Last week I read about a man who was in love with an octopus. What else can you call it? He would dive into the icy cold waters off the South African coast day after day and make sure he spotted the small, speckled creature to follow it around silently as it hunted, slept, or just swam about on its daily rounds.
What had started as curiosity turned into a curious affection, a feeling of wanting to know it better, and finally, an acknowledgement that the eight-tentacled creature could just by the business of living teach him a lot. And teach, it did. Craig Foster, a filmmaker, learnt patience and understanding by observing the octopus, and when he saw how it helped itself recover from injury, it taught him enough to be able to apply it to his own life, to mend his broken relationship with his son.
Craig’s self-imposed resolve to free-dive every day for 10 years regardless of season opened up entire worlds to him, never dreamt of before. And it is a story rich in the possibilities it holds out for any of us in search of inner peace. Here perhaps is the way to beat the silent enemy that hangs over us with the cold silence of a killer fog. The answer to our ennui, the solution to our need to get out there and regain our lives, so what if it is risky, if not downright dangerous.
There are plenty of choices. If the sea is not a possibility, choose a river. If swimming is not an option, sitting by the water’s edge is. If a water body won’t present itself, a tree could. So, keeping it simple: Pick a tree to watch. For a week. A month. Perhaps an entire year. And watch how Nature’s creatures orchestrate their lives. Just because you don’t see them, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there, even in the heart of a metro city. It just means you have not looked long enough.
Maybe you will see a chameleon clamber up on awkward legs. Or squirrels playing a game of tag. They look alike, these creatures we know little about, but of course each is different and none of them lives alone. Birds will stop to rest mid flight; a mynah or two or parrots shrieking messages across the group. Crows love preening one another on the top branches, or perhaps you will see the bulbuls, who sing to wake you every morning, but turn into daring attackers, swooping down on the cat as it passes underneath their nest. Ants live behind the layers of the trunk, an entire universe contained in their societies, orderly disciplined creatures who hold out united against any threat.
And the tree itself, bending to the wind when it turns gusty, dancing in the light summer breezes, shedding leaves to conserve itself in the cold and celebrating the sun with flowers and fruit... a lesson in every mood. Centuries ago, William Blake wrote about seeing divinity in a grain of sand and Heaven in a wild flower. Craig discovered it’s possible to learn life’s meaning from an octopus. There’s an adventure of the spirit waiting for each one of us, right before our eyes. What better time to discover it than now, when the world seems fogged by a clearly present danger?
Of course if you think all this is a waste of time, you can watch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix. It might convince you, if reading this didn’t.
Sathya Saran saran.sathya@gmail.com
Author & Consulting Editor, Penguin Random House