Consider the Birds...

"Consider the birds..."
     I was reflecting on this passage in the Gospels this morning whIle I was changing the chicken waterers. We have a lot of birds running around in the back yard as well as the barn, and I watch their behavior every morning, afternoon, and evening. And not just the birds, but the goats, the cats, the dogs, and the rabbits as well. Watching animals is highly instructive where spiritual things are concerned and where this passage in the Gospels is concerned, because the major difference between the behavior of animals and the behavior of human beings is that, unless the animal is unbalanced, their behavior is not dominated by anxiety or fear. Certainly their natural flight response is active. If a physical threat occurs or gets too close they run. If they can't run or have a family or flock to defend, they fight. But once the threat is over, it's over. They go back to just living their lives, looking for food, mating, socializing with each other, and so on. The threat, while it may be a fact filed away for future reference, doesn't continue to impact their lives in any way. They just let it go. This is one of the reasons why animals can be such a joy to be around.
     Human beings don't do this. As I reflected on this, the lives of human beings are governed by fear, aggression, or cravings from day one. When Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, what to wear, and so on, and not to worry about tomorrow, He's giving us the animals, the birds in particular, as an example of a healthy mind and healthy use or context for fear and using it as a comparison, or a baseline, against what every human being generally does without serious training and teaching to the contrary.
     Our whole psychological identities are formed from fear, from the things we're afraid of losing to the things we're afraid of gaining; from the things we're afraid of happening to us, to the things we're afraid of not happening to us. Our minds are governed from birth from a fear response that is unbalanced and out of control, and the human mind creates illusions, distractions, and even splits itself in response to it. This overactive fear response is what causes us to not be able to perceive God around and within us, as fear and love can't coexist in the same space. Our very egos, our very "selves" are formed from this overactive fear response, which then fights to defend itself as well.
     Animals don't do this unless they're unbalanced. A fearful animal is a dangerous animal, to other animals, to human beings, and to itself. This should give us a clue as to why animals tend to see human beings as a threat most of the time unless they've learned not to. They can sense that we are unbalanced and governed by a malfunctioning fear response.
      This fear which governs human beings is the source of just about everything which is wrong with human beings, and is the reason why we "naturally" (even though it is against nature) have our senses closed to the God who is always here. We have to learn to let go of this fear and the clinging which triggers it in order to open those senses, to "have eyes to see and ears to hear" the God who is love. In this passage, Jesus was illustrating for us and calling us to a "normal" and healthy life.