I read a lot about Indians when I was a kid. One of the Indian ideas I read about has stuck with me ever since. It was the idea Indians had about spirit-animals and totems. I was confused about the connection between spirit-animals and totems. Were they one and the same? I didn’t know.
They certainly seemed connected.
Every Indian had a spirit-animal that was mystically linked to himself in a way I didn’t fully understand. They wore amulets that represented their spirit-animal. Were the amulets totems? I wasn’t sure. Nonetheless, I found the idea of a personal spirit-animal appealing.
Indian boys at a certain age were expected to leave father and mother to walk alone into the wilderness until their spirit-animal was revealed in a vision. They carried nothing with them.
It usually took days of lonely shivering hunger, but it always worked.
I thought the boys would discover their spirit-animal to be a powerful animal like hawk, wolf, bear, or wasp. To my surprise, spirit-animals were often harmless animals like deer, rabbit, dove, or turtle. I imagined the boys were choosing which animal they wanted to be their spirit-animal. They weren’t.
The spirit-animal was choosing them.
It wasn’t a matter of deciding on personal emblem. It was a matter of discovering what kind of animal you really were. This set me wondering; did I have a spirit-animal? I’m not an Indian. Do Christian boys have a spirit-animal? I didn’t see any reason why not. I wondered
if the Indian’s spirit-animal was in some way like our Christian guardian angel.
Maybe? Why not?
I never decided that question. I did still wonder if I had a spirit-animal. I never quite decided. Even so, the notion wanders around my mind from time to time. Spirit-animals may not be real, but, discovering what kind of animal you really are is probably worth knowing.
In those same younger years I would fantasize before falling asleep of traveling in an oval craft that could travel anywhere; above the ground or under water. Sealed one-way transparent openings allowed me to see without being seen. The craft was impregnatable, it could also be made invisible.
I fantasized this fantastic craft in the mid-forties, a few years before flying saucers were on anyone’s mind. Maybe my imaginary craft reflected a peculiarity of my innate being.
Being away from the crowd, safely sheltered from strife, free to see and not be seen, and free to go wherever I chose - It’s a fantasy that still sounds perfect.
I tend to avoid conflicts. I’ve no concern about winning because there’s nothing I want
to win. When confronted, I usually say nothing. If possible, I walk away. Some say I remind them of a turtle. If my way is the way of the turtle, is the turtle my spirit-animal?
If the turtle isn’t my spirit-animal, the way of the turtle certainly is. I don’t think I’ve ever been otherwise.
There is some similarity between a spirit-animal and a kindred spirit. Both signify identity, personality, your sort of being; not quite synonymous, but similar.
I am a turtle in many ways, though not all ways. I’ve spent many of my working years in advertising. You may think a spirit-wolf would be better suited to advertising than a spirit-turtle.
Not so.
Advertising is about “selling”. The word “sell” is a misnomer.
It’s impossible to “sell” anything to anyone in the sense of strong-arming aggressive promotion or trickery. It doesn’t work.
People buy what they want or need. The only way to “sell” them anything is to show them that what you’re selling is what they want or need.
That job is easier for a turtle than it is for a wolf.
Turtles are not pushy. Turtles are patient. Turtles listen.
The way of the turtle in advertising is to find out what the customer wants, then find the best way to tell the customer how well what you’re selling fits their wants or needs.
If that doesn’t work, then you didn’t explain it properly. No matter. Try it again. No hurry. Just keep trying. Turtles are inclined to take as long as it takes.
Say, isn’t that how the tortoise won the race with the hare?
The Way of the Turtle is my way. I didn’t choose it.
It chose me.
Spirit-Animal, or Kindred-Spirit?
Does it really matter?