Human symbiosis

While alive we humans, who may have evolved from symbiotic relationships between bacteria's, continue to learn why symbiosis is so important to our well being.

The definition of symbiosis is commonly described as the interactions between diverse biological species. We are not diverse, just different. Definitions of symbiosis include three categories of symbiotic relationships, mutualism, parisitic, or commensal. A primary aspect is to describe it as one beneficial to both parties.

However it is defined, the main premise is one of positive interaction.

The biologist Lynn Margulis, famous for her work on endosymbiosis, contends that symbiosis is a major driving force behind evolution. She considers Darwin's notion of evolution, driven by competition, as incomplete and claims that evolution is strongly based on co-operation, interaction, and mutual dependence among organisms.

If we look at humanity one of the precepts for all human cultures is to contain your desires.

Caving into desire is to act unnaturally which upsets the natural harmonic balance. Well maybe it doesn't. Maybe caving in to desires that don't involve violence is what creates change in a symbiotic universe.

Much of the ancient and modern meditations on human behavior admonish us to "return to nature" yet not to allow our "free will" to gain "free rein." To seek a "calm" state free from desires. Well maybe these meditations on human behavior are wrong. Maybe that calm state free from desires is what allows the violent in society to prevail, to run roughshod over the rest of us who are remaining calm and containing our desires.

The fact that suffering, pain and death will never end as long as humanity inhabits earth is minimized when we curb our desires. Suffering and pain can be diluted but death will always be the end result of life as we humans know it. Curbing our desires means that love, kindness and compassion take a back seat to pain and suffering.

Interactions of the human kind are dictated by habits of mind. We passively accept the manipulation of our societies by religious and political leaders. We become sheep. We subsist in a state of inertia, the continual everyday life that we accept even when there is no apparent connection between the overriding realities that are bombarding us from outside our comfort zones, and that of a better world.

Death and love, those are the strange passions of humanity that guide our every action. They bind us to each other and split us off. We know we are all fellow participants in spaceship earth and yet many of us work against each other for our own ends which aren't always beneficial to all. This working against each other has been encouraged, even though the historical record shows that interaction and cooperation exhibit more positive results.

The art of symbiosis is not manipulation. No entity is manipulated, benefits accrue either to both or to one of the participants without devastating harm to the other. If the relationship ends in death for one, the other quickly follows making this form of symbiosis the least likely to achieve successful evolutionary progress. The most ideal symbiotic relationship is mutualism when both parties benefit.

According to Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan,

"Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking."

Today, networking has taken off. The internet has changed the combination of our linkages to those all over the world. It has created a more positive environment for transferring ideas and solutions to many more people just as did the radio and television.

All of us, at one time or another, need helping hands during those big times of our lives. We connect through business, family, friends and acquaintances. Symbiotic relationships are a part of nature and our beings. Recognizing the important role it plays in changing our lives is just another step we as humans are taking to make this world a better place for all of us.