Unicorns, Yetis and Fairies

I was walking along a river, when for a moment I swear I saw a unicorn. The flash of recognition passed, and I rationalized immediately that it was the light and the motion of the water and a plastic shopping bag caught in a fallen tree. But then I laughed out loud because the second conception of perception did not devalue the first. I decided to believe I did see a unicorn.

I no longer ignore the split-second fairies of morning and zombies of night. As manifestations of imagination they carry messages, such as "all's well" or "you need more sleep" or "you are a force of nature" or "there could be something in the shadows."

The thing about unicorns is that they can't be captured. It is one of their defining characteristics. They are everywhere but very skittish. As soon as they are spotted they disappear. To me, a unicorn symbolizes the wild itself, the infinite unknown. Faith in unicorns is faith that man cannot tame everything with science. It is a reminder that scientific truth must be tempered with a child-like innocence, a feeling of awe and wonder at the world.

Another elusive horse-sized animal is the okapi of deepest Africa. Its zebra-striped flanks and long giraffe-like tongue, and the fact that no European had scientifically documented a sighting, put the okapi in the category of mythology until the 1920s. Now members of this species can be found in zoos all over the world.

I've never seen a moose. I've never seen a yeti. I did, for a moment, see a unicorn.

I know that humans want to believe in unusual beasts because there is a whole branch of science called cryptozoology that searches deep jungles and fossils for evidence of the beasts of myth. Back in August many people believed the hoax perpetrated by two Georgia men that claimed to have found the body of a Sasquatch. YouTube is full of ghosts and mermaids and tooth fairies. We either want to believe or at least to perpetuate belief, to nourish the seeds of possibility. Because with a little bit of general doubt, we are more able to accept new truths as they arise.

So maybe there is a unicorn just out of sight down by the river, or maybe the idea is preparation for another dimension of experience. Either way, it seems in my best interests to believe.