happily gathered by friend — and apparent fellow corvidophile — Nils Von Veh.)
Temple ravens | New Dehli, India
Minds of Their Own: Birds Gain Respect
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DF123BF932A35751C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Raven banners | Katherine Eaton Skinner studios, Capitol Hill, Seattle
Crows as Clever as Great Apes, Study Says
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1209_041209_crows_apes.html
Drubbing the national emblem, crow and eagle (Photo by Robert Girvin, Tacoma)
Birds team up to solve food puzzle
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13544-birds-team-up-to-solve-food-puzzle.html
Imperial vistor, Palace view, from the window sills of the Palace Hotel, Tokyo (Photo by Dawn Clark, AIA LEED®ap)
Ravens– Discover the Brainpower of the Bird in Black
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/ravens/discover-the-brainpower-of-the-bird-in-black/1507/
Raven raver — Fremont, Seattle, as photographed by Cynthia Hall.
Call me “bird brainâ€
http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/call-me-bird-brain/
Raven compositing, as documented by John Gallone, Portland
Meet the brains of the animal world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8023295.stm
Other Girvin contemplations, Raven called Bhutan
https://tim.girvin.com/Entries/?p=722
Meditations on Raven, stone drawn
https://tim.girvin.com/Entries/?p=347
I believe, along with others, that the spirit of the animal — the natural world — is one that is rife with the richness of living, in human experience, in harmonious connection with the force, in focus, nature.
caw|caw|caw…
tsg with the Ravens, Bumthang, Bhutan
Dawn Clark AIA, LEED AP