In my August 3rd, Sunday post I wrote about the miracle of murmurations, the amazing way starlings (and other birds) will fly in a manner that creates endlessly creative three dimensional shapes. But there are a few things I didn’t mention in my Sunday Post I’d like to explore today. First, it is thought that the fascinating movements of a murmuration have several purposes; to protect the well being of all the individual birds from predators, to find safe shared spaces for roosting in the evening, and to spread out and share individual knowledge and information about resources with the entire community. This non-hierarchical breathtaking display may involved hundreds or even thousands of birds. As I wrote in my Sunday post, murmurations have fascinated me for years, the visual wonder of them, the flock’s almost mystical unity as it create ever adapting formations, the awe inspiring way that without one clear leader they achieve their common purpose for the well being and safety of the entire community. There is so much beauty and poetry in a murmuration, and there is so much inspiration for those of us drawn to ideas grounded in common good, interconnectedness and more egalitarian and shared power structures.
All that said, what I just learned today was within a murmuration, each bird bases its movements upon the movements of 6 or 7 neighboring birds. Ok, poetically the metaphor deepens my friends. Yes these birds are an interconnected large group, and their common purpose is achieved as a large group. But, how that purpose is achieved is built upon the close interactions of neighboring birds and made possible by how those close interactions (neighborhoods) overlap and expand.
My friend Helen Blier (whom I’ll be co-facilitating a retreat at Ring Lake Ranch in 2026) told me about the Sufi practice and Hadith spiritual thought about neighborly responsibility. According to this spiritual idea, we are responsible for the well being of our close neighbors, and a neighborhood, is defined as the forty homes around us in all directions. I loved how in this practice the home next to you extends the circle of care one more home, and the home next to them extends, the circle another home further, which continues to expand our spiritual connection and responsibility like the ripples that grow from a single stone dropped in the water.
There is another beauty in this practice in that it encourages us to keep things “human size” and doable for each person. It reminds me of a story told by educator and activist, Dr. Gregory Ellison III. In the story he recounts being a small child and asking his grandmother “how do I change the world?” His grandmother, in all her wisdom, answered, “I can’t change the whole world, but I can change what’s three-feet around me.” I fell in love the story from the first time I heard it, I loved it for its spiritual truth and empowerment. I cannot do everything, but I am called by love to do something, to do what is human size and mine. And so I ask again today, what is mine to do and who will go with me. What is possible and completely doable three feet around…on interaction, one house, one bird in flight away.
The image of the murmuration, the Sufi call to community care and Ellison’s three feet challenge transforms what feels too big, too vast, too overwhelming and undoable, and empowers us with full agency to create positive change, with every action and every breath. Yes, our every interaction with people, with all living creatures, with the natural world, shifts the balance - always just a little bit further .
May I be like the birds of a murmuration, attuned to the spirit and feathers and longings and finest dreams of the collective. May I attend to my neighbors the 6 or 7 birds around me, each small circle expanding one bird more in every direction.
All of this is to say, I am finding these stories of great change created by small actions incredibly powerful and relevant in these troubled times. There is a deep and very old truth displayed in the individual and collective movements of a murmuration. There is deep and long proven wisdom, in the power we claim when we choose to love our neighbors, to welcome the stranger and try our best to live with compassion and integrity with what is close in and three feet around us.
This week I am saddened by the daily news filled with acts of callous and conscious cruelty. I don’t have to look further than the daily headlines to get a technicolor image of what the shadow side of humanity looks like. There are days when the weight of what is happening in our weary and suffering world drops me to my knees.
And so each day I acknowledge the enormity of the problems we face, but I choose once again to live like a starling on the edges of a murmuration, to sense all the feathers and wings and spirits around me, to stay in relationship, to share hope and resources and the stories — the stories of a deeper calling and a wider wisdom.
Practice
First, take a few deep cleansing breaths. In and out, lengthening your outbreath a little.
Let go of whatever is troubling your heart, that feels to big or overwhelming to carry. Keep breathing. Keep letting it go.
Now imagine your spirit is flying like a bird in a murmuration. Sense how you are connected to the 6 or 7 closest to you in flight. Sense how each bird you are connected to is connect one more bird further. Do this until you sense how the entire flock is connected.
Breath another deep cleansing breath and imagine how each individual spirit, each feathered wing, the entire creative flock is connected to a deep and powerful spiritual truth, how love flows from you to your neighbors to the collective to the heart of the divine….and then all the way back again to you.
End with a deep breath and say on the in breath “in love” on the out breathe “we fly”
Question
If you did the practice above, let us know how it felt to sense that expansive connection. Or write a three line haiku about birds in flight.
Music Always Music
This is a song that was inspired by Dr. Gregory Ellison III’s story and three feet challenge. It’s called Three Feet or So and was first recorded on my album The Beautiful Not Yet.
“And the things that have saved us, are still here to save us, it’s not out there somewhere, it right here…its right here.”
Comments I Loved This Week
Thank you for all your kind condolences in the comments of the Fishing posts. A deep bow of gratitude my friends.
Fascinating reflections. I love the idea of the individual and collective unconscious shaping and reshaping in a mysterious, murmuration-like manner. I think moving from a rigid hierarchy to a more fluid, horizontal, interdependent approach is crucial for our survival.- Michael Chatlien
"Murmurations are such an awe filled, beautiful mystery to me… art, dance, nature, community, invisible connection and communication, and something I can’t name." Jeff Albert Sculpture
The line "we don't know what will become of all our best intentions" stood out for me. It made me think that we really don't know how the things we do affect others. Sometimes the smallest act of kindness can have a big ripple effect. Tara M Dwyer
Fall Tour Season
for more information on concerts and retreats visit my website tour page at www.carrienewcomer.com/tour
Currently Booking 2026/27 Seasons
If you are interested in bringing me to your community visit The Chaffee Management Group website and Jim Chaffee can answer all your questions —ok, maybe not every questions about the definitive meaning of life, but I think he’d give it his best try :-)
