Podcast Interview Answer #8: Why a Spider Web is the Best Way to Explain Morality in Nature and Society?

Podcast Interview Answer #8:  Why a Spider Web is the Best Way to Explain Morality in Nature and Society?

The Sun God imagined the creatures of the earth, and Spider Woman turned these thoughts into living plants, animals, and people. She attached a thread of her spider silk to each person to provide access to her wisdom and protection.  Southwestern Native legend

Spider Woman is an important figure in the mythology, oral traditions and folklore of many Native American cultures, especially in the Southwestern United States. She had a role in the creation of the earth and continued to protect her people by teaching them to grow corn, make clay pots, and spin and weave. Through her silk threads she maintained the connections of all humankind.

In many ways the spider’s web can be used as an excellent moral metaphor for our society. 

So much of our social nature is based on moral behavior with our language, laws, institutions, and culture which has allowed humanity to cooperate and progress.  We like to collaborate as individuals with common intentions and work together for mutual benefits.  

Two morals stand out in a community:

1. sympathy ... the concern and respect for other beings
2. fairness ... the idea that everyone should get what they deserve 

Undoubtedly, our society is changing dramatically with technology and, perhaps, this sense of innate community values may be buried under layers of social demands, expectations and exploitation. Do you think that  today’s culture encourages the pursuit of self-interest for selfish benefits and to persuade others they are morally right to do so?

The problem is that we have a world of connections at our fingertips to collaborate and help resolve common society’s and environmental issues with understanding and fairness; but, too many times, the narrow focus is on tribes, partisanship, nationalism and ideological differences.  

Perhaps it's the right time to see how nature's intricate knowledge makes a spider’s web.

A spider needs a dinner trap so he follows a genetic code of radii and spirals to create his sticky orb. The silk thread is produced in special silk glands and physically pulled through a set of spinnerets on the abdomen to transform the liquid silk into solid threads. Once the lightweight thread is started, the spider lifts its spinnerets into the breeze so it can swing and anchor itself unto a tree branch. Then he  can use the thread to “tightrope walk” from one tree to another.

Some amazing facts about spiders just because Nature is omnipotent:

• Many spiders build new webs each night or day, depending on when they hunt.
• Spiders silk is strong, tensile and flexible. This amazing material is about twice as strong as steel (when comparing the same mass of both).
• Some spiders eat their webs, replenishing their silk supply material (protein).
• Webs can be used for transport from one high point to another called ballooning or kiting.

Some amazing weaving skills:

• The first strand of silk is called the bridge thread.
• The second strand becomes the center point from which other radial spokes are anchored to surrounding vegetation.
• A spiral thread starts from the inside and moves out to bind all the radial threads together.
• A second spiral web is made from sticky silk from the outside in that is used to capture prey.

The web’s structure is fragile, practical and framed by previous experience where its many strands pass through a central point. It symbolizes patience and persistence because of its  unique technique of setting webs and weaving its own world of survival. 

It is a simple extrapolation to think about what kinds of webs Nature would weave compared to people’s webs of business and consumerism.

Nature’s strands would include climate, clean water, food security, ecosystems, diversity, adaptation, recycling, environment, etc.

Business strands would include industry, technology, manufacturing, transportation, pollution, education, science, etc.

People’s strands would include malls, shopping, advertisements, money, credit, recreation, self-ego, virtual reality, friends, culture, etc.  

The future challenge, I believe, it is more important than ever to integrate Nature’s web partnerships in a world that is hyper-globalized and hyper-connected. No one country can do it alone. These threats are happening now and need immediate mitigation steps:  unchecked industrialization, degradation of natural habitats, destructive agriculture, pollution of entire seas, ozone depletion, and global warming.

As complicated as these webs become, there needs to be center focus, some sense of affinity that all strands are parts of a shared community and biology. 

It is not a great mystery but a reality that we are not separate beings, a physical body unto ourselves, but our awareness and existence are to share the energy of life with others. 

Our center is to live with purpose and promise, to learn lessons, to face challenges and to seek balance and order. 

The more we learn about nature’s incredible knowledge, the more we understand that everything in Nature is interconnected and must never be subordinated to human activity. 

Like the Spider Woman teaches us  … the past, the present, and the future of every animate and inanimate being in our universe, including human beings, is defined by its interconnection to everything else. If any of these links are broken, Nature at any scale will change or simply not operate.

And so, the simple story is told of a birch tree as a love story for all ages who care about family, community and environment. 

 Questions and comments are always welcome. What are your fair and sympathetic connections with Nature?

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

1 833 471 4661

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

"And here’s the point, my dear Birchum, as you can see, every thread is connected to every other thread. If you shake one, all the others shake. If you break one, the others break, too.  

The web has one purpose, Birchum, as varied and profound as it is, it can only catch one thing without breaking. And it’s not a physical thing. It is a feeling that moves the spirit to connect, unite and flourish. It is called love. Sometimes it takes great imagination to see how we are all connected by love.” 

Excerpt: Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

Podcast Interview Answer # 2: What is the value of Nature’s Bio-systems from the Value of an Earthworm and a Bee?

Podcast Interview Answer # 2: What is the Value of Nature’s Bio-systems from the Value of an Earthworm and a Bee?

“And when you don’t understand how webs connect; or how roots make leaves; or how the food web is many links that can’t be broken;  when you lack empathy for the most ordinary creature, the worm or the bee, you become disconnected and pay the price one way of another, too often with disorder and disease.” 

 Excerpt from Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

The main value of Nature's bio-system is CHANGE. Parts are always connecting, moving and adapting. The cycle of birth, growth, maturity, death, and rebirth is nature’s way through seasons of growth and dormancy. It is never about instant delivery or gratification.

A benefactor is defined as “someone or something that provides help, an advantage or a benefit without expecting something in return.” When looking at all powerful Nature, two benefactors stand out without which, Nature would play a losing game … the earthworms and the bees. Their functions and values to Nature’s bio-system must be respected as the roles of real heroes. 

The cycles of Nature’s ecosystem works in four integrated parts: 1. nonliving factors (sun, water, air) 2. Plants (photosynthesis) 3. Consumers (animals and humans) 4. Decomposers or Recyclers

Nature's decomposition begins with dead organic plant matter decaying or breaking down into its original elements such as nitrogen, sulfur, calcium,  potassium, iron and more.  These minerals can then be absorbed by root hairs to continue growth of new branches, buds, leaves and flowers.

Decomposition depends on a host of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi and protozoa to partially eat and soften the leaves so that other soil mites and insects like the sow bugs, silverfish or daddy long legs can continue to digest and release the minerals.

Here is where the earthworm earns his championship role in fertile decomposition!

• swallows large quantities of soil, mixes it with mucus as it passes through his gut to extrude as a casting at the end. His burrow may have two entrances and several vertical and horizontal tunnels.
• makes castings that are rich in phosphorous, nitrogen,  iron, sulfur, calcium, nitrogen, and potassium for roots' absorption 
• helps to loosen and aerates soil with oxygen, improves water storage and drainage, and helps stronger roots to access deeper nutrients through his tunnels

In fact, earthworms lose as much as a fifth of their body weight producing casts every day so they need moist soils to replenish themselves.

So, here is how the earthworm connects to the life cycle of a plant and a bee.

The seed, containing the embryo, has germinated and sprouted, grown into a plant with flowers needed for its fruit development in order to produce more seeds. The flowers in their radiant, aromatic beauty have one biological function to reproduce by uniting sperms (pollen grains from male anther) with eggs (female stigma). When fertilization happens, seeds can be produced within a fruit or vegetable body whose function is to protect the seeds inside until seed dispersal.

The best flower pollinators or fertilizers are the bees who spend most of their lives collecting pollen (source of protein) or nectar (energy source) to feed their offspring. In fact, during one foraging trip, a single honeybee can visit between 50 to 100 flowers; and to create one pound of honey, the bees must visit two million flowers.

Recently, there have been many reports about the declining population of honeybees.  If honeybees disappear, then flowers cannot be pollinated or fertilized, and will not produce fruit or bear seed for future generations. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables would be devastating to humans.

Earth's bio-systems are based on synergy which means working together with different parts to make a creation or value of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Without connections, Nature will fail with poor dirt, no earthworms, no flowers and no bees.

Perhaps, it's time to give a voice to Nature's heroes. Perhaps, it's the right time to share a tree's perspective about family, community and environment ... to listen to his joys, sorrows and hopes. 

Introducing Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

....a love story for all ages who value family, community and environment with Nature.

Questions and comments are always welcome if you appreciate and worry about Nature.

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

1 833 471 4661 (please note a time to return a call)

https://helpfulmindsteamforchanges.com

PS: Note blog for other podcast questions and answers.

Jeeg explained, “The earthworm is amazing with all the work he can do to make sure that humus is well ventilated and nutrient rich. He breathes through his skin. He has five hearts with top and bottom nerve fibers. Did you know he secretes calcium and has a gizzard that can digest leaves and minerals?  He is mostly all gut, all rings with the widest band near the front. If he is split in two, new rings will regrow.  He loves to humus which passes through his gut.

Fortunately, he can mate with another earthworm who lays eggs inside a cocoon which hatch in about three weeks as teeny tiny wormlets smaller than pins.”

Excerpt: Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

earthworm's casting

Why Write a Story About a Birch Tree with Feelings about Family, Community and Environment

Why Write a Story about a Birch Tree with Feelings about Family, Community and Environment

Our mother earth is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility. This blue planet is a delightful habitat. Its life is our life; its future, our future. Indeed, the earth acts like a mother to us all; as her children, we are dependent on her. In the face of the global problems we are going through it is important that we must all work together...Dalai Lama  April 2020

Animals don’t talk but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have voices or feelings. Trees don’t communicate but it doesn’t mean they don’t belong to their community and environment.  

In fact, a tree is a perfect member of a community that shows that  a body is an assembly of species and relationships, never self-contained. A tree can teach that we are an ecosystem in our own rights. Nature starts with a single cell growing to more complexity where each part has a purpose. We can best survive as a whole society if we believe in diversity and cooperation.

This birch tree is called Birchum who interacts with the weather, his humus, his seeds and leaves and helps his community in good times and bad with both shelter and food. He overcomes his insecurities with the help of a tree Dryad who as the essence of knowledge explains how his personal organization helps to contribute to his environment.  

Through many experiences he learns about the value of home, cooperation, and Nature’s most important Law that everything is connected. He takes pride in his unique Self in his special space as well as belonging to a forest legacy. He understands love as “moving together to help each other be better.” 

Within Nature’s cycles and plant succession, his time also reflects new beginnings followed by endings which become new beginnings.

However, with his People encounter, he realizes how big Ego and short-term thinking can impact a community’s lifetime, but that Nature can recover given a chance. With his Dryad they discuss giant food webs from primary nature’s perspective to people’s secondary processes in Mega Plants and Mega Malls, along with manufactured seeds, that try to alter the essence of life on Earth. 

A loud clarion call is heard throughout the story that the Universe is not outside you … 

“what’s good for each of us is good for all of us; 

what hurts one of us, hurts all of us.”

Like a web, the moral spins out that a solitary birch tree can represent the essential connections between our healthy Planet and balancing Self through cycles, cooperation, unity and appreciation of the wonder of Nature because once gone it can’t be replaced.

This e-book is available next week for download plus Kindle.

This week you can ask questions or share some thoughts about what you would say if you were a tree.  

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

Helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

PS: "It's unbelievable that sometimes it takes great imagination to see how we are all connected..."  excerpt: The Ecological Succession of Birchum Birch

...a love story for all ages who care about family, community, environment and Nature