One man’s junk
They say one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. None more so than in the sea. This morning, I once again came across an elaborate pattern formed by one lot of sea creatures making their home on another. It made me wonder how shells keep these invaders off them when they are alive – after all they don’t have arms as we do, or tails, as cows and dogs have, for example. Maybe their mobility means they can escape a wandering barnacle or the like. I assume the creatures that I see, find dead, rather than living, shells for their new homes. In this one this morning, a small hole remained at the shell’s entrance, allowing something to live within it but I suspect that would have been a small crab or something similar. I am sure the weight of these intruders would become too much for a living shell to carry around.
We are so lucky as humans. We have the ability to makes our lives just how we want them. Trees are rooted – they remain where they start their life. Animals generally have freedom, even though they may be within the confines of a paddock. Birds and fish can come and go as well. Shells, although at the mercy of the tides, have a degree of freedom too, with most being able to scuttle about in their immediate vicinity. These little things today, and I don’t know what they are called, they have no ability to go where they please, they are totally in the hands of the sea currents, as their homes are shifted across the ocean floor.
Sometimes I wonder what their level of consciousness is. Do they recognise the greater force that moves them around for what it is? - just a big sea influenced by the moon and the storms. Do they even care? Have they taken on this form of existence to learn vulnerability and trust, for example? Or maybe they have chosen this life to experience new horizons, as their homes are washed through the sea. Or maybe, when they first attached, the shells were alive and it was only after they died, that they succumbed to the ocean currents.
I know we choose to learn lessons in our own lives and generally pick a place that will give us the most chance of learning these lessons. Sometimes we think we are hard done by or life is unfair, but we always have choices, unlike these barnacle type shells I found today, although maybe they had choices too. Perhaps instead of choosing a shell for their home, they could have chosen a rock, something that would have given them stability. Maybe their lives are just as ours are, giving them multiple opportunities to get something right the next time around, should they have made a wrong choice. Did whatever was living within this shell jump ship at the 11th hour, realising that once it hit the shoreline it would die? The barnacles did not have that choice. They were totally at the sea’s mercy.
I was shown in a meditation one day, that I would have to experience some situations. But in saying that, I did have a choice as to when. If things were becoming too much for me, the experience could be delayed, usually to a time when I was stronger or more prepared to deal with it. However, that respite was only temporary, I would still need to face whatever it was that spirit wanted me to face.
Perhaps these sea creatures are the same. If things are getting too much for them, maybe the inevitable can be delayed for them to a time when they are more prepared for the experience. Or maybe they are just shells, with no consciousness or higher purpose at all. Now that’s a thought.