Lark Bunting : Ensouled

This is a Lark Bunting. By most measures I would be thrilled with this photo. The bird itself is a rarity and beautiful. The cactus provides framing and texture. The foreground pops. This has all the makings of a “great photo.” But maybe, just maybe, this photo leaves you with a twinge of subtle discomfort. Missing is the light in the bird’s eye, the sparkle I believe reflects the infusion of the Divine. This Bunting, beautiful in its own right and surrounded by every enhancing detail, poignantly reminds us of the soul, the hallmark of a living scene.

Genesis speaks of creation using metaphors we can comprehend. The breath of life is infused into humanity as the crowning completion of the world. Immediately following humanity’s creation is the first of the mitzvot: to be fruitful and multiply. This command is simultaneously a clear imperative and sufficiently ambiguous to allow for interpretation. What is indisputable, though, is that we are commanded to be generative. To be created in the likeness of HaShem fundamentally includes the ability and desire to make manifest our words.

I was recently given a gift: the word “ensoul.” It’s a precious gift because words are the tools with which we think. And this new tool empowers me to create in a new and different way. To ensoul is, I suggest, the way in which we are to be in the likeness of our Creator. We are to ensoul the work of our hands, the relationships we build with others, and the connection we enjoy between ourselves and HaShem. For us, to ensoul is to perform the commandment to be fruitful and multiply. When we ensoul, we see the sparkle of the Divine, in the Bunting’s eye, and in all that we do.