One of the early aims of the Sufi teachings is to regain the flexibility of mind that is lost as we grow out of childhood. Almost inevitably in this abode of decay, we humans become creatures of habit. But it needn't be this way.
To quote Arthur Koestler in The Ghost in the Machine in a chapter on Habit and Improvisation:
“[Regarding] Lindauer's study of the honey-bee. Under normal conditions, there is a rigid division of labour in the hive, so that each worker is occupied on different jobs in different periods of her life.
.jpg "Photo of a bee on a cornflower blossom.")
“During her first three days she cleans the cells. For the next three days she feeds the older larvae with honey and pollen. After that she feeds the younger larvae (who require an additional diet). From the age of ten days she is engaged in building cells; at twenty days she takes over guard duties at the entrance of the hive; finally she becomes a forager, and remains one for the rest of her life.
“That is, if all goes well. However, if any of the specialised age groups is taken away from the colony by the experimenter, other age groups take over their duties 'and thus save the super-organism. When, for instance, all foragers are taken away - usually bees of twenty days or over - young bees of scarcely six days old, who normally would feed the larvae, fly out and become foragers. If all building workers are taken away, their task is taken on by older bees who have already been builders before, but who have gone on to the stage of forager. To this end they not only change their behaviour, but also regenerate the wax-glands. The mechanisms of these regulations are not known.' Tinbergen (1953) p116.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30677.The_Ghost_in_the_Machine
The Sufis might call this the Necessity.
Image
Image: Bee on cornflower in Aspen (91229) / Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
