The other morning I went for a kayak at sunrise. The pond was still, the surface like glass. I most enjoy when the lake is like this, as entering the calm stillness around me helps me journey to that still point within myself. This particular morning a layer of mist was rising from the water surface, dancing and swirling in tangled wisps as it rose, vanishing into the sky. As I paddled, swallows swooped through the cloudlets, skimming the surface to grab their buggy breakfast. And some of those same insects, mosquitoes and biting gnats, were buzzing about me, looking for their own morning meal, a little drop or two of me! It was in that moment that I was profoundly aware of the interconnection of life. As a student, teacher, and storyteller of science, I “knew” about food chains, food webs, metabolic processes and the like, but in this moment I became a conscious witness to it. And a conscious participant in it as well. Here on display was one small vignette of the great dance of energy flowing through the cosmos, the insects biting me, the swallows eating some of them, me using my energy reserves to paddle along, occasionally waving my hand to shoo the bugs. And as the sun progressively fell on more of the trees to my right, the rate of photosynthesis increased hidden from direct view in the chloroplasts within the cells of each leaf. Light emanating from the nuclear reactions happening 93 million miles away became, as it does each day a plant has leaves, the molecules everything else uses to maintain the balance of processes we identify as being alive. All life, all material existence, are conduits of energy; we consume it in our diet and release it in movement, we grow, but that substance we are provides sustenance for other creatures. All things are interconnected, held together by the most delicately balanced interplay of consumption and production, growth and decay, all energy flowing in and out of matter in a sometimes elegant, sometimes turbulent dance.
You insight is a reminder that within stillness we can experience nature in action. You are fortunate to be close to water for opportunities like these to experience the beauty of nature – but the truth is that we can experience it anywhere at any time if we just slow down, ponder and watch….