Word of the day: chatak – the unheard sound a flower makes at the moment it opens or petals
– Robert Macfarlane
At Twitter/X Rob Macfarlane is probably most known for his Word of the Day. Tens of thousands of people must have seen it. A word for a bird, a feeling, a flower; being at ease in the mountains and light shining through trees. If you’ve known it, but didn’t know how to say it, there’s very likely a word.
Seven in the morning, or later for me, it felt like everyone was there responding with related ideas, photographed walks, flowers seen, books enjoyed, poems read, birds encountered, and sentiments shared. It was fun seeing people from France, Germany, China, Italy, Japan, the US, Belgium and more.
Of all Rob’s Words, it was chatak I liked the best. In the Indian tradition, the anahata or heart chakra is where you find the unstruck sound. It’s above the solar plexus chakra, where you find self interest and ego.
You can imagine it. There is a sound. There must be at some level. Physics doesn’t stop because we can’t measure it. So it’s a question of subtle sensing, fine attuning, or poetry. The idea is simple although leads to Bergson indivisibility if you are inclined: “Thus, of physics – so long as we are considering only its general form and not the particular cutting out of matter in which it is manifested – we may say that it touches the absolute” (Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution).
The first chatak is at Cruachan where I walked in Scotland but had to turn back because of weather. It got worse. Briefly, I saw an eagle. Curiously, my photograph is looking up as I began to walk. The addition of a river changes the impression.
The second chatak is at a valley near Glencoe. It was spring, but the hills above still covered with snow. You wouldn’t think it seeing just a few patches so I was wearing my usual sandals. It wasn’t a great problem, although could have been more comfortable.
The third shot is Skye. A world with a creaturely reality not ours. Chatak, again, because it’s an idea I like for a wild place.
