So today, whilst doing my daily thumb workout whilst mashing the arrow buttons on my remote and trawling through the seemingly never-ending lists of things to watch on the countless streaming services we have nowadays, I came across an amazing documentary, and it got me thinking about what happens when we pass on. And how in a way we help inspire the way nature behaves. Yes, I am mad but just humour me.
I love bees; they fascinate me. I love sitting in the garden on a warm spring afternoon watching them busy themselves rushing around amongst the rose bushes, never stopping to check their phone or have a smoke. My partner loves them as well; she even hopes we’ll have our own hive someday, partially because we can’t do enough to help the bees but also because fresh honey is like incredible. We’re lucky enough that, thanks to where we live in the middle of the Somerset countryside, we get dozens of different types of bees, from the humble bumblebee to the solitary bee, which is definitely what I'd be if I came back as a bee. What makes them even more fascinating to me is just how important these little winged busy bodies are for our ecosystem, because without them, not only does most of our food disappear, but beer and cider disappear as well, and for me, that is literally the end of the world.
Anyway, today whilst flicking through the ongoing list of things to watch, I came across a brilliant documentary by Martin Dohrn called “My Garden of a Thousand Bees”, which is about the multiple species of bees he’s come across in his garden in Bristol and how they live. During the documentary Martin shows off how individual bees have their own personalities and how even within the same species of bees, each one has their own traits and intelligence and, in some cases, even has their own moods. It’s really worth a watch if you get the chance. He also follows one leaf-cutter bee called Nicky, who really shows just how much of a personality they actually have.
But after watching this and thinking about how those little flying pollinators have their own personalities, I began thinking about how actually almost every animal and creature has their own personalities. The same kittens from the same mother will have totally different personalities and things that immediately make them an individual. The same kittens were born at the same time, but one will love nothing more than to cuddle up, and the other will hate it. I know this from experience because at the time of writing, my cat has recently delivered four kittens, and they're all totally different. Now at this point I can imagine you’re thinking I’m talking complete rubbish and rambling, and I guess to a point I am, but I have a point.
You see, we all have individual traits that make us human. No matter how close, even the most identical of twins born at the same time and raised by the same parents in the same house in exactly the same way will, at some point in their lives, have moments that will ensure that by the time they’re grown up, they will both have their own individual personalities and traits. No matter how boring someone might think they are, they have traits and features that mean they are one of a kind. Everyone is unique. Even you, dear reader.
Now, I’ve always liked to believe that when we pass on, our energy is passed on, much like how in the world energy is never actually lost but simply transferred or dissipated, moving on in one way or another through the world. The human body is also energy, heat, electrical energy and chemical reactions working to help you sit reading this, wondering what on earth I’m talking about. So, when we pass on, I think that all that energy is simply passed on, transferred via various channels, eventually finding its way into another living being, continuing the cycle.
So, my point is, on that basis, though, what’s to say that the energy transferred onto the new living creature doesn’t also end up adopting some of the traits a person had before they passed on their energy to the new little bumbling bee. What if the bits of what makes you unique are carried over and end up becoming part of what gave Nicky the carpenter in a garden in the middle of Bristol its very own little personality and uniqueness?