The Loving Reaper as a Holobiont. An Interpretation by Jenny Jinya

I don't think I'll engage in commenting the details of this story by Jenny Jinya, the young German lady who has been creating incredible stories (see here, here and here.). After all, we all know that the way to boredom lies in telling the details. But try to take a look at this story. It is not just a moving story, it has an unbelievable depth. It resonates of so many motives and ideas that are part of human history that it left me breathless: the Goddess, Death, the Otherworld, kindness, piety, benevolence, mercy, and much more. 

But the bewildering element of this story is how all these things are linked together. Jenny Jinya has truly understood how the universe works: life and death need each other and neither could exist alone. The holobiont concept is not just about symbiosis, it is about communication. And the universe is a giant holobiont that moves, changes, grows, shrinks, expands, returns, and restarts, all because its elements communicate with each other and the result is the never-ending cycle of life and death. Sometimes, we use the term "love" for this kind of communication and it is truly the most powerful force in the universe.

 

 

Biophobia: one more example of our fear of Nature and of ourselves

 

 

A clip from "Dust."  They are a company specialized in airing short sfi-fi films. The quality of what you can see is very variable, goes from the boring to the silly, includes the very clever, and sometimes true gems. 

I thought I could inflict on you this clip not because it is especially good, but not so bad, either. It may be good as entertainment. It has distinct "1950s" feel and it could go in the same category as the old "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." What's strange is that it was made in 2020 and one could think we had overcome that attitude of old that saw non-human creatures as monsters. 

Here, we have a good example of the current wave of "biophobia" -- it is the story of a young woman who is bitten by a mosquito. Then, the mosquito flies to meet a subterranean monster who uses the genetic information contained in the woman's blood to create a clone of her.

As I said, not bad as entertainment but, as biophobia goes, this is the way many of us see the creatures that surround us. Creatures to be kept away from our bodies as much as possible, least we'd be contaminated. And, in the end, I think the clip has a logic that perhaps even its authors didn't realize: it is our fear of sickness, our fear of death, our fear of bodily decay. All amplified by the tiny monster we call coronavirus -- a name that brings a hint of  the crown that death used to wear in medieval iconography, a symbol of power.

All fears that have taken over our minds everywhere. And how the woman of the clip sees he double is as she sees herself as in a mirror. It tells us a lot of how we see ourselves nowadays. We are scared of our fellow human beings, a monstruous, innatural, unimaginable (up to now) feeling. It is, first of all, a sickness of the mind. We will not be healed we come to a pact with nature, only then we'll be able to understand who we are. Onward, fellow holobionts!

  

 

The Earth Goddess According to Jenny Jinya

The Earth Goddess in the interpretation of Jenny Jinya

Jenny Jinya is a phenomenal German artist who knows something about empathy, the fundamental element that keeps together the multiform creatures we call "holobionts."

For a taste of her awesome work, you may start from this one. (be careful, this is powerful stuff -- it may make you cry like a child).

In the most recent comic strip by Jenny Jinya, we even see appearing the Goddess of life herself, mistress of all the holobionts of Earth. You can find it here. Enjoy the good ending!

Sex and Death among Holobionts and Organisms

My mother in law, Liliana, turns 100 today. Happy Birthday, Liliana!

Both holobionts and organisms have to fight entropic decay. Holobionts do that by continuously changing their hologenome in a horizontal exchange of information. Organisms do the same by the vertical mixing of their genome in the process called sexual reproduction. Both methods are driven by natural selection.

The second strategy, sexual reproduction, brings the need of eliminating the old genomes by the process of aging. True holobionts never die (think of a forest), but organisms do. Too bad for organisms, but it is a choice (and a lot of fun, too!). 

Liliana turned out to be a successful and resilient organism. So far, she has three daughters, a son, three grandsons, one grand-daughter and, recently, two great-grand daughters. Not bad!