Parasitism, Slavery and AI
If you ever wondered if there is a connection between parasitic social behavior and parasitic diseases, then this post is for you.
If you ever wondered if there is a connection between parasitic social behavior and parasitic diseases, then this post is for you.
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Roland, as always your videos are thought provoking….i will have to listen again, possibly more than once. My last years of nursing I worked in the travel health industry and found the emerging diseases fascinating, always evolving ( malaria, Zika,etc).
Your offerings will be with me all day. How do I make things easier for myself? Who is working harder on my behalf so I Don’t have to do as much. What, exactly, am I contributing?
Dear Jana, it is so interesting that you mention malaria. Malaria is being transmitted by Plasmodium species which are typical parasites. I have been thinking about the energetic background of malaria and for that reason studying the history of slavery in Africa. I wonder about the connection of the two. Given that about 3000 children die in Africa each day from malaria, an understanding of these questions would probably very important.
Hi Roland. This is Kelly from Core.
I love this exploration, and the correlation you are making between parasitism as a disease process and cultural or collective social “parasitism,” where we are not wanting to do much of the work.
One thing that comes up for me here is from one of my teachers in Chinese medicine, Jeffrey Yuen. He makes a distinction between the orientations of the people processing information or nutrients we might say. For most of us, we need to differentiate between the turbid and the pure, so that we can release the turbid from the body and utilize the pure to nourish us. For the Shaman however, there is no distinction, all is processed as part of a whole spectrum, nothing is rejected, and everything is able to be utilized. This comes from accepting the world as it is, without judgment, he says, and in that transcendence, there is no polarity.
This makes me inclined towards what you are speaking to here, being so much more about us, and how we are oriented (we being not just who we think of ourselves as, but also the undigested, unconscious aspects of ourselves that are begging for inclusion) to life. Is the “parasite” an issue for us, or can we assimilate the parasitism when we accept ourselves in the process of parasitism socially and collectively. There it seems we have a choice, along a spectrum of possabilities, which might include what you spoke to of asking, and receiving the no, and respecting, not just the collective need, but also ourselves in a deeper way.
I love this inquiry!
I resonate so much with how we orient towards healing, particularly as doctors or part of the medical system, that intends to support our healing.
I find your inquiry a needed one, and I hope it sparks a bigger discussion from this perspective!
Thank you dear Brother.
Thank you, Kelly. I am delighted that you engage in this inquiry. For us who can get sick and for us who are a part of a collective healing system, this inquiry seems to be important. Otherwise “new” diseases and epidemics seem to be so random and without much sense. But nature is intelligent, nature always makes sense; the question is if we understand it or not. Once we understand it, it becomes easier to work with the bigger intelligence of nature than just fighting something. Our fighting nature, fighting what the body does, is usually based on our fear. As you know, fear does not get less when I act it out as aggression. Fear needs our turning towards it to get integrated.
Thank you, sister, for being so engaged in the healing arts and creating a path of cooperating with nature instead of dominating it. This is so much more fun!
Hello Roland! I share your concern for our future, and feel compelled to chime in on this topic and offer a point of view…
I have to believe that a parasite lacks a mind that it can’t escape from, as us humans seem to possess.
I’m playfully imagining a parasite if it were a mindful human, enduring the questions of who its host will be, how much it ought to take from its host, why can’t it have a bit more compassion for its prey, and why can’t it spend more quality time with all the other parasites 🙂
I can empathise with anyone who endures these questions, perhaps wishing for a simpler life.
Do you think that while we can observe a form of human behaviour that is similar to the behaviour of a parasite, that we arrive at this behaviour for the same reasons, or for different reasons? If a parasite simply acts in accordance to its nature, intending only to evolve as a species, why can’t we?
It resonates with me that our attitude, our awareness and our intentions coming from a place of respect likely hold an answer for our future and our health.
Hi Drew, thank you for pondering these questions. A parasite in nature follows as you said its nature without any ill will, even without any free will. A natural parasite becomes its place through the higher intelligence that rules nature. Humans play a different game. We do have a choice. What I can see is that our parasitic behavior is based on the power-over-paradigm, meaning that I need to overpower someone else to get what I need. The next question is: What is this power-over-paradigm based on? In my understanding it is based on the belief that there is not enough. Not enough creates fear and when we get afraid, then we regress and get aggressive. Where does the belief come from that there is not enough? In my understanding it comes from the disrespect of the feminine aspect of creation. The Feminine is the source of abundance and if we disrespect the source of abundance on a cultural level for thousands of years, a wounded Feminine cannot nurture us fully anymore. The solution of all of this is to re-claim the respect for the feminine aspect of God, of life, of creation. Then the Feminine can heal, Earth can heal and the hunger games might have an end.
Dear Roland, thank you for sharing your thoughts – it’s always helpful for me and I appreciate it very much.
My thoughts are refering to your answer to Drew’s comment
“The next question is: What is this power-over-paradigm based on? In my understanding it is based on the belief that there is not enough. Not enough creates fear and when we get afraid, then we regress and get aggressive. Where does the belief come from that there is not enough?”
The deep feeling of a general lack let me think of a certain homeopathic nosode-remedy – and the story to understand the remedy is the story of the expulsion of the paradise – of dividing into good and bad, of the dualism in our human being with life an death, the begin of christian religion with a punishing god…
Therefore your conclusion to “re-claim the respect for the feminine aspect of God, of life, of creation. Then the Feminine can heal, Earth can heal and the hunger games might have an end” sounds adequate for me and is a really precious hint – thank you so much!
@ Kelly – I love this inquiriy, too
I appreciate: “Is the “parasite” an issue for us, or can we assimilate the parasitism when we accept ourselves in the process of parasitism socially and collectively. “
So if I follow this thread, it’s that like attracts like in someway somehow. I noticed personally doing a very basic herbal cleanse that showed signs of releasing what appeared to be colonies within me, sparked a mental and digestive clearing, as well as a renewed attitude and availability of energy towards my responsibilities. However it has been two dark years where I deflated under the grief of a long time partner leaving with their presence and all material resources. A person who has acquired more than many others on the backs of the labour of many others.
This realization is arising slowly. As you’re seeking to understand the judgment and I have also been thinking that nature has purposeful mechanisms.
I also presently sense that we share parasites with those we share our bodies and environments with. So there may be cross over – almost karmically in a way.
Also I have started to ponder on the shared intelligence these biologic entities propagate. Moving between us all.
Maybe it’s like mycelium networks. Another inter-net.
Dear Roland, I love your inquiry and your responses to this thread, as well as everyone’s comments.
My first thoughts were on our parasitism towards the Earth, our constant taking and extracting without any awareness of consent or reciprocity. Similarly, as you mention, some humans are constantly taking and extracting from others. We make our own stories to justify these behaviors, but I also think that we have to suppress many feelings and emotions to live in these ways, which turn our “parasitism” into compromised minds and bodies. There are places in us where the energy doesn’t flow because we’ve constricted and compromised ourselves. Consciously or unconsciously, we’re going against natural law. And that is when we are most open to becoming pray to our own parasites.
I have not studied parasites in nature, but I wonder if they eventually enter into a symbiotic relationship with their hosts. One where there is reciprocity and mutual benefit, where they become stronger together than separately. Alternatively, perhaps the parasites end up killing the host and therefore extinguishing themselves in the process.
All of this points to a new way of living on the planet based on reciprocity, collaboration, and consent. Very much, feminine principles aligned with Mother Earth, as you beautifully articulate.
Back to healing from parasites, I was diagnosed with lyme disease and went through several pharmaceutical and herbal treatments that helped quite a bit. But I’ve come to believe that there is an important emotional component, and possibiy a belief system, that suppresses my body’s capacity to heal. And this ties to your initial question. For me, I would articulate it as not valuing or loving myself enough. And possibly not valuing and loving others. Perhaps, if we grow up feeling loved and feeling enough, we fill our bodies with our own life energy and there is no room for parasites.
Dear Eva,
Thank you for your comment, for your thoughts and considerations and especially for sharing how you are personally affected by this topic.
I am quite sure that in nature a symbiotic relationship between host and parasite does exist. If parasites would not make sense, nature would have eliminated them or not even developed them. I do not know a general answer. However, I can contribute a few stories and experiences with specific parasites. One of these is the Varroa mite, an often deadly parasite on honey bees. As a bee keeper, I hated this mite! When I went through a Shameeah ceremony, a way of communicating with nature, to my amazement I found that the relationship between bees and Varroa mite was a love relationship. There was no ill will on the side of the mite towards the bees, the opposite was true. The Varroa told me: “In a hundred years of more or less artificial breeding programs, you have changed the physicality of the bees to a degree that it cannot live anymore in the way it was supposed to. You made them from fierce animals to peaceful honey producing cows, too calm to attack parasites and diseases. So Mother Earth sends us, the Varroa mite, to release the bees from their suffering.” I was stunned because what the Varroa said, was definitely correct. We bee keepers love peaceful bees that do not sting us wildly but it is known that more aggressive bees are cleaning out parasites much more aggressively and effectively.
Parasites also seem to be often quite selfless creatures. They come with a message. As long as the message is not heard, not understood, they irritate or hurt the host in some way. Once the host got the message, they are not being thanked for their service, no, the host “heals” and the parasite can leave. It does not have an advantage from having fulfilled its purpose; it is not needed anymore, it can go, that’s it. In that way, a parasite only is in service to the host.
I do not want to generalize anything here. We probably would need to have many intimate communications with parasites and hosts in order to understand more. But one thing is true: nature is intelligent and we only can learn from it. Goethe, the greatest of the German poems once said in a letter to a friend:”I love the most to communicate with nature because she is always right and I know that the error is always on my side.”
What a fantastic discussion! Thank you all 🙂
Lieber Roland,
vielen Dank für deine spannenden Gedanken. Bitte entschuldige die Länge meiner Ausführungen.
Parasiten begleiten wohl die Menschheit seit ihrer Entstehung. Ankylostoma als afrikanischer Parasit kann so als Hinweis dienen, dass eine Einwanderung nach Südamerika vor mehr als 20.000 Jahren nicht über Sibirien und Alaska, sondern direkt über Afrika erfolgte. Indessen haben, wie du am Beispiel der Fische bemerkt hast, andere Lebewesen ebenfalls Parasiten. Die Bienen mit den Milben, Pflanzen mit Blattläusen, parasitären Pflanzen wie den Misteln, Säugetiere Würmer, Flöhe und andere, etc. Dann gibt es noch das Parasitentum innerhalb einer Art oder sehr ähnlicher Arten, die Sklaverei – bei Ameisen. (Ameisen als Sklavenhalter – Spektrum der Wissenschaft)
Und leider scheint die Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit von der Sklaverei geprägt. Die europäische Sklaverei der frühen Neuzeit passt da in ein Gesamtbild und scheint sich weniger durch die Tatsache der Sklaverei selbst als vielmehr durch den extremen ökonomischen Nutzen auszuzeichnen, der erst durch die Handelsgesellschaften möglich wurde. Bei all diesen Beispielen des Ausnutzens und Missbrauchens des Anderen sowohl bei Tieren wie Pflanzen wie bei den Menschen gibt es jedoch wohl fließende Übergänge zur Kooperation. Parasitentum und Symbiose in der Biologie sind verwandt und ebenso in der menschlichen Ökonomie Ausbeutung und Kooperation, die Grenzen fließend, die Kulturgeschichte davon geprägt, etwa bei der Frage nach der gerechten Bezahlung von Arbeit, der Rolle der Frauen in einer patriarchalischen Gesellschaft, etc. Die Frage muss also lauten: Was macht die Begegnung zwischen Individuen zu einer ausbeuterischen? Vielleicht sollte man sich der Frage über die Ursprünge, ontogenetisch wie phylogenetisch annähern, also über die der Herkunft sowohl von uns als Individuen als auch über unsere Ursprünge als Lebewesen.
Von manchen Frauen wird eine ungewollte Schwangerschaft als ausbeuterisch erlebt, ebenso ungewollte Kinder („der saugt mich aus“) und tatsächlich bedient sich der Embryo/Fötus zum Überleben das Immunsystem der Mutter überwindend ja mancher Mechanismen, die wir auch von Parasiten her kennen, das Kind bedient sich der Energie und der Körperflüssigkeiten der Mutter. Die Schilderungen über das Verhalten der Sklavenhalter etwa im Bahia/Brasilien des 18. Jahrhunderts zeigt frappierende Parallelen zu dem im Verhalten auffallender Kinder, die keine Verantwortung erlerne wollen und wir dürfen uns durchaus vorstellen, dass sich in diesen Sklaverei- Gesellschaften der Umgang mit den eigenen Kindern widerspiegelte.
Im gesunden Falle ist das freilich anders. Die Eltern freuen sich auf das Kind, die Mutter wird nicht ausgebeutete – sie gibt. Und die Eltern empfangen natürlich auch – zunächst sicherlich Liebe, später vielleicht auch Stabilität, Sinn im Leben etc. Nicht das Ausbeuten, das Geben wird Teil der eigenen Existenz. In der modernen Kindererziehung sollte dann auch neben der Freiheit zur Entwicklung auch die Vermittlung von Verantwortung bedeutsam sein. Wir sind mithin in ein beständiges Spannungsfeld geworfen zwischen Freiheit- Verantwortung, Abgrenzung – Kooperation, aber auch Gegenseitigkeit – Isolation, Liebe – Hass.
Die gleichen Themen finden sich auch auf der phylogenetischen Ebene. Erst die Abgrenzung macht ein biologisches Leben möglich. Aber auch nur die Interaktion, sei es als Kooperation oder als Ausbeutung. Dieses Spannungsfeld hat die Evolution angetrieben. Dabei mag eine Erscheinung als parasitär gelten, die sich unter neuerem Licht als symbiotisch herausstellt, wie etwa dem Umstand, dass bestimmte Wurmarten des Menschen eine ausgleichende Wirkung bei Darmerkrankungen haben.
Hier muss in den Überlegungen zwingend Kurt Tucholsky zitiert werden, er diese Einsichten vor einhundert Jahren zumindest erahnte:
Der Kreislauf der Natur. Mein Vetter hat einen Cousin, dessen Stiefnichte ist mit ihrem Großzwilling verheiratet. Und dem sein Onkel pflegt zu sagen:
»Mein liebes Kind, da sind nun also die Würmer. Die Würmer werden von den Fröschen gefressen; die Frösche von den Störchen; die Störche bringen Kinder, und die Kinder haben Würmer. So schließt sich der Kreislauf der Natur.«
So also Tucholsky.
Das Spannungsfeld Kooperation – Ausbeutung findet sich auch in der Geschichte der Menschheit und da auch in der diese prägenden Geschichte der Kindheit; wir erleben ja in den letzten beiden Jahrhunderten eine Entwicklung hin von einer Ausbeutung des Kindes zu einem kooperativen Umgang.
Für die These, wonach sich eine Parallele zwischen parasitären Krankheiten und einem menschlichen parasitären Verhalten findet, sprechen m.E. einige historische Beobachtungen, wie beispielsweise die extreme Zunahme eben dieser Krankheiten in den sozial parasitären 16 – 18. Jahrhunderten und ein Nachlassen in der Zeit nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. Eine erneute Zunahme des Parasitären könnte man mit einer Überindividualisierung in den letzten Jahren assoziieren, die sich ja in einer zunehmenden, durch den Gebrauch elektronischer Medien verstärkten Vereinsamung widerspiegelt. Sicherlich ist das auch mit einer psychologischen Haltung verbunden, die sich am ökonomischen Neoliberalismus orientiert, wobei der hier enthaltenden Begriff der Freiheit offensichtlich zuungunsten der komplementären Verantwortung überdehnt wurde. Aber wir sehen ja auch in neuerer Zeit eine Zunahme unseres menschlich- parasitären Verhaltens gegenüber der Natur. Die konventionell wissenschaftliche Beschreibung geht ja sogar darauf ein, wenn sie Epidemien durch unsere Grenzüberschreitungen zu den Tieren befürchtet.
Bei unseren Überlegungen dürfen wir uns nicht auf die menschliche Betrachtung beschränken. Denn im Menschlichen finden wir ein Abbild des biologischen Spannungsfeldes Abgrenzung – Individuation versus Kooperation – Ausbeutung, also letztendlich ein Imbalance auf den verschiedensten Ebenen.
Finden wir dann auch jeweils Parasitentum? Eine Zunahme der Pflanzenparasiten? Tierparasiten? Menschlichen Parasiten? Eine Zunahme im Sozialen also einerseits von unten in der Abhängigkeit vom Sozialstaat wie von oben in der Ausbeutung ohne Verantwortung? Der Befund scheint klar.
Finden wir aber möglicherwiese eine Abnahme, wo kooperativ gedacht wird? Hoffnungsvoll stimmt da die Arbeit von ARHF, The Amma Resonance Healing Foundation (ARHF), deren Erfolge gerade diese Annahme unterstützen.
Zusammenfassend meine ich, dass die Beobachtungen doch eine Begründung auch außerhalb konventioneller Erklärungsmuster erfordert. D.h. Zunahme der Zoonosen nicht lediglich durch einen engeren Kontakt zum Tier, Parasiten in Wildtieren nicht lediglich durch die direkten Eingriffe der Menschen, etwa durch Pestizide, parasitäre Verhalten der Menschen nicht lediglich durch eine Kopie des Verhaltens Anderer. Tatsächlich könnte die gesamte Imbalance durch Übertreibungen der Abgrenzung und damit Überschreiten der Grenze des Kooperativen hin zur Ausbeutung, einer Verschiebung eines labilen Gleichgewichts erklärt werden. Zumindest zeigen die verschiedenen Ebenen ein gleichartiges Muster, ohne dass sie direkt miteinander in Verbindung stünden, also doch eine geistartige Verbindung? Das wäre dann ein erneutes Zeitalter der Ausbeutung und der Parasiten, ähnlich dem 16- 18. Jhdt., dem wir aber durchaus etwas entgegensetzen können.
Lieber Michael,
ganz herzlichen Dank fuer Deine detaillierte und umfassende Darstellung. Ich stimme Dir zu, dass die grundsaetzliche Frage eher eine ethische denn eine biologische ist. Allerdings sollte unsere Ethik die Biologie einschliessen. Durch unsere Freiheit und Verantwortlichkeit uebersteigen wir ja unsere biologische Bedingtheit. Wenn wir ethische Aspekte einbeziehen, dann ist es moeglich, von parasitaer ausbeuterischem Verhalten zu Kooperation zu kommen. Ich freue mich darueber, dass Du die Amma Resonance Healing Foundation erwaehnst. Das ist ja eine Organisation, die Malaria-Prophylaxe auf hoechster energetischer Ebene betreibt und ausserordentlich erfolgreich ist.
Ich freue mich ueber die vielfaeltigen Gesichtspunkte, die Du hier einbringst. Du ziehst herrliche Verbindungen zwischen der auesseren und unserer inneren Natur, zwischen Medizin- und Kulturgeschichte. Ich freue mich darauf, dieses Gespraech einmal fortsetzen zu koennen.
Thx Roland- very interesting stuff. It is crucial too as you mentioned considering animals and that parasites are part of/support the web of life so then how are they considered when in animals.
Wondering also if the energy of parasite host is wanting to take care of others and putting others before yourself so you also end up being a host to essentially many babies (?) …………… so could result in lack of boundaries and letting more “parasites” in….? I’m wondering as well if there was a gender, age or animal that has more parasites than others… the reading I have quickly done indicates children.
It could perhaps be as well a balance thing- I’m wondering if fish have always always had that level of parasites and if not why not and what is out of balance in ecosystem because of this. Likely the mentally more more more but not sure.
Let me know what you think! 🙂
Dear Hana, these are beautiful considerations. Even though you are asking me to let you know what I think, I am a little reluctant to do so. I distrust thinking, unless it comes from experience and has a felt connection to my thoughts. As such I mainly want to say: I do not know. A beekeeping mentor of mine, a man with many decades of experience with hundreds of bee hives, once said: “Every day I am standing in front of the bees as a quester, asking them to teach me.” I think that we need this humbleness of not knowing and the inner calm that it takes to hear to nature’s whispered answer.
Still one answer: I once talked with a pine tree whose upper branches were heavy from the load of many mistletoes. I meditated under this tree. What I could perceive that the pine tree was happy with its load like a Christmas tree with its candles. Through the mistletoes it was able to receive certain frequencies, certain vibrations that it otherwise would not be able to receive. To transmit these frequencies to the Earth was a great joy for the tree.
Parasitism in nature has intelligence and wisdom. Parasitism amongst humans is a kind of abuse.