WHY ARMY ANTS?

When I opened my storage-refrigerator to find masses of army ants in seething, black blobs and dangling stalactites, despite my life of admiring Nature exactly the way She is, for a split second I just had to ask myself: Why did the Universal Creative Impulse see fit to create army ants that rampage through the landscape promiscuously and insatiably killing and dismembering all forms of small life, no matter how valuable to the ecosystem the prey is, and how innocent and how pretty, and now why have they come marauding into my refrigerator?

Of course the answer is that Nature obsessively evolves her systems toward ever greater diversity, with lifeforms arising to exploit more and more nuanced ecological niches, and army ants have found their niche. Sometimes humans can't get their heads around the fact that the process is utterly impersonal, not at all taking into account the individual who happens to stand in the way of the evolving diversity steamroller. However, there are thousands of years of historical accounts of absolutely innocent and splendid individuals, communities, and even entire civilizations, being obliterated on the principle of survival of the fittest -- with the "fittest" often being the most aggressively violent or with more sophisticated weaponry and/or strategy, or maybe they're just the most successful liars -- and "luck" is a fitness, too.

So, the question of "Why are there army ants" isn't so interesting, because the answer is obvious. More fascinating is this question:

What are we humans to think of a Universal Creative Impulse -- a Creator -- that has designed the Universe so that it works like this? "This" including the fact that vividly aware, feeling individuals find themselves in the situation whether they like it or not.

In the end, the answer that religious people provide probably is as good as any. They, seeing a completely innocent, beautiful child die of a hideous disease or maybe a drunk driver, say -- at least if they're beyond the "gone to be with Jesus" stage -- "If you truly believe in the Creator, you'll know that there's a Greater Cause we humans may not be able to grasp, and that things will turn out OK in the end."

But, I get stuck on that word "believe." My experience is that religious "believing" is telling yourself again and again that you "believe" in a deity watching over and protecting "believers," and that you do indeed "believe" whichever dogma you've agreed to accept, despite a Universe of evidences to the contrary.

This week's army ants reminded me that all I can "believe" is that I -- whatever "I" am -- am a component of the evolving Universe, which at the Life-on-Earth level is populated by predators and prey, parasites and scavengers, and us humans with onboard computers enabling us rise above the basic categories, or fit into several categories at the same time, if we want. And I truly believe, with religious fervor, this reality of ours is infinitely mysterious, and from a certain perspective infinitely beautiful. Also, that I'm stuck with it all until I cease to exist.

However, the whole situation is so interesting, and I'm programmed to be curious, so I'm OK with the setup, especially because it's such a temporary state.

And so, sometimes I get army ants in my refrigerator, a few of them bite me, but I get to tell you about it and the ants did put an end to a couple of cockroaches I'd been unable to shoo from the refrigerator, and the Universe goes on.