It is the beauty of starlings flying in close proximity to one another. If you've been lucky enough to see it in person, it will fill you with wonder and a sense of joy. They are a pulsating, shape-shifting, work of living art. Scientists have been observing and trying to grasp how starlings fly in such tight formations without falling from the sky, victims of many mid-air collisions.
Some have suggested that there is some telepathic signal that the flock gets from one leader. Through the years, advances in technology have given us a better picture of what is going on.
I recently read a small article at the website, Howstuffworks (https://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/starling-murmurations.htm), that caused me to think about the implications for Spiritual Family. In his post there, John Donovan gives us the results of a study that may have unlocked the secret of our little friends who paint the sky as they swam for protection in the evening. He quotes researchers who said, "In a flock with 1,200 birds, it is clear that not every bird will be able to keep track of the other 1,199 birds, who is keeping track of whom?” He then goes on to explain that “Italian physicists used more than 400 photos from several videos to find out, plotting the position and speed of birds as they flocked. From that, they built a mathematical model that identified the optimal number of flock-mates for each bird to track.
Turns out the magic number is seven: Each bird keeps tabs on its seven closest neighbors and ignores all else. Considering all these little groups of seven touch on other individuals and groups of seven, twists and turns quickly spread. And from that, a whole murmuration moves.”
Mario Pesendorger, a researcher at Cornell, draws three points that are causing me to think about my relationships and how I think of spiritual family. He observes:
“individual birds are concerned with only three aspects of their flight and the flight of those around them."
An attraction zone: "Which means, in this area, you're going to move toward the next guy.”
A repulsion zone: "Which means, you don't fly into his lane, otherwise you both fall.”
Angular alignment: "So you got to kind of follow his [a bird's neighbor] direction.”
“Depending on how you change those three parameters," Pesendorfer says, "you can get everything from those barrel-looking baseballs that you get in ocean fish, to loose-looking insect swarms, to highly, highly organized fish swarms and murmurations. All in those three little parameters.”
So, how do the insights gained from the study of murmuration help us as spiritual family?
Simply put, it might encourage us to consider deeply that, as a church, if we want to paint beautiful pictures on the chaotic skies of our current culture, we would do well to identify that smaller family of strange birds with whom we will fly in close proximity and mutually support. Finding them, doing life together, enjoying one another and letting Father build a network of families out of us.
Perhaps, then, we can enjoy liquid and mesmerizing flight for all to see.
—George Davis
*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.