• Take what message you can from the humble wildebeest, who may not win that beauty contest but would win an award for perse- verance and endurance. An 18,645-mile journey—look what can happen when we place one foot in front of the other.
Life Lessons f r om nature
Case B The Adventurous Monkey
Is a Well-Fed Monkey
In the jungle, there live many tribes of monkeys. The numerous mon- keys fight for the limited food resources of berries, nuts, and seeds that the jungle provides. Lying on the outskirts of the jungle is a rural village. A few of the monkeys have the courage to leave their clan and come to the village to ask for food. The villagers treat the monkeys well. One of the most adventurous of the monkeys ventured into the center of the village to a rich family. It was later taken by them as a pet.
People aren’t that different. We often find safety in numbers and con- gregate in large groups to fight over the small scraps that are available. We complain that there never seems to be enough and wish that there was less competition for the crumbs that are on offer. They don’t like
Par t 1 Personal Mo ti vation
the crowd, but it offers them perceived safety and a reasonable excuse for not achieving more.
And there are a few brave souls who venture out for new opportunities. They do what no one else has the courage to do. They start what no
one else has the courage to start. They take risks that no one else has
the courage to take.
They become successful. Some even become successful beyond recog- nition. In the spirit of Magellan and Columbus, they dream the im- possible dream and accomplish the unthinkable feats.
Don’t be part of the crowd. Don’t live a life of scarcity.
Come closer to the source of abundance.
Claim your legal inheritance to life’s richness and vivaciousness.
The journey to life’s abundance may be scary. It should never be the factor limiting you from unfound, unparalleled, unheard-of success from the crowd.
Life Lessons f r om nature
Case C Prime Minister’s Rat Race
Li Shi was the first prime minister of dynastic China, serving under the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Li Shi went to the toilet one day. The ancient toilet in the rural society was really an elevated big pit that was deep and large. The rodents that survived in the toilets had been stealing food from the people’s excretions. When they saw people ap- proaching, they fled as fast as they could. The rodents were malnour- ished, skinny, and very unhealthy. They had no security. They had no esteem. They lived a life of wretched existence.
Li Shi later had another chance to visit the rice storage warehouse. What he saw shocked him. The rodents living in the rice storage ware- house were all big and fat. Not only did they not run away in a hurry when they saw people, they stared at you in the face as though protest- ing your intrusion of their territory.
The shocked and awed Li Shi pondered over the incidents for many days. He knew there were many great lessons to be learned from these examples. Why do the same species of rodents behave extreme- ly opposite in completely different environments? The story of the rodents had a big resemblance to the humans. He was not an early Darwinist or environmentalist. He was a politician and he used his findings to
• increase food production in Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Kingdom to allow for the largest and most powerful army,
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• apply psychology of the rats in diplomatic situations in dealing with other Chinese states and principalities,
• anticipate the moves of his high-circle opponents, and finally
• make Qin the most powerful state among all the states of China, laying the foundation for subsequent unification of all China.
As for us, the moral of the story is: we will never be able to reach our full potential or make the contribution that we are meant to make if we find ourselves working for too long in an environment that isn’t com- patible with who we are or that can’t bring out our fullest potential.
• Perhaps now is the time to change.
• Perhaps now is the time to make a move.
• So that we can be where we’re meant to be.
• So that we can be who we’re meant to be.
• So that we can make the difference that we’re meant to make.
Chapter 7 Towards
Peace and Harmony
8
Case A Nature’s Hanging Gardens of Babylon:
The Old-growth Redwood Tree Canopy Ecosystem
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the original Seven
Wonders of the World. They were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around
600 BCE. He is reported to have constructed the gardens to please his wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland. The gardens were destroyed in an earthquake after the
1st century BCE.
High up in the tops of trees of the Redwood Forest, California, there exists an ecosystem of the most pristine wonder and essence. It conveys many aspects of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
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As the redwood trees age over many hundreds of years in response to wind, fire, and other falling trees, redwoods develop very unique and individual crown structures. Their complicated crowns consist of re- sprouted or reiterated trunks, arising from main trunks or other trunks and limbs. Also, over many years these woody structures and these crowns interact, sometimes rubbing against each other and eventually fusing so that living cambium produces a sapwood that bridges regions of the crown hydraulically. *1
High above the ground, platforms were thus formed on which organic soil began to build from falling leaf litter and dust. These organic soils in turn act as substrate for epiphytes, or tree-dwelling species like letter fern, which forms huge sprawling mats that develop the buoy soil that is over a meter deep in places. A set of fern mats and an old tree can weigh over 17 hundred pounds in dry mass and hold over 2,000 gallons of water. Soils beneath fern mats in decaying wood inside trunks and limbs can store huge amounts of water, and can sustain drought-sensitive organisms high above the ground throughout the year. The wandering salamander and the buoy species are the only amphibian denizens of the redwood forest residing in cavities within fern mats and decaying wood, and they feast on a rich invertebrate community that includes aquatic crustaceans called copepods that are also found in local streams. The red- wood canopy is home to at least 265 kinds of epiphyte species including lichen, mosses, liverworts, flowering plants, ferns, and even other coni- fers. All of the flowering plants found in the canopy are usually found on the forest floor, including huckleberries, salal berries and bay laurel. *2
It’s important that we appreciate the beauty of nature, and be imbued with its inspirations. Sometimes we find inner and outer paradise in the least expected of places. Our longing for peace and harmony with our brethren and nature has been the main drive of our creative and vibrant energy.
Touch the earth, love the earth—her plains, her valleys, her hills, and
Life Lessons f r om nature
her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagina- tion itself.
It’s important that we set out as adventurers, and be discoverers of the magnificent greater environment that we are living in. Let man go forth to marvel at the heights of mountains, and the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the rivers, the vastness of the ocean, the orbits of the stars, and in the end, have a deeper understanding and appreciation of their true value of existence.
The serenity produced by the contemplation and philosophy of nature is the only remedy for prejudice, superstition, and inordinate self-im- portance, teaching us that we are all a part of Nature herself
, strength- ening the bond of sympathy which should exist between ourselves and our brother man…
Footnotes
*1 & *2
Redwood Ranger Minute : Redwood Forest Canopy
Directed by Redwood National and State Parks, Published on Oct 19,
2012 Youtube
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Case B The Dam—Legacy of the Beaver
It may take hundreds of trees to complete a small dam, but this doesn’t stop beavers from working diligently until eventually their construc- tion is completed.
Then something remarkable happens.
As water builds up behind the dam, a self-sustaining ecosystem is built up. This self-sustaining ecosystem will be functioning for decades after the beaver is long gone.
We have the same capacity as the beaver.
We face a multitude of challenges in life. One of life’s most difficult lessons is finding out who you are; what your purpose is; your reason of being. Many people are able to find a niche in which they achieve all that life has planned for them. They are able to figure out their func- tion and place in the world. They form their careers, their families, their lives.
Every person on this planet—big, small; rich or poor—has an implicit reason for being here. This isn’t about whether or not you believe in a higher or supernatural power, but it’s about believing your being has
Life Lessons f r om nature
purpose. Some suppose their purpose is to make money; some suppose their purpose is to procreate and reproduce; and some even believe they are here to save the lives or souls of others.
When it comes time for us to part with this planet we know as Earth, when we look back on our time here, we want to be remembered. It is how we are remembered, and by whom we are remembered, that makes the process of life so challenging.
Life is what you make of it, and every person has at least one profound gift that helps mold society in some way, shape, or form. It is whether or not we choose to use those gifts that determines our unforeseeable impact on the world.
You can be that person who made someone’s day memorable. You can be the person who brightens a dark day. How do we get to the stage of remembrance that we desire? By leaving this place a better place than we came from.
Leave your mark on the world like the beaver and be remembered with a smile.
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Case C The Aquarium of Your Comfort Zone
People are often reluctant to keep goldfish in a pond or pool outside because they fear that their little pets won’t survive unless they’re kept in an aquarium where such factors as temperature, light exposure, and PH gradient are strictly controlled.
Goldfish are part of the carp family (Cyprinidae). The sudden and unaccounted-for mutation event around 970 AD transformed the or- dinary carp into the colorful and wonderful goldfish that we keep as pets in the aquariums today. They originated in China and were sub- sequently glamorized in Japan. Goldfish actually grow according to the size of the pond they are in. If you have a half-acre pond, you will have huge 2-foot-long goldfish. If you have a normal backyard garden pond, you will have goldfish that may reach 4- to 6-foot long. Their size is definitely dependent on the size of their home and what they are fed on.
We are very much the same.
If we live in a small world with limited learning opportunities, limited
Life Lessons f r om nature
experiences, and only spend time with people who are the same as us, we stunt our own growth.
We end up with a small life, with unimaginative goals, dogmatic per- spectives, negative attitudes, having petty online arguments and little positive impact.
If we want to make sure that we grow and live a large life, we need to:
• expand our horizons
• keep learning
• spend time with people from diverse backgrounds (including race, religion, gender, political viewpoints)
• travel
• don’t just read writers whom we agree with
• make time to think in silence and without electronic distractions
• try new things
• get out of our comfort zone
The advantage that we have over goldfish is that we get to choose the environment that we live in.
I want to encourage you today to update to a larger aquarium, to live the kind of life that maximizes your potential and increases your capac- ity to make a difference in the world.
Part 2 Nature’s Military Strategies
8
There is a big difference between actual brilliant strategies and sensa- tional victories brought about by luck, the weather, or a particular turn of events.
Napoleon blundered in Russia because he was unprepared for the weather conditions and expected the Russians to fight rather than re- treat inland and burn everything behind them. It was not his military skills that weren’t sufficient, but his knowledge of Russian culture and geography. Napoleon had amply proven before that he could defeat bigger armies fairly easily just through superior tactics and strategy. The Duke of Wellington, when asked who he thought was the greatest general that ever lived, answered, “In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon.” He may not have been perfect, but he was regarded as the greatest general of his time, even by his enemies.
In antiquity, Hannibal did pretty well one time, but Alexander de- feated much bigger armies in Egypt and Persia almost only through superior strategy. Many Roman generals (not just Julius Caesar) were also gifted strategists.
There are also many epic battles in nature that involve brilliant military strategies. We will look at some of these cases and see how well they relate to famous human military strategies.
Chapter 1 The Epic Battle of
Honeybee versus Hornet
8
European Honeybees versus Mandarinia Hornets
The invading nation of the hornet sends out thirty of their best fighters in the nation for the battle against the honeybee. As with any invasion, reconnaissance takes precedence. The thirty fighter hornets first split up and scour the landscape. Armed with the state-of-the-art supersen- sitive scent receptors, one of them tracks down a beehive and marks the location through its unique scent. All thirty fighter jets assemble in no time, and when they are in the best fighter-plane formation, they proceed to attack the nation of the honeybee, the main airports and entrances to the hives. After the national alert alarm sounds, the hon- eybee jet fighters scramble to retaliate in the skies. Claiming violation of airspace and national sovereignty, the honeybee fighter jets fight gal- lantly. They are not stingy in using their stings, which will cause them their lives. The defenders greatly outnumber the invaders. The hornet is a class of super jet fighters of the latest technological marvels. Its aerodynamic construction, deadly jaw, and sting can be used repeat- edly to deadly effect. Its whole design is tailored to the onslaught of the honeybee jet. The hornet is five times the size of the honeybee. The deadly battles last for three hours between thirty hornets and 30,000 honeybees. Only one or two hornets have died. The entire army of
Life Lessons f r om nature
30,000 honeybees is slaughtered. Maybe it shouldn’t even be called a battle. “Massacre” is the better word. The carnage marks a forgone conclusion playing itself out to a horrified end.
In only hours, 20 or 30 hornets can wipe out a hive of 30,000 bees. The killer hornets have reduced the defenders to a carpet of the dying and the dead. Now the hornets will take what they came for. Now they can rob at their leisure—sometimes for days. This bee colony is doomed. The victims left to rot. The raiders gorge on honey, even licking it from carcasses. But their chief plunder is the honeybee larvae and pupae that can feed their young for weeks. The unborn bees will be chewed into protein paste or fed to the hornet young. Then as quickly as it began, the slaughter is over and all is quiet again. *3
Japanese
Honeybees versus Mandarinia Hornets
The Japanese honeybee knows that no matter how strong the fortress, the best defense is knowing your enemy. For eons, they have thrived in the deadly hornet’s shadow. The bees know giant hornets send scouts to search their hive. To survive, these bees must capture and kill the hornet scout.
When the advance radar system spots the enemy reconnaissance plane at the gate, the soldier bees set a trap by slowly pulling back to lure the hornet scout in. They want the hornet inside their hives. And the hornet obliges. The soldier bees keep retreating to lure the hornet scout further into their hive. By swinging their abdomens to and fro, they signal their strategy to one another. The bees hold off until the last pos- sible moment. Suddenly with coordinated signals, a group of the sol- diers launches a sneak attack. At this moment, the hornet is engulfed by hundreds of bees. In a split-second, the defenders have rushed to the hornet scout; however, they don’t sting. Instead, the bees prowl belly to belly, against the invading beast. Vibrating their abdomens, they create a ball of heat which encircles the hornet at its vivid core. As revealed by thermal photography, they all begin to vibrate, gradually raising their