I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Laura J. Collins’s reflection on practicing biomimicry for spiritual well-being.
Janine Benyus, the founder of the Biomimicry Institute, urges individuals, organizations and even governments to pay close attention to how nature works and learn to emulate its genius to enhance our planet and our lives. She applies her work primarily to technology, but listening to her makes me wonder about our theologies and spiritual practices, as well. Are they drawing on the wisdom of nature?
I work with people and organizations in transition. And my own life, it seems, has been one of constant evolution. Or devolution. But either way, change. We humans often have an aversion to change, even though we recognize its inevitability. Intellectually, we may grok that stagnation leads to sluggishness at best, and more often disease and eventually, death.
Viscerally, though, change makes us anxious.
What might biomimicry teach us in these moments? As I walk through the woods, I notice how trees adapt to injuries they’ve received. Burls, for example, grow in reaction to stress. Years ago, I attended an exhibition at the New York Museum of Craft and Design of creations made of wood turned from burls. Stunning, magical designs emerged from this trauma response.
Difficult change can create the conditions for a new type of beauty. Meditating in the forest reminds me to be patient with the transitions in my life, to trust in the transformations that grow slowly and may seem ugly to me in the beginning.
Like all of nature, trees do eventually die. Have you ever come across a rotting log in the midst of the woods? Known as nurse logs, these fallen trees offer seedlings nutrients and protection, creating the environment for a new generation. Fungi and bacteria break down the wood. As the tree deteriorates, holes in the bark grow and become filled with soil, moss, mushrooms and small plants, all nitrogen-rich organic matter. Over time, the log decays and the seedlings become strong enough to support themselves.
These “dead” trees are teeming with far more life inside them than they ever had when they were “alive”. These fallen trees contain five times more living matter than when they were growing upright.
Deep in the forest, there is always life after death. Resurrection is central to the Christian story, but often we think of it as an event that happened in and for Jesus. Or perhaps we think of it as something that may happen to us when we die. What does earth tell us?
In nature, resurrection happens everywhere, all the time.
What if the resurrection story is not just about Jesus, the great tree that was felled? What if it is a story about the community that rose up from the body of that fallen life? A community that,when it stays true to its roots, grows mosses of compassion, lichen of love, seedlings of sympathy, into a forest of kindness.
The legacies of Buddha, Mohammed, and other great avatars and saints also became seedbeds of spiritual renewal. Living beings who once stood tall upon the earth, they needed to fall and disintegrate for new generations to emerge from the body of their wisdom. In time, each of the emergent communities themselves fall and their decay, in turn, feeds a new creation.
Earth grounds and teaches us. Its adaptation to stress and injury, the way each part of the ecosystem depends on the health of the whole, the cooperative mycelial networks that lie invisibly under our feet, supporting all that we see above the ground. Everything teaches us when we pay attention.
How am I practicing biomimicry for my spiritual well-being? Whether I find myself in a time of blossoming, or a time of seeming decay, I am learning to trust in the wisdom of the burls: my wounds become a source of beauty. I am learning to trust the wisdom of the nurse logs: I don’t have to be reaching for the sky to be abounding with life.
Laura J. Collins, an ordained minister and spiritual counselor, lives in the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains where she offers one-to-one healing Soul Care and leads retreats on eco-spirituality. You can read about her work and upcoming events at LauraJCollins.com
