Heroes Not Zombies

The truth is that every single flower is unique. There are no two flowers which share identical lives.

We have a tendency in our way of thinking which is dominated by how our left hemisphere engages with the world – it’s a tendency towards abstraction, labelling and categorisation. In other words we reduce whatever we encounter to a small range of characteristics or elements, consider them separately from their contexts and relationships to all else, label them and pop them into categories. So we can look at a meadow like this and identify, say, four different species of flowers. The trouble is, do we then just see only four species of flowers?

Maybe you think that doesn’t matter, and the thing is, most of the time, it doesn’t. We don’t need to know the life story of each individual flower. But the trouble is we extend that habit too widely. A good gardener tends their plants as individuals, noting how each one is growing, which ones are struggling, and so on, and dealing with any problems as they appear. We engage with domestic animals the same, naming them, learning their habits, characteristics and quirks. When a pet dies we feel grief which can’t be eased by “just buy another [cat] [dog] [rabbit] or whatever”.

In “The Little Prince” he talks about his rose which he says is not like all the other roses because he has spent so much time and attention looking after it….he’s developed a “bond” with it, a special and unique relationship. He’s right. When we create a meaningful relationship with an other, be that another person, another animal, another plant, then we appreciate their uniqueness, their irreplaceability.

Noticing diversity is a good way to remind ourselves that no two organisms are the same….no two trees, no two flowers, no two pets, no two people. When we become aware of diversity and see the individual as unique we can form a personal, meaningful, deeper, and richer relationship. That makes life richer.