Elements in Nature: Ant
Community, Architecture, Persistence, New Views, Processing Emotions
The biological diversity of Earth is our teacher. Within Nature are revelations for solving problems and accomplishing tasks. We are one with Nature, and if we understand that relationship, wonderful things unfold for us
For every person there are one million ants! In fact if you weighed all the people in the world then weighed all the ants they would weigh about the same. There are over 10000 species – all live in colonies. Ants are all about community and they are very successful. There are a few solitary ants, but most ants are social and oriented to sharing tasks and raising young.
Besides being the greatest insect killers on earth, it is estimated that about one-half of all woodland flowers are planted by ants. This happens when they carry seeds back to the nest where they eat the outer covering and discard the seed into a waste chamber where it germinates.
Skilled architects – they teach us how to build the framework of our life, how to construct our dreams into reality. Large ant hills can be up to several feet high and inside, up to half a million ants can reside. Large mounds represent many years of construction and are as deep inside as they are tall. Each grain of soil is carried to the surface by a worker ant. (Symbolic of the greatest success that occurs with persistence.) Their hills and nests are designed to capture the sun’s rays and be several degrees warmer than the ground around it. The tunnels inside are angled for good drainage with chambers on the sides which are nearly vertical to keep any water out. Tunnels are sealed each night to keep the heat in and any water out and reopened the following morning, circulating the mound air. (Water is symbolic of emotions – we need to remember to air our feelings, experience them, release them, and allow our new climate to come in on that next new breath of acceptance.)
Ants are social insects, and they communicate through a language of ten to twelve chemical signals and touch. They make their way in dark tunnels by vision, smell and gravity. Ant eyes are large compound eyes, meaning they have many tiny, hexagonal eyes clustered together to make up one compound eye. (The ability to see things from many directions; see things differently). They have two sets of jaws – the larger outer jaw for digging and carrying food or larvae and the inner jaw for chewing food. (Are we processing things with the right tools – using the right set of “teeth” for “chewing up” the challenges that come up for us?)
This week I received an invitation to join a group dance class. If you know me at all you know dancing is so far beyond my comfort level that the lower half (the Southern Baptist half) is kind of like – frozen stiff as a board. Add to that my preference for solitary time rather than public group activities and random socialization. However, (probably thanks to Triné’s recent mentoring on emotions, I have cleared a lot of those old patterns and fears so I readily accepted the dance invitation, knowing that it would be an exercise in new and uncomfortable for me.
The day before class I let the idea of not going cross my mind when I developed allergies making talking without coughing difficult. But only for a minute, then I knew I would follow through and learn the Latin cha-cha-cha. (Coughing is clearing – symbolic of suppressing your path, so I just said “thank you” for the lesson and asked politely that the clearing continue, but the coughing not interfere with class.)
Just after I made my decision I arrived home and as I unlocked my front door I noted a line of ants traversing left to right on my threshold – just on the outside of the door. None were entering the house as they commonly do this time of year. They were just staying on the fringes, outside my door, making their presence known, minding their business. With their symbolism for community and social interaction I knew they were validation for me. I have Free Will, I can always choose to hide out in my old familiar comfortable patterns hang out on the fringes and “avoid the dance” of life and community. Or if I choose there is a community just waiting to take me in and teach me how to do the dance of life differently. (By the way, the cha-cha-cha is easy and I’m going back for more!).
I just love it when Nature shows up to validate me, don’t you?
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References:
Animal-Speak, Ted Andrews, Copyright 1993. Llewellyn Publications, 2143 Wooddale Dr, Woodbury, MN, pg 336-337.
Nature Smart – A Family Guide to Nature, by Stan Tekiela and Karen Shanberg, Copyright 1995, Pub by Adventure Publications, Ic. Cambridge, MN pg 79-82.
#naturesays
