When I lived in New York City, I remember having an epiphany. I suddenly envisioned how the city functioned. Everyone had to trust that each citizen and worker would do their particular job. The bus drivers, engineers, trash collectors, janitors, bankers, policymakers, teachers, social workers, cooks, mayor, actors and artists, everyone had to do their thing so that the whole enterprise would continue to function. Of course, there were glitches and breakdowns along the way. But on the whole, I was astonished that all the systems, pieces and parts kept going, and the city worked. And everyone went about their business, not spending much time thinking about whether the water would run, or the lights would turn on, or any other system would operate.
This reality is true for all communities. Large cities make this truth more obvious and dramatic.
Yesterday, reading “Underland: A Deep Time Journey” by Robert MacFarlane, I found some passages that brought the above memory to mind. The author explores many sorts of underground or ‘underland’ realities. The experience that stood out for me was his time exploring Epping Forest, near London, which is hundreds of years old. In particular, the author describes the research into the underground fungi that connect trees and other living entities in the forest. The fungi not only benefit from nutrients from the trees, but help provide nutrients, too, and also physical connections among the trees and plants. These connections provide information and assistance. The whole becomes a mutually beneficial network.
And recently, I heard Agustîn Fuentes, an anthropologist, talking with Krista Tippet, the host of ON Being, about his research. It is the “entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural lives of humans, our ancestors and a few of the other animals with whom humanity share close relations.” (from princeton.edu) He offers that our traditional understanding of evolution is too simplistic. Instead, it is much more complex, and not simply the survival of the fittest. It is not a binary of either cooperation or competition, but an intricate dance of cooperation, collaboration, and yes, competition, too, as part of the mix. And the natural systems that surround us are formed and function because of these entangling forces.
All this got me thinking about our view of nature, our understanding of human relationships, even our understanding of what it is like to be a person. What if we saw the natural world the way the Koyukon people of Alaska see the forests, as a system that has eyes, and awareness, where one is never alone. (from a quote by Thomas Hardy in “Underland” p. 104)? What if we saw our communities and cultures as intricate systems in which everyone shares the responsibilities and the benefits of maintaining and improving its function? Fuentes also explains there is research into the human body as a system. Each of us are holobiomes or holobionts, entities made up of many different cooperating components. How does that change our understanding of our own health?
Cooperation, collaboration, and competition would all recognized as part of the mix that creates and maintains life. How would this change our understanding of how an economy works, or a government, or social services? For me, it shifts my perception of the necessity and importance among different jobs and roles. It also opens the way for more engagement, understanding, and collaboration. All fulfill a need, contribute, and deserve recognition.