Scientist Lynn Margulis, 2005(Photo by Javier Pedreira from La Coruña, Spain, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lynn_Margulis_2005.jpg)
Lynn Margulis,2005. Photo by Javier Pedreira, Creative Commons license.

I love this quote from biologist (and Carl Sagan’s wife) Lynn Margulis and her son Dorion Sagan: “Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking.”

Opposing the Darwinian idea that survival of the fittest has to be a competition where one species triumphs while others must retreat, this brief excerpt from Joanna Macy and  Chris Johnstone’s book Active Hope: How to Fix the Mess We’re In without Going Crazy talks instead about symbiosis: different species helping each other, rather than clawing themselves to the top at others’ expense. The quote from Margulis and Sagan is in the very first paragraph.

The world is full of examples of amazing symbiosis–from the macro level of the breath cycle (we take the oxygen that plants emit and convert it to the carbon dioxide they need to flourish) to the micro level: “shrimp and gobies clean fish, receiving nutrients as they remove parasites, dead tissue, and mucous from the hosts.

Margulis died several years ago, but I heard her give a fascinating talk on bacterial societies (which are quite complex) at an amazing Bioneers conference. I didn’t take great notes on her session, but took substantial notes at other sessions.

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Years ago, I subscribed to Brain Pickings (recently rebranded as The Marginalian): Maria Popova’s amazing twice-weekly celebration of science, art, music, literature, and nature. While I have no memory of how I first discovered it, I immediately embraced the abundant world she lives in, and her eagerness to share the treasures she finds.

First screen of Maria Popova’s introduction to Ursula Le Guin’s essay, On Being a Man”

 
I rarely read it, but I will keep my subscription, thank you. Every issue is a gem—and every issue is a rabbit hole that leaves me following so many links that I don’t emerge for 30 or 60 minutes. And if I only dip in every once in a while, it’s still a special pleasure.
 
Long ago, I resigned myself to knowing that the richness of the world’s knowledge is something I can only skim the surface of, no matter how many books and articles I read and how many podcasts and seminars I listen to. I read more than most people—80+ books and thousands of articles in a typical year—but it’s still 0.000000001 percent of what I COULD immerse myself into, if I didn’t have a life to live, a living to earn, and eyes that need to rest. I’ve made my peace with that reality and don’t waste energy on FOMO (fear of missing out), nor do I beat myself up for not striving harder to soak it all in.
 
I’m really glad I opened today’s newsletter. I followed links to Ursula Le Guin’s poem “Kinship,” which Popova describes accurately as a “love poem to trees.” That led me first to one then another remarkable poem by Jane Hirshfield—the first read by the author and the second by Amanda Palmer (unfortunately, I took an unmarked turn somewhere in the rabbit hole and can’t get back to those—but I did create a long list of Hirshfield poems on Popova’s site). Then I went back to the current edition and read Le Guin’s witty essay on gender pronouns and aging. I could have stayed much longer, following links until my eyes bugged out.
 
In fact, I finally became a paying monthly sustainer just now—something I should have done years ago!

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