Ch.251 The Sound of a Goose’s Flight

May 2024

          Yesterday I heard something marvelous: the sound of a goose’s flight. I was taking my usual morning walk when our neighborhood pair of geese began squawking. Soon they arose from their nesting area near Big Creek to fly to fields so they could glean last year’s corn harvest remnants. To my surprise one landed nearby, perhaps 50 yards from me. Meanwhile, the goose’s mate circled silently, flying almost over my head. That’s when I heard a gentle “whoosh.” It was the sound of the air displaced by the bird’s downward stroke. A second whoosh, and then a third.

          I don’t associate geese with anything quiet or gentle. Rather, I usually think of them as noisy and harsh, as in you don’t want one of them getting angry and deciding to come after you. This was different. Rhythmic. Soft. Awe-inspiring.

          I have been studying the relationship between science and spirituality during the last few months with my friends Lou and Anne.  They are devout Catholics and scientists at the same time. I was brought up by my father and later in science classes to believe that science and spiritualty/religion were incompatible, that science was in the process of displacing the superstitions of religion with cold, hard facts. Sigmund Freud’s book, The Future of an Illusion, in which he “debunks” religious beliefs, is an example of this kind of thinking. God does not exist in this mind set because the existence of God cannot be proven.

          With regard to God, I am agnostic. I believe people who are certain that God doesn’t exist are just as biased as those who are certain God does exist. To me, either conviction is a little arrogant. I don’t think humans have the capacity to know. However, Lou and Ann believe in God with conviction; they feel his presence in the center of their beings. We’ve had wonderful discussions of what that means. I’ve asked myself specifically what it would mean to feel the presence of that kind of connection with the universe.

          Which brings me back to the goose. As I watched that bird flying above me, as I heard the whoosh of the air it displaced, I was awe-struck. I felt blessed to live on earth, surrounded by the mystery of how humans share this planet with a multitude of life forms, each perceiving the world in their own way, with their own priorities and responsibilities. It doesn’t mean anything to me to say either that God created all of this or it’s a result of evolution. All that matters to me is that I am here, the goose is here, we share our lives, and that is all part of a wonderful mystery I will never be able to resolve