Our health is a reflection of the health of our environment. Our internal ecology reflects our external ecology. The greater the diversity of bacteria living within the body, the healthier we are. The more accepting we are of diversity in humanity, the safer our community.
Remember feeling invincible? Nothing could hurt you - nothing to fear. Recall the clarity of mind, the energy and vitality experienced in that state?
Now think about a traumatic experience - feeling unsafe, vulnerable - and the adverse health effect that may have transpired.
Fear puts us in stress-mode, the “us” versus “them” mentality, focusing on preservation of self, protecting our identity, our ego, our possessions. In this state we are more vulnerable. There is no room for growth and transformation – there is no place for enlightenment.
In fact, when in fight or flight stress response, we produce hormones that break down lean body tissue, impair our internal defence system and ability to think clearly.
What is a common practice for a person encountering a dangerous animal? -- Make them self-big.
Collectively as a society, when we come from a place of lack, foreseeing famine, perceiving what others are taking from us, we exploit our natural resources. Today we create an abundance of cheap food and drink, depleted of nutrients. The food supply overfeeds but malnourishes. The human body secretes hormones that increase cravings for lab made rich, sweet foods that promote fat storage, increasing susceptibility to degenerative disease like adult on-set diabetes, heart disease, depression, dementia and cancer.
This is the state we find ourselves in when we become intolerant of diversity. In fact it can be argued that we are suffering from a lack of diversity within. We have an epidemic of missing microbes, causing us to over-react to food and pollens, leading to collateral damage of body tissue. Why?
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries we went to war with infectious microbes not only in medicine but also in agribusiness - using more antibiotics, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides. We killed off the bad guys using carpet bombs that also decimated the good guys, that help keep the bad guys in check.
What happens when you add antibiotics to animal feed? -- They gain weight.
Twentieth century medicine, although not yet widely applied clinically, will now promote increasing body microbial diversity, to prevent our innate defence system from over-reacting to harmless substances, from self-attack or autoimmunity. Instead of antibiotics doctors will increasingly resort to adding good bugs, to keep bad bugs in check.
‘It’s not the germ, it’s the terrain’ as Louis Pasteur is rumoured to have said on his deathbed. If the soil within is teaming with a diverse array of healthy microbes, the odd bad bug will cause no harm.
If our health truly reflects the health of our environment, and microbial diversity promotes personal health, it’s not a far stretch to assume that a more cosmopolitan community will promote societal well-being.
Let us come from a place of love, compassion and acceptance. Let us see the human potential that arises when we treat others with respect and dignity. Let us enjoy the gifts that arise from such a harmonious state.
Together everyone achieves more.
Thinking out loud as usual ;)
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