When attacked by a predator, many lizards practice autotomy, a
feature allowing the tail to sever, thus enabling the lizard to flee
unharmed. Often the detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a
deceptive sense of continued struggle and distracting the predator's
attention from the fleeing lizard. A set of sphincter muscles then
contracts around the caudal artery to minimize bleeding. Over a period of
weeks, the tail will at least partially regenerate!
I find this abil
ity
amazingly instructive for us as human beings. When we are attacked
emotionally by another person, our wounded sense of identity will
wriggle in pain at the offense. But perhaps we can make a virtue from
the suffering by creating a kind of game out of it, allowing our surface identity to "play" hurt while
secretly detaching ourselves from the need to react to the incident and
withdrawing instead into our Center.
Several weeks ago, I came across an amazing quote by Carlos Castaneda.
He says: "No person is important enough to make me angry." Perhaps the
same could be said of emotional hurt! In any case, I am so grateful for
the vastness and beauty of Nature which enables me to release my sense
of identity from the claustrophobia and tightness of painful human
interactions, and melt instead into a Larger Whole!
Photo: Lizard regrowing a tail, near Moab, UT, April 19, 2015
