Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Aerial dance

Yesterday, I was giving lectures at University of Osaka.

Walking along the street, I saw two common bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon) butterflies in the sky. They kept flying, chasing each other.

After a while, one of them began circling around the other. The movement was quite rapid. The circle was completed more than once a second, approximately.

I was fascinated by this elegant and dynamic display of behavior. It must be written in the genetic code. Generations after generations have performed this aerial dance without knowing how or why.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It must be written in the genetic code.
Generations after generations have performed this aerial dance without knowing how or why.

Dr Mogi, he is a poet, isn't he? ... m ...

Utako said...

Surely poetic !
" Generations after generations have performed this aerial dance without knowing how or why."

This scene let me know continuous dance of life. We seem to be given the greatest joy for the medley.

" Aosujiageha "(common bluebottle)is common literally but I like the beautiful light blue pattern. I would fail to catch them because they flew so sharply like a swallow. May they flourish forever and a day.

Tak said...

Generations after generations have performed this aerial dance without knowing how or why.

I find this line expresses the essence of Dr Mogi's main theme, 'mind-brain problem'. We, human beings know the reasons or meanings of our 'dances' unlike butterflies.

Yet this does not prove that human beings are superior to butterflies. The only difference is that we know there should be some meanings in our lives.