ESSAY

Conversations with a Zen Master

Modern Day Koan Musings #8

One day, several years ago, I was standing in the kitchen, and doing kitchen duty.

My son the ZM came out of his room and into the kitchen, looked at me, and said,

“Ant Death Spiral.”

I stopped and looked at him, and said, “wait, what?”

“Ant Death Spiral,” he repeated.

“What does that even mean?”

Google it, he said. YouTube. The standard reply of all Zen Masters to their padawans.

So I did. This is just one of many on this topic, and each one is a bit different and fascinating.

This is the text that goes with this video above.

“Ants secrete a pheromone called Trail pheromones so it can lead members of its own species toward a food source. Like a cube of Borg drones that’s been separated from the collective, these army ants were somehow separated from the main foraging party and they lost the pheromone trail and began to follow one another, forming a continuously rotating circle. The ants that are stuck in the “antnado” will usually die of exhaustion. Luckily for these ants, they only swirled for about half hour and then another half hour later, not an ant could be seen. It’s a real-life Antnado! (yes, I’m claiming to be the first one to coin the name).”

Now I had no idea why he just came out of his room that day to tell me three words. ANT DEATH SPIRAL. I watched the creepy videos, and filed the incident away for further reference. When or why — who knows, but that’s the way of it, this life and our conversations with Zen Masters.

Shortly after that time, I had a situation with two employees. They were a mother and a daughter. The daughter started working for me first. She was managing photography and social media for me. She had suggested that her mother was looking for part time work, and it wasn’t so easy for her to find work, since she was mostly deaf. So I hired her and we custom crafted a position and meaningful work for her.

Then came 2016. The orange monster was elected as the 45th.

Turns out that the semi-deaf mother and father, a police chief, had voted for him. The daughter, on the other hand, had voted for Clinton. Both of them expressed to me their disappointment of the other.

The mother was feeling distressed particularly because Thanksgiving was coming up. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to get her family through this dinner without arguments and vitriole. There was so much division and animosity.

That’s when I remembered ant death spiral.

I asked her if she had been raised in a Christian tradition. She said yes, Catholic. I told her I had a Lutheran experience growing up.

I told her that my all time favorite story was the one of the sermon on the mount. And how Jesus’ main message was about loving each other.

He didn’t go up on that hill and stand on a box. No, he went up on the hill so people could see and hear him. Then, he sat down. To signal that he was just the same as them. No big preachy sermons. No big stage. None of this, I am bigger than you or more important than you, no “I know, you don’t.”

His message was about love. And how love is like a bread crumb trail.

And I kept thinking about the pheromone trails that ants lay down to find their way back home. And how, if a disaster happens, for instance, a flood or some natural event that disrupts the breadcrumb trail of pheromones, in the middle of their trail in the Amazon jungle, and they then lose their way, they try their best to find the trail, but sometimes, even in doing the best they can, they self destruct.

I reminded the mom about our breadcrumb trail.

If you imagined humanity’s greatest prophets coming from somewhere far away in the cosmos, to remind us that there’s one trail that we’re supposed to always follow, and no matter what obstacle happens, if we lose it, we’re doomed, it makes things really real, really fast.

My employees’ family had a pleasantly peaceful and loving Thanksgiving celebration that year.

I was grateful that ZM had given me those 3 words some time long before I ever knew why.

It’s so interesting to me that as I was imagining this episode of “Conversations” last week, exurb1a also nearly simultaneously released his newest video on YouTube.

Synchronicities and serendipities.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving week and weekend.

Remember the love.

Susan Brearley is a brilliant strategist and editor. She’s the owner/operator of the MuddyUm Writer’s Self Help Clinic. And the Captain of the Good Ship MuddyUm.

She’s been writing comedy for about 2 weeks.

This is a series!