Wild Earth Integration

It happens all the time. Just when you think you Know A Thing, you take one more look and — bammo — your world turns upside down.

I’m all about seeing what we can learn from the natural world. You’re here, so you already know that. The latest in spider news actually holds a big secret for you – are you ready?

They discovered a vegetarian spider. *cue daunting music*

No takers? Bear with me.

Ok, here’s the scene: in the tropics of Mexico and Costa Rica, scientists have been studying this fellow for awhile now. Back in the late 1800s, scientists named this spider Bagheera kiplingi. Sound familiar? Literary buffs (or Disney enthusiasts) will recognize Bagheera as the straight-laced, slightly uptight panther from Kipling’s the Jungle Book. Nice little homage there.

Fast-forward now. So they’re out there in the forest checking the spider out (as one does) and they notice it using stealthy jungle-spider moves to attack its prey. But here’s the rub – it would leap Tobey Maguire style not to catch bugs or any other critter – it was catching acacia buds. No insects for this spider, he’s a veggiesaurus. They use their mad spider skillz to avoid ants (who protect the acacia buds), and chow down on a plant-rich diet.

Yeah, yeah – I hear you. You’re not into spiders. You’re not a scientist in Costa Rica spending your days swatting flies under a canopy of greenery. So why should you care? Think about it.

There are 40,000 spider species (that we know of) wandering around the globe. Until now, they have all been classified as meat-eaters. So if you’re a scientist out there, knee-deep in the fact that 40,000 out of 40,000 spiders are carnivores, how likely are you to notice that one teeny spider is munching on a plant?

How many people walked by this spider because they saw what they wanted to see? Or because they saw what everybody else saw?

Everytime you look around you, your brain fills in the gaps of your perception. This is why you can read sentences missing whole chunks of words.

C n y u rea th s?

See?

So your brain can fill in the letters that are missing, because statistically the letter ‘a’ goes between ‘c’ and ‘n’ more often than ‘p’ or ‘e’. We all know that ‘cpn’ is not a word.

This is how your brain works with language, but I’d bet you a dollar to a donut that overall perception follows the same patterns. If 100% of the time when you see a flower and it’s not talking to you, you’re going to develop some pretty strong opinions about plants. Let’s face it – sometimes ‘facts’ can drag you down.

So what does the veggiesaurus spider teach us? Do your absolute best to approach your life (problems, solutions, work, writing, creations) from a new standpoint, as often as you can.

Sometimes, all it takes is a walk outside to clear your head. Write down everything you think you know about a situation, and challenge yourself to counter each point, as strongly as you can. Create within yourself a mindset that allows you to be surprised. Develop a state of mind wherein you suspend judgment. Or, maybe just don’t be such a stubborn arse all the time.

Depending on patterns is inevitable, and most of the time it will help keep you alive. After all, [hot stove + hand = bad] is probably a good pattern to notice. But too often, we miss out on a lot because we’re seeing what we’ve geared ourselves to see. Lightning can strike, but normally it occurs in the form of a quiet insight. Train yourself to notice the vegetarian spiders of the world, and you just might be surprised what else you find.

See you next time. Til then, I’m gone, man… solid gone.