A flock of birds…thousands of small starlings in flight…exhibits behavior that can only be attributed to some kind of collective consciousness. Murmurations are reflections of nature dancing, with thousands of participants moving together, rippling and rolling over the landscape, without bumping into each other. We find this kind of collective consciousness in other species. Bees, and ants, and other social insect species work together tirelessly, bound by something unseen, to survive and thrive through cooperation and shared responsibilities. Schools of fish exhibit the same behavior, ganging up on predators to confuse and defeat the common threat.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if humans could learn to murmurate, at least occasionally, to serve a greater, common good. Actually, we humans do exhibit this kind of selfless, altruistic behavior on a small scale. An example would be Habitat for Humanity’s voluntary cooperation to provide homes for people in need. Our common interests would benefit if we behaved this way a lot more often.