Understanding Altruism

I love getting lost in stories of Greek mythology. There are many interpretations we can take from them, and this story (inspired by Stephen Fry) about the hopeless honeybee is our perfect introduction to understanding altruism.

Transcript

Do you know the story of how the honeybee got her sting?

It was the day of Zeus and Hera's wedding,

The king and queen of the gods,

So the story goes.

The ever elaborate Zeus,

In his cheerful and generous mood,

Announced before the big day that whoever created the most delicious and delightful wedding dish for him and his new wife would be granted the opportunity to ask him for anything they desired.

Hundreds upon hundreds of nymphs,

Animals and immortals were hysterical by this gesture.

The wedding day arrived and with it the banquet hall was filled with soups,

Biscuits,

Cakes,

Custards and tarts.

Who was Zeus going to grant his one wish to?

A flurry of excitement and anticipation filled the hall as the wedding guests eagerly watched and waited as the king and queen of gods tried and tasted their delicious creations.

In a small bowl was a somewhat sticky and goo-like substance.

Zeus dipped his curious finger into the bowl and shortly after the hall was filled with his pleasurable moan.

The sensationally sweet nectar drove his senses wild.

He had never tasted anything like this.

Come forward creator of this delicious resin.

Death slowly started to move out the way as a very small round fluffy thing buzzed through the crowds towards Zeus and his queen.

The fluffy thing's name was Melissa.

She explained to Zeus everything he needed to know about honey.

How she had to fly around to find the perfect flower to collect the nectar,

Fly it back home to the nest and then go back out and do it all over again and again and again completely on her own.

After doing this consistently throughout the day every day she would still only have a very small amount of the sweet and sticky substance to enjoy.

She continued to explain to a now seemingly bored Zeus how her precious honey would often get stolen by creatures nearby who could smell the delectable scent from many miles away.

Animals much larger and much more terrifying reaped the fruits of her hard labour and there was nothing she could do about it.

She went on to proclaim that she has no weapon,

No sting like the scorpion and no teeth like the bat.

And so that is what I wish said Melissa rather too confidently.

Grant me a weapon to hurt anyone that comes near me and my precious honey and only then will I continue to make it for you,

Oh great and wondrous Zeus.

Zeus was furious.

He couldn't believe that this small creature had the audacity to withhold her gifts for others to enjoy but not only that she wanted to wreak violence and pain to ensure her gift could not be shared.

And all of this on his wedding day,

A day that's to represent love and unity.

After some silence Zeus replied with,

I will grant you your wish Melissa,

You will have a colony of worker bees of which you will be queen.

They'll help you in collecting this delicious honey so we may continue to consume and enjoy this succulent elixir.

And not only that but you can have your sting too.

Melissa was overjoyed,

Her wish had been granted.

But you must know,

Continued Zeus,

If you are to ever use it,

It will be suicide.

With that the sky opened and lit up with slams and crashes of thunder and lightning or I'm sure something equally dramatic happened.

I often find myself getting completely lost in stories of Greek mythology.

The meanings and connections behind them are so interesting and poetic.

Take this one for instance,

Meliss is the Greek word for honeybee.

And the word for the family of insects the honeybee belongs to which includes wasps,

Bees and ants is called hymenoptera,

Greek for wedding wings.

The thing I love most about these stories though is the interpretations we can take from them.

And this one about the hopeless honeybee is the perfect introduction to altruism.

Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the happiness of other human beings or animals,

Resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual.

In simpler terms it's the opposite of self-interest.

Some examples of altruism are doing something for someone with no expectation of a reward.

Helping someone regardless of personal costs,

Sacrificing something if it's in the interest of others and sharing resources with others even if those resources are scarce.

We often see examples of altruism play out in the animal kingdom.

For example to ensure members of their group don't starve,

Vampire bats actually regurgitate blood and donate it to those who fail to eat that night.

Whilst certain monkeys give alarm calls to warn their group members of the presence of predators even though in doing so they attract attention and risk onto themselves.

Although many of us humans do help others where we can,

We are also seeing first hand the power that greed and self-interest is having on our world.

From wars,

To corporate greed of oil,

To the destruction of rainforests,

Poverty,

Conflicts and injustices.

Greed and self-interest are the sole perpetrators responsible for destroying our mother earth.

But I believe there is hope.

As individuals we too have the ability to either build or destroy.

I understand the needs of the world can seem overwhelming at times and we,

Myself included,

Often don't know where to start.

So perhaps we can begin by asking ourselves,

How am I currently serving others?

What good am I bringing to the world?

And how might my individual actions be affecting others?

I believe by reflecting and becoming conscious of our individual actions whilst practicing self-responsibility we can create a happier and healthier world together.

Research has shown us that meditating for 20 minutes a day for 4 weeks can actually change the structure of our brains,

Resulting in us becoming more likely to have an altruistic attitude towards others.

And although I'm under no illusion that meditation is the answer to solving world hunger or rewilding our rainforests,

It does confirm the fact that we have the ability to change.

If we have the power to change the structure of our brains by sitting in silence,

Then the other possibilities we can achieve are endless.

Kindness,

Generosity,

Cooperation,

Hope and unity start within each one of us individually.

Our honeybee Melissa is our unfortunate example here of what happens when we withhold those attributes from the rest of the world.

We only punish ourselves.

Reviews

Thank you!

Brilliant, Laura! I have always loved Greek (and other) myths, also. I appreciate your application of this one to our time, and to the important choices we make each day.

Thank you for your altruism in making this recording available to me! 🙏🏼🌟

I will share this Just Wonderful

🐝 💕💕💕💕💕

Loved this!!!

Great analogy; would’ve liked some guiding breathing as well

A lovely leap from Greek mythology 🐝 to the benefits of meditation. 💝 Change the brain 🧠 … then transform the world. 🌎 Thank you, Laura, for sharing your gifts. 🙏

Thank you for sharing this. Sharing our gift is why we're here. In time more of us will see the benefits. Namaste

🧘🏾‍♂️🙏🏾📿