Wisdom

The “flattening the curve” graph of coronavirus infections and urban/rural runoff hydrographs are similar because they both result from the same underlying dynamic. They both compare two outcomes, one of which is wiser than the other.

We tend to think of wisdom in terms of humans. But can the land be wise? Do beaver, for example, with their dams that buffer the spring meltoff and hold it longer for life – do they make the land wiser? Can the process of succession be legitimately (not just metaphorically) seen as the creation of wisdom? A feedback spiral between rainfall and plants has covered bedrock with a biological layer that is holding as much of the rainfall as possible close to where it falls. This increases the chances of that water being transpired to fall as rain again. Life increases a limiting factor so that more becomes possible. Is that not a sign of wisdom? Can the land grow wiser? Do my little plays make the land wiser?