What is “Spake the Kestrel”?

Kestrels

Kestrels are raptors. Small ones. Actually, the smallest falcon in N. America, and one of the most colorful. (resource: All About Birds, Cornell University). They’re fast, tenacious, and flexible – eating everything from insects, rodents, birds and even amphibians. Kestrel’s also seem to thrive where humans have created fields and meadows – rural and urban boundaries.

Small, wonderful and beautiful … they thrive!

Birds that spake

E.A. Poe’s Raven is the most famous bird who spake. What the raven said is not that important, nor is Poe’s supposed inference that ravens are ‘non-reasoning, but capable of speech’ (source). Current research proves that ravens are way smarter than Poe imagined (recent studies compare ravens to great apes – example).

While kestrels and ravens differ greatly, the notion that they have hidden and misunderstood abilities fits perfectly. Just because their intelligence is different or beyond current perception or understanding, does not – in anyway – diminish their abilities.

Genius, intelligence and assumed thought constraints

Aristotle is quoted about genius in two different ways typically, and both apply here. First, metaphor is used often, and here is one typical translation.

“The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in the dissimilar.”

Second, genius is not binary nor simplistic.

“There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”

My interpretation of ‘madness’ is not insanity, but beyond / outside the norm. Expanding boundaries of human thought and possibilities.

So what is this blog about?

Thinking and learning to live better.

My curiosity drives constant learning and thinking about those learnings. They can be magical gem stones buried in rock … remove the rock, polish them and try them on for size … exchange them, trade them, but never sell them.

These learnings and the thinking within them are core to ‘spake the kestrel’.

Working to think differently, to challenge assumptions and mental models, and to live a better life … with a stretch goal of finding my Aristotelian Eudaimonia.

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Photo is from Cascade Raptor Center Kirby | Cascades Raptor Center