dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

The Society Beneath My Porch

Profile picture for user Eric Alan

by Eric Alan

July 23, 2016 - 1:50pm

http://celebratewhatsright.com/article/2016/07/23/society-beneath-my-porch

I celebrate the beauty of life force itself, as it insistently seeks expression through an apparently limitless array of species. That beauty often has a dangerous edge, for all species must defend themselves in this highly competitive and conflicted world. Whatever kind of creature we’re born as, each of us is tasked with the brilliant and difficult art of survival. The creative genius that’s required is remarkable—and sometimes harsh.

I stand in awe of this as I stand under my porch, looking at the yellow jackets' nest that has taken shape there, unnoticed while I was off accomplishing my own creative survival. The intricacy of it fascinates me. It has layers and levels of delicate, precise engineering, with an aesthetic I see as artistic. The nest is a sculpture that has had constant care, accomplished by the miracle of focused effort—all done beyond consciousness as we know it.

Above all, there is the miracle of its creation through teamwork. No single yellow jacket could ever have the knowledge or ability to create this beautiful design alone—yet the miracle of swarm intelligence has resulted in a fascinating and successful way of life that fits into the greater swarm intelligence of the ecosystem itself. As I watch the activity of the nest, I marvel at the miracle of existence, and see a small society that seems at a glance to have much more cohesion than our own. The inner silence it induces in me is akin to what I felt standing in the great cathedrals of Europe. Each touches a greater spirit in a place where my words do not go.

Unfortunately, the yellow jackets’ nest is also in a place directly under loose boards at the top of my porch stairs. The boards rattle the nest with the slightest motion of my feet, so climbing the stairs is a dangerous proposition. Any unwitting visitor could end up in the hospital from the venom of a cluster of stings. Even the cat from next door will no longer approach because of the imminent danger. And I would be responsible in part for the wounds, if I left that nest to thrive.

I have to deal with the nest—and as a result, I have to deal with my own complicated relationship to the ways of the natural world, in which survival often requires difficult and occasionally lethal choices in self-defense. It is with apology and humility that I seek out an expert in ecologically sound techniques of nest removal, and stand aside as he comes out to share both my appreciation and alarm. My apology is because of the individual yellow jacket lives I must ask to be taken, in order to protect my own. My humility is because I realize that my own life too may be in the way, someday, of what the greater system and its residents need to thrive. The yellow jackets’ nest reminds me that I am not so special, nor above the ways of a world that cherishes life itself far more than the form in which it’s expressed. I am no more or less vital than a single yellow jacket.

I carry the sense of beauty, danger and humility with me through the days after the nest’s removal, celebrating the nest and the awe that I found by simply stopping to watch, appreciate and photograph it. I carry with me the knowledge again that to truly see is to find beauty in everything, everywhere, no matter how dangerous that beauty may be, and in conflict with mine.