The intelligence of Nature

The intelligence of Nature

Have you seen ducks flying in V-formation by the beach?
It is one of those wonders of Nature. Their formation is not linear as in a peloton of bicycle riders; the ducks place themselves a bit below the duck in front.

That "V" formation will change slowly but it works in unison. Scientists, who wonder “why” out of everything in life, have “discovered” that this formation preserves the energy of the ducks. It is great aerodynamics! The ducks rotate their positions cyclically with the front duck.

Military flight missions have copied this formation from ducks and geese, in their flight “missions.”

I wonder, how is it possible for “uneducated” ducks to have learned those things? Is there an “Embry Riddle Aeronautical University” for ducks and geese? :-)

A duck "knows" this.
Flying is not separate from being a duck. In human language that knowing of animals have been simplified with the label: “instinct,” for in that way we could avoid using the term “intelligent” to refer to these animals.
However, that intelligence truly belongs to Nature, which manifests in a particular form such as a “duck” form, which in turn has a “mission” to perform something for the Totality, the common good.

How could we see this intelligence in "action"?
For example, when predators and prey live in the same location, there will be a balance in their population. We call that “instinct” but again it is the intelligence of Nature.

On the other hand, intelligent, highly educated human beings have no clue about the balancing act of living in the Totality.
Overpopulation is the “proof” of that.

How is it possible for a highly intelligent human being who is highly informed through "Wikipedia" and who “invents” cool things to keep us “communicated” in a global environment, to overlook the “basics” in living in balance in our world?

Mr. x: Listen, Mr Y. I want a house there.
Mr Y: But, Sir… that is a place where many wild animals live.
Mr. x: I don’t care. I want my house there… I want to build something to show the world who I am. Animals and the wild will not stop me. There is no Tarzan here to do that...

Somehow, at one moment in history; a human being decided not to listen to that “intelligence” coming from Nature. He decided to separate himself from Nature as 2 different things and “created” a different world, which he named “Progress.”

As the human being noticed its own isolation from the Totality, then different ways to “connect” again where “invented.” (Religion, morality, laws, philosophies, dogmas, etc.)

Why?
Because that progress wasn’t giving happiness to him.

Have you seen an unhappy bird?
What about “angry birds”? :-) Perhaps only in the human imagination.

I have seen birds caged by human beings, just to be put someplace in a home. Humans may say that they "love" birds so they can look at them and hear their morning songs… A jailed innocent bird who would rather fly, free as it was meant to be! That human "love" is obviously neurotic.

That is a human being who is afraid of being in Nature so he can appreciate that bird, untouched in the wild. That is the human being who would rather buy a CD with “Sounds of Nature” in it rather than stepping out of "his home."
It is that isolation from Nature, which has destroyed our sensibility to appreciate beauty… in turn we have learned to possess it, to “have it” (we call that love) and to dispose of it when it no longer serves our purposes.

That ego-centered way of relating with Nature will have its consequences.
We cannot deny where we belong to. We can believe in something "out of this world" to “spruce up” our ego, but the very basic of living life does not reside in isolation of the human species from everything else.

Too many beliefs. Too much thinking which brings separation. Those things are not allowing us to hear the inner voice of “intelligence,” which has been always there.
That is where we may need to learn to “connect” again.