The Universe in a Microbe
Deep in the anaerobic universe of your gut one of the most ancient life forms on the planet makes itself at home. A ‘bug’ 500 times smaller than a grain of sand forms a community with millions of others just like it interacting with each other and their environment in complex and sophisticated ways. Perhaps somewhere in the single cell of this primordial organism is the memory of a time where it was the only life form in existence, this memory might be jogged by this dark chemically diverse landscape which mirrors that of Early Earth, or maybe it’s the dynamic ecosystem of which it forms a crucial part.
The microbial world is the world of the tiny organisms that inhabit every possible habitat on the planet, a world smaller than the eye can see, and simultaneously the antecedent of all that we can lay our eyes upon. With potentially trillions of different species and complex structures of communities, bacteria arrange themselves into ecosystems in every kind of environment, from deep inside the Earth’s crust to all over and inside of the human body. Imagine being a single minuscule bacterium bustling along inside the murky world of your gastrointestinal tract, as it chomps away at an organic compound it would have no idea that the acids that it naturally releases perform functions vital to the sustenance of its host, it would have not an inkling of a clue that it comes from a lineage of organisms that paved the way for all other lifeforms on earth, or that it exists in fact not as an individual, but as part of a system within multiple intelligent systems.
The awakening of our metaphorical bacterium out of insignificance into the full grandeur of it’s being is what I wish for anyone suffering from low self value, shame and all other such mental maladies. As someone who has suffered from a feeling of insignificance myself I have come to look to the natural world as a reflection of the true reality of my being, outside of the false notions of the egoic mind. It is only in a mind that sees itself as separate from others and its environment that the belief in its insignificance would take root. In reality the human body itself as a product of nature is not individual, but instead an ecosystem containing more bacterial cells than even human cells. It would be most accurate to say that the human body is a system within which multiple systems interact and thrive. We are systems within systems collaborating and co-creating in a grand cosmic phenomenon intimately connected and bound together by the web of life.
Everything we need to know we can learn from nature. The natural world teaches us of the intrinsic value of all things, and that every organism in an ecosystem is necessary for the balance of the entire system. Nature teaches me that my existence is a valuable part of a greater whole, that my worth is not based upon what I do, but simply the fact that I AM, and that by doing what comes naturally to me I am assisting the evolution of the entire ecosystem of humanity. I am not an extraneous piece of existence without value or purpose - nothing in nature is superfluous. Just as I am part of the web of life, I am simultaneously an expression of the web of life - just as life force manifests as the flower, as the blade of grass, as the stream that nourishes the earth; life force manifests in and as me. There’s no worthiness to that - it’s a simple fact of nature.
Understanding this allows me to let go of the self concept of insignificance and enter into a new paradigm, one that assists me in manifesting my heart’s deepest yearnings. Looking to nature as a reflection of my being allows me to trust the wisdom of my life, to flow like the stream holding onto nothing, to be flexible like a reed in water. Nature is the only true reality, and by looking to nature we can awaken to the mystery, the grandeur, and the magic of who we really are.
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