SCIENCE

Why Limit Our Knowledge to Human Past? The Future Is Nature’s Wisdom

Genetics is the past. Regenerative cells and epigenetics are the future

Bacteria are the important ones. And I work with them every day. Micro-organisms in the soil of our beautiful planet earth. They thrive in symbiosis.

Oops. Do I feel the bacteria in my gut make a little jump for joy when I say this? They are happy when my soil and my soul are happy.

Are my own gut-feeling-friends connected to all other microorganisms on this planet? Are they the ones that make the world go round? Are they defining our future?

Hmm… that might well be the case. Science is on to it. American biologist Lynn Margulis’ endosymbiotic theories are marvelous! It’s just that some deeply rooted myths are not yet uprooted.

Myth 1: Cutting and Pasting Genes

How do seasons change? How do leaves get back on the trees when first they have fallen off? Do we cut them off and paste them back in spring?

I don’t think so.

Nature is more clever. Nature works with cycles. The leaves fall off. They feed the soil by decomposing. Bacteria and fungi play an important role in this process. And in spring, the tree awakens and forms new leaves.

That’s when the tree has just grown a little bigger. And stronger. And more resilient. Nature is full of processes. Nature is full of becoming. Emerging. Evolving.

And what do we humans do? We keep cutting and pasting in the physical spheres. We think that only physical matter matters. It’s just plain stupid!

Nature is more clever. She works with cycles and loops

Do we still think a tree is coming from the soil? Of course not! A tree is created from thin air. American physicist Richard Feynman explains it so well. And so imaginative.

We have CO2 in the air. The sun shines, creates light and warmth, and poof, the C, and the O2 are separated. Photosynthesis, it’s called. The carbon goes into the tree to form bark and leaves and many other structures. And the oxygen remains in the air. Very necessary for the breath of animals, including humans.

Photosynthesis is the way we make oxygen. And can we please understand that if we focus on making oxygen instead of fighting CO2 we would get a completely different scenario of sustainability?

So, why do scientists and innovators, and futurists keep cutting and pasting genes? Cells are the evolutionary parts of matter. They help us evolve.

And the only other thing we have to do is understand nature’s cycles and processes to re-invent our future.

Genetics was just the start, in our past century. Genes are stores full of past information. They cannot create. Cells can create. They can evolve. And they can make us, as human organisms, evolve with them.

Epigenetics is also part of this future. Genes can be switched on and off you know. Depending on local circumstances. Let’s start re-inventing the future with cells and epigenetics.

Myth 2: Human Control is Clever

We have long thought that humans are at the top of the evolutionary pyramid. We have big egos, you know. We think we are definitely smarter than nature.

Well, let me help you out of that dream. Nature has been evolving for 4.6 billion years. Re-inventing. Breathing. Building. The sun is halfway through his lifespan. We have another 5 billion years to go. So, we should be concentrating on adapting our human ways.

But why are we not better aware of that? It’s going super slow. Have a look at Deep Time though. There’s a past full of invention and as we speak, Mother Nature is making her next moves.

So, what should we do? First of all, let’s learn some systemic thinking. Start zooming out, seeing the bigger picture with all connections.

Then, don’t forget to land again. Zoom in. Reflect on your own life. Your own role on this planet. And take the next steps from where you are at the moment. Go with the cycles. Understand that life is chaos and out of chaos new patterns arise.

Do we feel the chaos right now? I guess most of us do. COVID has brought chaos right to our doorsteps. So what are the old patterns? Hierarchy? Human control? Cutting and pasting things? The way we deal with matter?

The time has come to do it differently.

Nature has been evolving for 4.6 billion years. Re-inventing. Breathing. Building.

New Ways

James Lovelock, the revolutionary scientist who came up with the Gaia Hypothesis, is now 101 years old. His recently published book is called Novacene. Subtitle: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence. He says we are on our way from the Anthropocene to the Novacene.

His book is full of robots and he sees a positive future in which we make great progress aligning human systems with natural systems.

I hope he is right.

My personal heroine is someone James knew very well: Lynn Margulis. James was doing his work on the bigger picture. He proved that our planet is a self-regulating system. Lyn was doing her work on the smallest evolutionary parts: bacteria and cells. And together, James and Lynn will completely shift the current paradigm.

I will not call it Novacene though. We are on our way from the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene. Symbiosis is about creating it together. Symbiosis is about dancing and daring with diversity. Biodiversity. Human diversity.

The Symbiocene will involve all creations that are now in the undercurrent of our changemakers’ movement. Hastily being built and evolving every day now.

Together, James and Lynn will completely shift the current paradigm

Here are some aspects of our undercurrent:

• Going from mind to heart… and realizing that human evolution is all-important for a better future…
• Decentralized money systems with the inclusion of basic incomes. Have a look at the white papers of Value Instrument. They know in-depth what they are talking about. Bitlattice. The Bancor Protocol. A whole new world is emerging, beyond the speculation that is now mainly driving crypto
• Technology that’s built with flow and nature’s wisdom. Based on the revolutionary mathematics of the Superformula and Gielis Transformations. Inspired by biomimicry and blue economy
• Ecosystem restoration is taking place big scale. Things like regenerative farming. Huge ecosystems in China have already been restored. China declared in 2015 to create an ecological economy. They are hugely active in the field of quantum physics as well.
• Nature will help us grow the materials that we need. We will definitely go from mining to farming in all fields of human development
• Personal development in which people heal their victimhood and recognize themselves as the purposeful, compassionate, alchemizing beings that we really are
• Economic models like the doughnut economy changing the city of Amsterdam right now. These models are using qualitative growth as a driver instead of the stupid quantitative growth that we are chasing right now
• Business models will take responsibility for all unintended consequences and become creators with all that is available instead of destroyers of all things beautiful in life
• And you and I will take responsibility for our own lives again. Being creators, looking after our health with wisdom and a broad perspective on life

If we combine all this together, there’s hope for a good future. A future in which we will have invented new human systems in line with Mother Nature’s wisdom.

I’m onto it. Are you? We can create an abundant future together. Abundanism is all there is.

This is the most enlightening documentary I ever saw. Symbiotic Earth about the life and theories of Lynn Margulis. If you really want to go deep into cells and bacteria and life-creating ways, watch it.

The time of Descartes is gone. We are no longer machines. We have evolved into beings who feel our hearts, connect to other humans, and to our planet…

Want to connect? You can subscribe to our newsletter on our website Abundanism.com or find me on social media. I’ll be somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes gazing at quantum leaps towards a better future. Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.

© Désirée Driesenaar