Under the depths of the cosmos, questions rose in my mind: Who are my mother and my father, my sister and my brother? Who are my ancestors?
The presence of the stars felt like an imperative demand: consider, now, the true nature of your belonging. Reflect deeply upon your source and origin, and know that each one is the child of more than humankind.
Certain animals have shared with me this sense of expanded belonging that dissolves the boundaries of human specialness and separation. I remember the gray whale who lifted her baby onto her back so that I could reach down from the boat to caress it. I remember the silken touch of the young whale’s skin, and the depth in the mother’s eye. When she turned on her side and I met her lucid, tranquil gaze, I knew her as one of the ancient ones of the earth, and my ancestor.
Eleanor O’Hanlon, “Remarkable Beings“
Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Parabola Bestiary: Bear” and Eleanor O’Hanlon’s “Remarkable Beings” in this episode of Parabola magazine’s free monthly podcast. Our monthly twenty-minute podcast is available to stream or download for free through SoundCloud and iTunes.
