mushroom yes

Rising Creek Digressions VI – a weekly bucolic blog by Tim Hare

This post inspired by Sam and Annie, for Celia Luna Hare, born May 25^th, 2012

One and a half billion years ago, fungi made their way onto land, long before plants and animals. This is the biological kingdom that includes mold, mushrooms, and yeast. The famous Mycologist, Paul Stamets, points to research showing that they were a pioneer kingdom of “higher” life-forms, creating a land that was then habitable by plants and animals, because they created soil. As they made their way over the terrestrial earth, they blanketed every mineral surface of this newly constructed landmass with networks of mycelia, the “body” of many fungi. They wove their way through cracks in rocks and began to do what they do, break things down and re-purpose them for future life. During this time they were almost the sole inhabitants of the earth (excepting microscopic organisms), with massive mushrooms sprouting in the otherwise barren landscape.

This is not a Ken Kesey kind of vision, but one possible scientific history of the earth that we inhabit; and upon this blanket of mycelia, the rest of organic life has set up its existence. These mycelia are kind of like the nervous system of our planet, a system that has breadth, and ubiquitous reach and communication, but no real tangible form. In this vein, at least two other mycological mentors, Terrence Mckenna and Richard Evans Shultes associate the use of psilocybin mushrooms with (early) religious experiences, cognitive development, and even the evolution of human consciousness. But that digression is for another
piece.