Layers of Intelligence in Living Systems

Why we can't think and what to do about it...

My mother’s backyard © Didi Pershouse

We have ongoing workshops related to this article series. Click here to find the next workshop, and to access recordings of previous ones.

Long before I finished writing the Ecology of Care, I wanted to start writing another book called Why We Can’t Think, and What to Do About It. Would I actually call it that? It’s slightly obnoxious. But the two premises seem to be becoming truer almost daily: People in my society really can’t think very well—about each other, about living systems, about governance, capitalism, our addictions, and all sorts of things. We actually can do something about it, and it’s high time we got started.

There are very clear processes that influence how we perceive, understand, know, think, discern, decide, and live. The integrity of these processes determines the intelligence of the individuals and the whole system, and they all influence each other.

Here are some that come to my mind:

• The ability to be alive—to take instructions reliably from the patterns of life, and participate fully in the required exchanges.

• The selective inflow and outflow by semi-permeable cell membranes in single-celled organisms and more complex ones—knowing what to keep, what to let go of, when, how much, and in what order.

• The selective “foraging” and transport of just the right nutrients at just the right time by mycorrhizal fungi (and other workers in the soil food web) back to plants.

• The knowledge of what to eat when, how much, and in what order. The selective grazing of plants (and other animals) by life, including but not limited to animals/humans.¹

• The ability to teach and learn these grazing/foraging/hunting behaviors in real time, to know what is important information.

• The selective uptake of compounds by mucosal membranes and microbiomes in guts, lungs, and skin.

• The filtration of blood and other fluids by organs

• The pruning and growth of neurons (and associated memories/learnings), etc. in the brain during sleep.

• The larger and continual discernment of what to keep and what to let go of by humans and all of life—relationships, information, behaviors, possessions—what brings life, and what no longer serves us?

• Epigenetics, or genetic memory passed down through generations, or released when no longer needed.

• Quorum sensing and coordination of collective behaviors to create conditions conducive for life, by bacteria, flocks of birds, herds of animals, trees in a forest, humans in a community, and more than that. And all of those together.

• The ability to be present—to fully inhabit this physical world, to read and respond to the signals around us, to take instructions reliably from larger/higher realms, and participate fully in the required cosmic exchange.²

We have interfered with every one of these.

Humans have created new compounds and conditions that disrupt DNA, confuse cells, and destroy soil life. We cut whole forests and kill off “germs,” “pests,” and other perceived intruders. We disrupt sleep cycles, study life by isolating parts from living wholes, and isolate plants, animals, humans and other living beings from their natural environment. We separate elders from young ones, declare logic and spirit to be incompatible, and educate human children indoors and by age groups rather than letting them learn with and from each other, from community, and from the environment.

And it is iterative. The more we do these things, the harder it is to think about how not to do these things.

Why have we done this? There is a lot to say about this, but one way to think about it is that our poor choices stem from attempts to solidify and guarantee things that are inherently slippery: power and control, esteem and affection, and security and survival.³

And why do we do that? In part, it is because we have forgotten how to heal from upsetting circumstances, and how to source from higher wisdom. (More on both of those soon.)

Now what? We get to redesign our lives, our communities, our health care, agriculture, education, and governance systems in ways that recognize that good choices start in the tiniest cells in the tiniest creatures, and radiate out to influence life’s collective abilities—including the ability to regulate conditions on Earth to sustain life into the future (temperature, air, food, water, habitat, etc.)

Some of what we need to do is personal. Some is related to how we live as communities, and some will need to be addressed at a much more systemic level.

The more we create conditions for all of life to fully express, explore, and continually develop these layers of intelligence, the more we will be able to develop our own potential for clarity of mind, and clear action.

---

This overview—that there are nested layers of intelligence in the system as a whole—came into focus with an interview that I gave in 2020 to Kylie Flanagan, who was conducting a series of interviews for a book on climate resilience. Kylie asked me about the link between soil health and resilience. As I was talking, I started to image (see in my mind’s eye) the whole Earth system working together through the lens of intelligence and discernment.

I promised myself back in 2015 that I would never again try to write a book without publishing the ideas as a series of articles first. (And as a series of workshops where we can explore and practice and cheer each other on, starting with the one on February 21st.)

So here we go…if I keep feeling risky and generous, then you’ll continue to get my current thinking on how to create conditions in which the world can think more clearly. Or I’ll go silent and brooding, and you will figure it out. OR, better yet, we will walk into the future deep in conversation, and figure it out together.

1. See Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom by Fred Provenza.

2. I’m paraphrasing Cynthia Bourgeault’s description of World 24 in The Eye of the Heart

3. Father Thomas Keating calls these our “emotional programs for happiness.”