{"id":2003,"date":"2019-10-13T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T22:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2019-10-13T15:53:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T22:53:02","slug":"sitting-down-with-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/?p=2003","title":{"rendered":"Sitting down with lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many cultures, humans see themselves as siblings to other living beings. In Aotearoa New Zealand, where I grew up, the M\u0101ori people recognize landforms such as mountains and rivers as their relatives. Even in Western Judeo-Christian societies, where humans are believed to have been make in God\u2019s likeness and to have dominion over all creatures (Genesis 1:26), people with beloved domestic pets may discover that their relationship is closer to that of peers than of master and subject.<\/p>\n

My own views, which come closer to those of scientific pantheism,<\/a> had a formative moment one summer day in the early 1970s, when my friend Judi and I took our children to the Oakland Zoo. I tell about it in a letter to my parents:<\/p>\n

\"Baby<\/a>

A lion cub recently born at the Denver Zoo. Image from the Denver Post<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest thrill of the day, I got to cuddle a lion cub. Little 7 week-old roly-polies, they had been separated from their mother \u2013 I gather the father was threatening to harm them in the cramped quarters of the adult lions. We happened to be there at bottle time, and the keepers brought them out to a low platform in the children\u2019s zoo. They obviously need lots of affection. I was sitting on the platform, and one of them just crawled into my lap, like a kitten or a puppy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I will remember always the roughness of the cub\u2019s fur under my hand, the warmth of his tiny body, the loudness of his purr, the overwhelming sense of awe that this wild creature trusted me. Here\u2019s a poem about the incident:<\/p>\n

The Lion Cub<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the dusty heat of the zoo<\/span>
\n a lion roars.<\/span>
\n I conjure a dream of Africa<\/span>
\n an endless veldt<\/span>
\n an alien majesty
\n<\/span>concealed in yellow grass.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the petting zoo<\/span>
\n three lion cubs<\/span>
\n explore a patch of dirt.<\/span>
\n I sit.<\/span><\/p>\n

One crawls into my lap<\/span>
\n nuzzles my hand.<\/span>
\n Under thick baby fur<\/span>
\n muscles ripple, relax<\/span>
\n curl up for a nap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wide-eyed, the children watch<\/span>
\n and touch.<\/span>
\n Distance evaporates.<\/span>
\n We are earth family<\/span>
\n connected deep in time<\/span>
\n in mother love.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many cultures, humans see themselves as siblings to other living beings. In Aotearoa New Zealand, where I grew up, the M\u0101ori people recognize landforms such as mountains and rivers as their relatives. Even in Western Judeo-Christian societies, where humans are believed to have been make in God\u2019s likeness and to have dominion over all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,100,87,17],"tags":[418,540,539],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maureeneppstein.com\/mve_journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}