Transform vs Transmute

OK, I'm feeling philosophical again. Can't help it.

Transform and Transmute have similar yet subtly different meanings.

Transform implies a major change in the sense of a small company being transformed into a major player - think Apple Computer starting in a garage, now being a giant company.

Transmute implies a change into a higher form - the original example being alchemists attempts to change lead into gold, but think also of a young gang member transmuted into a man working with troubled teens.

As I contemplate (another interesting word) the differences in the two, I long for transmutation for so much of our world. I see so much transformation that is not at all positive - we are transforming the rain forests into logging operations; we transform spirituality into ideology; groups into gangs - it goes on and on and on.

Will we decide to transmute our world while we can? I think it starts with our beliefs. And, I don't know that we can get there through our minds. I believe it comes from our soul/feeling self and then into our actions. Example: Buck, my big dog, developed the habit of grabbing any bird unfortunate enough to have slammed itself into a window and devouring it. I picked up one before he got it, held it and stroked it, and repeatedly told him what a good bird it was, how much I liked it, etc. Now, I know he doesn't understand all my words, but he got at a feeling level the sense I conveyed. So, a couple of days ago, yet another bird slammed into a window and fell to the ground. Buck made no move - none - to get it. He's transmuted, at least for now, aggression into acceptance.

My challenge: making those transmutations within myself.


So, here's a photo of said bird:



I sat and held him for a while then took him to a part of the yard with some cover and let him sit on the ground. One little foot wanted to draw up so I straightened out the claws then held my finger at his breast - and he got on my finger! Sat there until he was ready to fly and took off. How cool is that?