I love bees. I have a huge one tattooed on my forearm. I get asked about it all the time. People say
I love bees. I have a huge one tattooed on my forearm. I get asked about it all the time. People say ‘oh I love your fly.’ and then I cry a little. But it’s a bee. And I think they are profound for a bunch of reasons. They pollinate much of the world’s food. Their hives are collapsing, certainly because of us. But we don’t know exactly why. What a metaphor for humanity’s rise. We took over the planet, and in the name of progress have become bigger than we can understand. We need bees to eat. We kill them with our pesticides or cell phones or who knows. We don’t even know ourselves. . One of my favorite bee stories comes from Japan. Over there they have these monster hornets created in Satan’s underwear. They can blast into a beehive and wipe the whole thing out, decapitating bees left and right. The Japanese Honey Bee, however, figured out how to stop them. They’re too weak alone. But they thought 'we’re an effing hive, let’s jump this arrogant mofo.’ When a hornet shows up, they retreat from the entrance of the hive to lure him in. He waltzes in like a cocky villain, and they swarm him. Here’s the wild part: they create a ball around the hornet and start vibrating their wings. This quickly raises the temperature and carbon dioxide inside the ball. The bees can handle up to 122 degrees. The hornet cooks to death at 115. As it gets too hot in the center, the bees cycle to the outside of the ball. They work in perfect unison without speaking. They do this until the hornet is toast. They do this with a brain the size of a pin head. HOW!?! . Reminds me of when someone says they don’t like Beyoncé online. The beys swarm and cook them alive. . Anyway, I’m just amazed by nature. I gasp at the ingenuity, the complexity, the clever beauty and drama that can unfold in unthinking creatures. We think we’re so special. We don’t even know what’s going on. . The first and truest spiritual practice is awe. -- source link