Two holobionts enjoying each other's company. Sara peacefully sleeps in the "arms" of a beech tree on the Amiata mountain. She is obviously happy to be embraced in this way; we are tempted to think that the tree thinks the same.
Do trees perceive the world around them? Absolutely yes, but in a very different way from how we humans do. Trees have no eyes, no muscles, no above-ground nerves. But they perceive chemical signals, light signals, vibrations, and, probably, things that we don't even imagine could be perceived. So, the tree gently holding Sara cannot "see" her. But it can perceive her presence in the form of vibrations and chemical signals. The tree perceives Sara more or less how we could perceive a ghost.
And what does the tree think of Sara? The brain of the tree is below ground; it is the vast network of connections of the root system, boosted by the help of fungi. It is called the mycorrhizal system. Maybe this alien brain can form an image of the strange creature resting near its trunk, although, for us, it is nearly impossible to understand in which form. Maybe the tree is asleep, too. And what does it dream? We can't know, just as we can't know what Sara is dreaming. The only thing we can say is that there is no reason to think that holobionts can't be in love with each other.
h/t Sara
There is a comfort of closeness which might be called "love". Trees and humans can be comfortable in closeness. I often knew that as a boy.
ReplyDelete(I can't strictly speak for saplings.)
Recently I am elaborating the concept that Love is just what gives systems their resilience. When we are part of a system, the more positive relationships it forms, the more capable it is to adapt to perturbations. These relationships are cooperative, predatory and parasitic. Every relationship is a link in this chain. Then we have the competitive relationship which is a race for survival of the fittests. The former relationships give stability, the latter one gives evolution.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking goes here: [b] the relationships that give stability are expressions of love, while competition is a expression of hate[/b].
I had some trouble fitting the idea of love into the predatory and parasitic relationships. Surely, the predator loves to eat its prey, but can the same be said for the prey? Actually, yes.
It's not that the prey loves being killed and eaten, but the prey accepts its place in the food chain and finds strategies for survival other than exterminating the predators, fear being one of such strategies. Maybe unwillingly, preys create the conditions for predators to thrive. At the same time predators prevent preys to become overpopulated, so in the end preys thrive too. Isn't that love?
It's when we fight for the same resources, the same niches, that hate appears. Hate in the sense of wishing to do harm to others. That's why we don't allow predators around our herds and wolves have been hated for so long.
So let me put it in these other terms: Love is the behaviour that connects elements of a system together in enduring relationships, while hate is the behaviour that seeks to remove weak elements from that system.
I remark I am not talking about feelings, but about actions, although they may be related. No matter how much I think I love my wife, if I don't express my feelings with actions, I am not actually loving her. The feeling might be there, but it's the action what matters.
Is the tree connecting with Sara? Sara is comforting in its shade, so we know at least one of the sides is gaining something. Even if the tree gains nothing, it is allowing Sara to benefit, not resisting her. (Well, maybe the tree was expecting some manure in return, maybe next time, trees are patient beings). A link, weak as it may, has been formed. Strengthen this link by frequent visits, and this link may turn into friendship.