The Smallness and Greatness of Ants
I am no stranger to the inspirations of nature. The loyalty of dogs, the industry of bees, the humility of grass; do they not far surpass our own?
Today I read an article in The Independent about the incredible selflessness of ants.
Researchers put planks of wood along the feeding route of a colony of army ants, with different sized holes drilled at intervals. The sizes of the ants varied from 2-10mm. Bristol University biologist Dr Scott Powell noticed:
“When the ants bump into a hole they cannot cross, they edge their way around it and then spread their legs and wobble back and forth to check their fit… If they are too big, then they carry on and another ant will come along and measure itself in the same way. This carries on until an appropriately sized ant plugs the hole.”
The ants acting as living plugs may stay in place for hours at a time while thousands of their teammates walk across their backs to fetch food.
If that’s not amazing then I don’t know what is.
Spiritual Ant Quotes:
“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.”
—Lao Tzu
“Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.”
—Guru Nanak
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise; Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
—The Bible, Proverbs 6:6-8
“Ant, my ant,
In you my heart beholds
The glory of the Supreme.
Tiniest in size, you house the dream
Of the Omnipotent.
To me you are extremely important,
Because you represent
One extremity of God,
His message of smallness;
In another word, His greatness.”
—Sri Chinmoy
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May 31st, 2007 at 2:10 pm
‘….The loyalty of dogs, the industry of bees, the humility of grass; do they not far surpass our own?
Yes they definitely surpass human beings with their ‘inbuilt’qualities and we human beings should learn to be ‘humans’.Once we become our true self,such qualities will come naturally.
A good post.Best wishes.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Many thanks for your thoughtful words of wisdom, Surjit. Very best wishes to you too.
June 1st, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I LOVE this! Thank you for sharing this information!
I have a passion for ants… not that I really like them in my house or anything but I love to watch them.
Their community building consciousness is nothing less than miraculous!
Actually, one of my earliest spiritual experiences I can remember occurred when I was four years old watching ants.
Thank you so much for this article sweetie!
Lots of love,
Jen
June 1st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
I’m so glad you enjoyed this story, Jen!
Your comment about your childhood memory reminded me of one of my favourite films: “The Scent of Green Papaya.” The heroine as a child gets so much joy just from watching ants walking; she is absolutely transfixed by the charms of nature.
Thank you for visiting, and for your heartfelt words.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:13 am
What an excellent blog home you have created here!
I think that we humans are very much like ants. When I imagine what we could be capable of, if only we shared the selflessness inherent to ants…
June 2nd, 2007 at 8:05 am
Thanks for visiting, Dave! Yes humans have a long way to go if we are to attain the selflessness of ants… but as Confucious said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
June 5th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Interesting- about ants. I read in a class years ago, that every society requires a certain percentage of altruists who keep things running. There have to be caretakers; there are children, seniors, disabled people etc.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Thanks for your thoughts, Princess Haiku. Yes I seem to remember reading something once about this formula for humans. It seems ants rely on 100% altruism! Very interesting…
June 20th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Greetings. I am glad to see that someone else is acknowledging the value and prophetic capability of ants or as I like to call them - ant people.
I have written about an experience I had in Brazil some years ago that might interest you and here are the links:
http://mysticalman.blogspot.com/
2006/02/animals-in-brazil-part-1
.html
http://mysticalman.blogspot.com/
2006/02/animals-in-brazil-part-2
.html
Excuse me since I do not know how to put links into the comments area this is what I have to offer. I hope you find it of value.
Goodlife.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Wow, a real life Doctor Dolittle! Thank you, Robert, for pointing me in the direction of your most interesting blog. I read both posts with fascination. Goodlife to you too and best wishes.