Nanamua, Master of Acting on Instinct

By Francesco Garripoli

nanamuamarysshoe4001 As we know, the animal world teaches us a lot… I remember when the Discovery Channel was a rough idea before it went on-air and the founder KNEW that his key program had to be about animals. PBS always capitalized this and makes sure something about curious creatures shows up on its fund drives… I grew up watching “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” on TV in the 1960s… So facts are facts…

…and we have a pet industry in the western world that rivals the GNP of many developing nations…

So why shouldn’t Kahuna Valley’s newest addition, Nanamua aka Pig Boy, serve to teach in the fine tradition of four-legged creatures on this wild planet…

As you can see in the photo, Nana (as we affectionately call him) is quite content in misbehaving. As the “alpha” (what an honor) my sandals are totally safe… he would never think of touching mine… but if you are a guest – and a woman – your footwear is fair game. I never knew this as I’ve been here alone for weeks with him and he seemed really happy chewing on sticks and passion fruit that dropped from the vine. But with the visits of a couple of women lately, Nana’s instincts kicked in and no sooner were said women in the house and their sandals were left outside (honoring Hawaiian tradition) he took off with the right unit. Don’t ask me why it was always the right one, but that’s the fact.

It’s hard to fight our inner drives… yet culture is based on this. Once we quell our animal passions, we start looking around for something else to entertain us and thats how we create “culture.” You get enough people together who agree not to steal other people’s right shoes and your have the foundation of art, music, literature… the works… Yet we all know how challenging it is to not fall prey to our instinctual urges… even when we KNOW they are going to get us into trouble sooner or later.

Mary was kind enough to go home half shod when we couldn’t find her right shoe… and when I alerted her the next day that her missing shoe had become a favorite chew toy of Nana, she graciously conceeded to instinct and gave her left shoe to Kula, her pet Lab that looks a whole lot like Nana, less his telltale Pitbull characteristics. I’m guessing that the reduced brain size that comes with the MASSIVE Pitbull instinctual powers is part of the trade off that is helping Nana live up to the role of Pig Boy.

We learn from these domesticated wild creatures that instinct is a whole lot more powerful of an influence than say logic or past experience. Of course we may not be able to relate to this as humans (not) but I continue to watch and learn.

Tonight the moon is at 95% brightness… another day or so and it will be full… and this is when the wild pigs come down from the state forest reserve behind Kahuna Valley. Wild pigs are driven by instinct to… they want the grubs under the lawn and fallen avocados as much as anyone and what better time to raid my yard than when they can see clearly by moonlight… and it’s probably more romantic when they come down with other cute pigs… So tonite Nana and I do the rounds… walking in vigil around the perimeter of these six acres to leave our scent and presence… and listen and watch.

All of a sudden we get a sense (yes, me in my sarong and Nana at my heels with Neosporen in his wounds from a recent dog fight – but that’s another story)… a feeling like “something’s out there.” No sound yet, but then Nana starts barking (I’m so proud) and starts going nuts (that’s the blessed Pitbull in him, tamed ever so sweetly by the Lab). Racing along the fence line, he ferrets out a hiding pig who bullets to a place in the fence where he slips under. I yell at Nana to come over (he’s great about obeying that as I tell him sometimes it will save it life – like when he was fighting that big boar the other day). I try to explain our “rules of engagement” here at peaceful, vegetarian Kahuna Valley. The hope is that Nana will hang inside the property line around the orchard and protect his territory, which stops at the perimeter. The pigs can have the ravine and the state rain forest… he’s not to go running into their territory… but if they breach our DMZ, he can do what it takes to get them to leave. He sort of gets it and stood there barking as that big old pig ran and ran away into the rain forest. But good old instinct was too strong and he gave me that look like, “dude, I just have to do this.” Whoosh, he took off toward the forest… Aiyaaa… I yelled and he slowed his burst… and reluctantly returned… I rubbed his ears and head and told him he was a good Pig Boy…

How different are we from Nana? Not much I venture to guess… We’d like to think we’re cultured… but it’s all quite a show… I think that the best we can do is acknowlege our intinctual drives and embrace them… work with them to rise their energy to a place where we can cultivate a powerful passion that helps to enliven our dreaming…

Dream your dream… with joy and a slight tug on your leash…

Peace…

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