Four days flat in bed. Fever, cough, runny nose, pain in all joints. I can't remember having been so sick for quite a while. And it wasn't even Covid! I tested four times, because everybody was telling me, "it has to be Covid." But, no, all the tests were negative. If it doesn't quack like a duck, then probably it is not a duck.
I think there are moments when the elements of the holobiont that's your body get together to send you a message. A strong message that my own immune system and the creatures that had come inside my system were sending to me, together. It was, "Take it a little easier. No matter how bad things are in the world, there is just so much that you can do. So take a few days of rest. It is not a suggestion, it is an order." I obeyed, grateful. I am also grateful to the little critters, whatever they are, who helped my body to carry out a cleansing that was evidently needed.Sometimes you think that you are a sort of ghost stuck inside your head - a sort of microprocessor that resides behind those two cameras you call 'eyes'. But you are much more than that: you are a body, a full body. Muscles, nerves, blood, a heart, lungs, gut, all the rest. You are a holobiont: many creatures living together. And there is no obvious boundary between what is "you" and what is "outside you." You continuously exchange information with the outside. You breathe, eat, drink information in the form of the genes of the creatures we call "germs," but which normally have no intention to harm you. It is just that your immune system must learn to recognize these creatures. It is a continuous exchange that makes your body able to thrive in a genetic "soup" that surrounds every one of us and of which we are all part.
If you try to keep these creatures away using filters or disinfectants, you remain deaf and blind to that information. You are defenseless to the first batch of creatures which happen to be a little more aggressive than the usual. And, sometimes, you need to go through the readapting, relearning, and cleansing I went through. It is a little painful, but afterward you feel great, especially if you were wise enough to avoid taking medicines (although, I have to confess, I took a few aspirin pills!).
In any case, we are all part of the great holobiont we call Gaia, the Goddess. May She be praised for Her wisdom and Her patience with those sons and daughters of Her, so silly and so unruly. Onward, fellow holobionts!
