Tag: bacteria

As Above, So Below

As Above, So Below: Humans and Earth as Symbiotic and Parasitic Entities

The phrase “As Above, So Below” originates from ancient philosophies, suggesting that the macrocosm reflects the microcosm and vice versa. This concept invites us to explore the relationship between humans and Earth by drawing a parallel to the relationship between bacteria and the human body. Just as bacteria can be both beneficial and harmful within the digestive tract, humans have the potential to either nurture or devastate the Earth’s ecosystems. Walk with me as I explore the dual role humans play in relation to Earth, akin to how bacteria interact with the human body, and how this relationship requires a delicate balance for mutual survival.

The Symbiotic and Parasitic Roles of Bacteria and Humans

Bacteria in the human digestive tract can be broadly categorized into those that are symbiotic and those that are parasitic. Symbiotic bacteria play essential roles in human health by aiding in digestion, synthesizing vitamins, and bolstering the immune system. These microorganisms form a mutually beneficial relationship with their human host, thriving within the digestive environment while providing necessary functions for human survival. In contrast, parasitic bacteria disrupt normal bodily functions, causing infections and diseases that can lead to serious health complications.

Similarly, humans interact with Earth in ways that can be symbiotic or parasitic. On one hand, humans have the capacity to contribute positively to the planet’s ecosystems. Sustainable practices, such as reforestation, renewable energy development, and conservation efforts, reflect humanity’s potential to live in harmony with Earth’s natural systems. These actions not only benefit the environment by preserving biodiversity and reducing pollution but also ensure the long-term survival of human societies by maintaining the planet’s ability to support life.

On the other hand, human activities often take on a parasitic nature, causing significant harm to the environment. Industrialization, deforestation, pollution, and the overexploitation of natural resources have led to widespread environmental degradation. This destructive behavior mirrors the impact of pathogenic bacteria in the human body, where an imbalance can lead to diseases that compromise the host’s health. This comparison between humans and bacteria highlights the dual potential humans hold: they can either sustain and enrich the Earth or degrade and deplete its resources.

The Importance of Balance in Human-Earth Interactions

The human body maintains a delicate balance between beneficial and harmful bacteria through what we call our immune system and other regulatory mechanisms. When this balance is disrupted, whether by illness, poor diet, or external factors, the consequences can be severe, leading to conditions such as inflammatory diseases, infections, or even chronic illnesses. Similarly, Earth has natural regulatory systems, such as the carbon cycle, water cycle, and food chains, which maintain environmental stability. These systems are designed to keep ecosystems functioning healthily, ensuring that life can thrive in a balanced environment.

However, just as an imbalance in bacteria leads to health problems in humans, an imbalance in how humans interact with Earth can have devastating consequences. Climate change, driven by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, is one of the most pressing examples of this imbalance. The disruption of the carbon cycle, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels, has led to global warming, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events, threatening both natural ecosystems and human societies.

Another example is the loss of biodiversity, often a direct result of human activities like deforestation, habitat destruction, and pollution. Biodiversity is crucial for ecosystem resilience, allowing environments to recover from disturbances and continue to provide essential services such as clean air, water, and food. The decline in biodiversity mirrors the loss of beneficial bacteria in the human gut, which can lead to digestive disorders and weakened immunity. In both cases, the loss of diversity—whether microbial or biological—leads to a weakened system more vulnerable to external stresses.

The Need for a Symbiotic Future

The future health of both humans and the Earth hinges on maintaining a balanced, symbiotic relationship rather than allowing parasitic behaviors to dominate. In the human body, maintaining a healthy bacterial balance is increasingly recognized as vital to overall health, leading to the growing popularity of probiotics and prebiotics. These substances help nurture beneficial bacteria, ensuring that they outcompete harmful pathogens and contribute to a well-functioning digestive system.

In a similar vein, humans must adopt proactive measures to foster a healthier relationship with Earth. This can be achieved through sustainable practices that minimize environmental impact and promote the restoration of natural ecosystems. Global initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions, protecting endangered species, and restoring degraded lands are crucial steps in this direction. These efforts are akin to providing the Earth with the environmental equivalent of probiotics—restorative actions that promote balance and health.

Education and awareness are also essential in this symbiotic journey. Just as individuals learn about the importance of maintaining gut health, society must be educated about the importance of sustainable living. Understanding the consequences of our actions and the benefits of positive environmental stewardship can inspire collective efforts to protect the planet. By shifting from a parasitic to a symbiotic role, humans can ensure that Earth remains a viable and thriving home for future generations.

This metaphor of humans as bacteria within Earth’s “digestive tract” serves as a powerful reminder of the impact we have on our planet. Like our own bacteria(gut flora), we can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on our actions and the balance we maintain within our environment. The health of our planet, much like the health of the human body, depends on the maintenance of this delicate balance.

As above, so below—the principle that governs the relationship between humans and Earth also applies to the microscopic world within us. Just as a healthy bacterial balance is crucial for human well-being, a balanced and symbiotic relationship between humans and Earth is essential for the planet’s health and our own survival. By recognizing and embracing our potential to contribute positively to the Earth, we can shift the balance from parasitism to symbiosis, ensuring a thriving future for both humanity and the natural world, within and without.

Why Are We Here?

I do not believe that we are here by chance. I believe that we are here as a mutual response to counteract or balance another aspect of existence within life on Earth as a whole.

Microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa, and helminths are among the many lifeforms that make up the zoo that lives on and in me and you. And they all serve distinct purposes, within the overall human experience we call life. In simple terms, they exist to consume that which is no longer beneficial life. They are here to clean up the messes that life leaves behind. They are in the business of bio-remediation. They occur naturally as an intentional function of existence to break down pollutants in any given environment, consuming that which would otherwise pollute the greater complex system we call our body. They are a beneficial part of our greater overall existence as humans as we humans are to the greater world we live in.

We can use this example of our internal ecosystem to better understand our own existence within our greater external environment. Each one of us 7.9 Billion human beings that currently inhabit the world we live in plays a role similar to one of the individual microorganisms mentioned in the prior paragraph. We too are consumers of foods that are no longer living. Our consumption breaks these complex nutrient sources down into simpler components that our greater environment will use once again at a later time. We call this the cycle of life.

Another example of this is the relationship between human life and plant life.

Green plants along with other organisms create what we call food by consuming carbon dioxide and water. The result of this process is the production of oxygen.

Humans on the other hand consume these foods that are a result of this process for use as energy for all of our cellular processes required for life. The byproduct or result of that digestion and assimilation at the cellular level is the production of carbon dioxide that we then exhale back into the atmosphere that is then used as food by the plants. And so the cycle continues on.

But which came first? The plant or the human? Or did they both grow up together within the greater environment, both acting as cofactors in a greater process in the circle of life? I suppose I will eventually get around to addressing that question too. Maybe at this time my understanding and thinking are still too juvenile. It is possible that humans and plants are just two of many more life forms that serve some greater role still yet to be observed or defined.

Some would simply say that we are here at the pleasure of our creator. And I would agree. But how do we define that creative force, nature, and will that some simply call God? Maybe we humans within the greater context of our existence and environment are little different than those microorganisms that make up our gut. Yet we believe that we are so much more intelligent than a single or multicellular organism. But what if that is a mistake and simply a story we’ve created to make ourselves feel better about our existence? And who’s to say that those microscopic lives whose cycle is only but a breath compared to our own as a human is any less than our own?

Wouldn’t that be wild if fungi had stories that they told their budding yeast buddies to help them better understand the gastrointestinal world in which they live, thrive, and find their being? Clearly, they too have a form of consciousness, just like we humans do. They are awake and aware of their surroundings just like we are, which is the definition of consciousness.

What is Autophagy?

To eat oneself is the plain meaning of autophagy. It is our body’s way of cleaning itself out. It is the way by which our body removes dead or degenerate cells that have lost their optimal functionality. This way the body can regenerate itself. It literally eats itself and in the process recycles the amino acids or proteins in a form of reincarnation, and it happens over and over again. Our body recycles itself because it is an efficient thing to do. It is the act of repeated incarnation. The process by which our body heals itself by tearing itself down and rebuilding with its own flesh through the process of granulation. A wound healing in the grandest sense of the word.

The human intestinal tract is an amazing ecosystem. A habitat for that which makes up much of our humanity. It is inhabited by diverse and complex colonies of synergistic micro-organisms that not only call us home but are also absolutely necessary for our overall health and wellbeing. We may be an individual in a sense but we are likely better understood as a host of a grand buffet of bacterial components spanning a diverse spectrum of individual players both commensal and pathogenic depending on the situation they find themselves in. It’s one big dinner table in there and there is a lot of diversity in its many different guests.

The lining of our intestinal tract which is also known as our intestinal epithelium interface interacts directly with this houseful of guests and acts as a barrier or first line of defense against bad players that might be interested in finding their way into our tissues. This lining of our intestinal tract has a number of mechanisms by which it protects us against micro-organisms that might want to attach themselves or even make their way into our vascular system. One of these mechanisms by which this is accomplished is mucus. A mucosal lining that has antimicrobial properties that can limit bacterial interaction with the host’s intestinal surface.

So important is this barrier our body even goes so far as to produce its own anti-microbial compounds by which to keep some of these bad players at play. One I find fascinating that our body generates on its own is lectin. A compound that is also a plant defense mechanism that we humans need to be careful of. We don’t want to be consuming too much of this compound as it is found in fresh produce as it will interfere with proper digestion, metabolism, and assimilation of nutrients. We refer to this dietary form of lectin as an anti-nutrient because it interferes with the absorption of nutrients like zinc, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. As you can see, we are not so different from the plants that live around us. We have common interests.

As you can see our intestinal lining plays a very important role in the maintenance of our overall health and wellbeing. Just another reason to be extremely diligent in the foods we choose to put in our mouth. Our intestines are not only our interface with the outside world but are also a banquet table and a battlefield. On one side is the outside world where the food we put in our mouth passes through for consumption by the trillions of micro-organisms that inhabit the passage, on the other our inside world(vascular), bathed in blood that leads directly into our liver through our portal vein for further processing and filtration before the blood that circulates through our intestinal lining enters back into general circulation.

And if everything is functioning as Mother Nature intended that whole internal environment will be continually recycled and reincarnated over and over again, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, for a complete lifetime. What does our ingesting and assimilation will eventually be ingested in this continual process we call autophagy in which our extremely conservative body eats itself to rebuild itself for the betterment of life, not only within this creature we call us, but to benefit the greater outer world we call home. Mother Earth.

Trehalose

What is it?

Trehalose is a sugar consisting of two molecules of glucose. It is also known as mycose or tremalose. Some bacteria, fungi, plants and invertebrate animals synthesize it as a source of energy, and to survive freezing and lack of water.

New Insights into Trehalose Metabolism by Saccharomyces cerevisiae – PDF

Effects of a Single Ingestion of Trehalose during Prolonged Exercise – PDF – Trehalose as a disaccharide allows for metabolism of lipids for energy needs.

Yeast Stress, Aging, and Death – Ethanol and Acetate Acting as Carbon/Energy Sources Negatively Affect Yeast Chronological Aging – PDF