Heroes Not Zombies

Are you familiar with the concept of the “wood wide web”? It’s a term which has been coined to describe the vast, intricate, integrated network of communication channels which spread through every forest. The trees don’t just communicate with each other by sending out chemicals from their leaves through the air to other trees, or to repel noxious insects, nor do they just send molecules and messages to each other through directly from root to root, but their root systems are deeply embedded in vast webs of fungi and “micro” fungi (that’s tiny fungi!!). We’ve discovered that the incredible interactions between trees and fungi can share information and materials right throughout the entire forest…..to the extent that you can really think of the forest as one enormous organism.
Well, similar pathways and mechanisms have now been described in flowers. It seems that flowering plants, too, communicate, not just by colour and scent, but through similarly entwined symbiotic relationships with micro-organisms and fungi.
Guess what? We communicate in a vast variety of diverse ways too. Sure, we use language, but we also use facial expressions, body movements and positions, as well as scent, colour and touch. But more than that, our beating hearts send out electromagnetic signals around our bodies…a sort of energy net which can interact with the nets of others close to us. We also communicate by sharing micro-organisms and molecules all of which are too small to see without a microscope.
In fact, just like trees and flowering plants, our hyper-connected existence really means we are so inter-related and so inter-dependent, that we just can’t help communicating with, and influencing, others every moment of every day.
It’s partly because of that, that I decided to start writing these daily posts during the pandemic. It seemed to me that there is a lot of negativity around, a lot of “bad energies”, a lot of fear, anger and hurt. And all of that spreads around our “world wide web” of hyper-connected humanity, and, yes, even the rest of the hyper-connected, natural world. As best I can see, we are creating the kind of world we both imagine and experience, because these connections act as vast feedback loops and accelerators, spreading and magnifying the information which we send out.
So, here I am, every day, sharing with you an image which I hope will enable you to have a mindful moment, a few minutes to pause, and reflect, and to stir within your soul, some wonder, some joy, some delight, and to magnify the love that exists in your heart.
Because, hey, wouldn’t it be great if wonder, joy, delight and love spread around our planet? Wouldn’t it be great if they accelerated and increased as they spread?
Well, that’s my hope. And I hope you’ll do the same, sending out and spreading your own wonders, joys, delights and love around your family, friends, colleagues, and, yes, even strangers.