Vision Quest



At the end of last month, I decided it was time for a Vision Quest. Rather than going to the mountains or the desert, I went to Costco.

Yup, Costco has good deals on eyeglasses and I needed some. You see, about 6 years ago when I had my eyes tested for my drivers license, I barely passed the test. The fellow at the DMV quipped "do us all a favor and get some glasses!". I'm afraid my (unspoken) response to this good advice was about on the maturity level of a 4 year old with resistance to authority problems. " I don't need no glasses! You ain't the boss of me!" I felt I could see just fine.

A year or two later, I snuck on some glasses a house guest left on our kitchen counter and, looking out our window, was amazed at the detail I could see in the distant Olympic Mnts; all the snowfields and rocks clearly seen. I used to see like that. "Maybe there's something to this eyeglass thing" I thought. But still, due primarily to vanity, or whatever, I still didn't get glasses. Finally my distance vision, particularly at night, put me into the 'menace to society' category as a driver.

So there I was at Costco, at the counter, try my new glasses. I don't generally like Costco, big box stores, or shopping malls- they all have kind of a crappy vibe, in my opinion. After doing a brief visual scan of all the distant consumer stuff, I turned my attention to the polished concrete floor near the counter, and reveled in the clarity of the cracks in the cement and other cement details. " Wow!" I said excitedly. The counter lady laughed a bit nervously - I guess most customers don't get too excited about looking at cement floors.

Going 'outside' into the real world I was also excited about all the detail I could see. A lump up in a tree (glasses off) resolved into a Red-tail Hawk with glasses on. Near home , I was glad I didn't report to tweeters the Eared Trogon I'd been seeing for a week in the bushes behind Safeway as I drove by , because with my new super- vision, it turned out to be a green and red sweater someone had tossed there. My new super- doper vision was nearly overwhelming, after years of pleasantly fuzzy viewing.

It kind of reminded me of another Vision Quest I'd taken, back in 1974. I was up at Sunrise, on Mt. Rainier, with my buddy Curtis, fellow mountaineer and naturalist, and we decided the time was right to do a little peyote trip. Peyote, if you don't know, is a psychotropic little cactus traditionally used by American Indians for Vision Quest of their own. So we choked the stuff down - peyote being possibly the worlds worst tasting vegetable, and had our experience. It was great.

The English author Aldous Huxley wrote a long essay (in 1954) about his experiences with mescaline (synthesized version of peyote) entitled " The Doors of Perception", inspired by the William Blake quote;

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through the narrow chinks of his cavern."

Well, the whole deal was just like that. Sort of like have your head sprayed with ego - remover: the clarity of the scene, the birds trees rocks, and all was great, uncomplicated by any distractions of the self whatsoever. I remember watching a Lewis Woodpecker flying far below, thru the atmosphere above the White River, and watching the many Kestrels catching grasshopper on the ridge.

I don't eat that stuff anymore. I prefer meditation to achieve such a state these days - takes more commitment, but it's worth it. Like, be a Stump for awhile.

Birding outside of the Ego zone is not conducive to listing, or competitive birding, because you don't even think about those things. I imagine I'll have some more clear visions soon - meditating with my new glasses on. At least I'll be able to see the birds better. Like watching a House Sparrow eat a French fry in a parking lot - I mean have you really SEEN a House Sparrow? Kind of cool really.

Eagle Eye (not really) Gibson
posting from the
Port Townsend Public Library