We Eat Plastic and Therefore We Need Various Viruses and Mutations

You wake up in the morning, make coffee, and make yourself delicious sandwiches with your favorite cold cuts and cheeses. Your life may seem mundane, but in reality you are part of a grand plan and you play a significant role in the evolution of the universe.

Every breath you inhale contains plastic, every mouthful of food you eat contains plastic, and every poop you flush down the toilet contains plastic and is thus transforming the collective consciousness as well as physical reality.

We have been educated to believe firmly that our mere existence on this magnificent planet is destructive. With every breath we take we are filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, that disapproved of substance for which quotas have been created. In the past, this same sense of fundamental human guilt was maintained by religions and churches.

Since my childhood I have also thought that mankind has made a big mistake which is leading the whole planet towards destruction. Already in elementary school I decided that our family should stop using plastic. I noticed already within hours that it was impossible. That failure produced tremendous guilt and a sense of powerlessness.

I’ve worked for a decade to stop the pollution and chemicalisation of the environment, both by living as ecologically as possible in a city and by writing dozens of articles about the chemicalisation and about our problematic use of plastics.

I have repeatedly cried myself to sleep thinking that my mere existence consumes natural resources: electricity, oil, wood, and even produces tens of kilograms of plastic waste and feces that make our lakes, rivers, and oceans entropic. Even this autumn I cried when I couldn’t find children’s outdoor clothing that didn’t contain plastic. Since my childhood I have carried helplessness and guilt for the environmental pollution.

A few days ago I experienced deep peace – an enlightenment. I realized that everything is OK. I forgave in my heart all the exploitation of nature, for which I have been accusing the whole of humanity and our industrial greed.

Suddenly I realized that Humankind is a part of nature and thus cannot ruin it. The universe takes care of us even when we think we can control reality and “correct” our mistakes. In reality, there is no mistake. Nature becomes more and more perfect in spite of everything that humans have ever done.

Every Organism Transforms both Physical Reality and Consciousness

If we look at the entire history of the Earth, we can see that even small organisms have had a revolutionary effect on the whole. And no organism has ever transformed reality “in vain.” Everything has always been followed by more abundance, although at the turning point of change the situation may have resembled mass extinction. There have been at least five mass extinctions on Earth, and they seem to recur in cycles.

Let’s go back to individual species. About 3 billion years ago the Earth had no atmosphere. Only unicellular organisms were able to survive on Earth. One of these organisms was the cyanobacterium  – more commonly known as blue-green algae – which was able to bind solar energy to chemical energy in photosynthesis.

The single cyanobacteria hardly pondered the purpose of its life, but the life of every single cyanobacteria has nonetheless been significant for the history of the universe.

The blue-green algae together created an atmosphere on Earth! And I mean the whole atmosphere, thus creating favorable conditions for the explosive growth of a rich variety of species.

If individual cyanobacteria had been permeated by existential guilt, like we humans are, and had the ability to detect the serious consequences their existence was having on the planet at the time, they probably would have been horrified and committed mass suicide.

Astrophysicist Tom Chi tackles this topic clearly in his Ted talk, which you can watch here:

Microbes Share Information About the Changing Environment both with Each Other and with Other Species

Because every organism through its very existence changes the conditions of the Earth, organisms must constantly change in order to adapt to their changing environment. Microbes are at the forefront of that process of adaptation, or evolution. Compared to larger species, microbes change faster. That’s why they are also able to adapt to new conditions faster than multicellular organisms.

For example, fungi that can feed on radioactivity have been found in the region of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The more radiation there is, the better those fungi thrive.

Unicellular organisms are also willing to help other species in adaptation to a new environment. Viruses, among other things, are passing information between different species.

Viruses provide genetic updates between different species allowing them to adapt to the changing living conditions that microbes have already detected.

Microbes Using Plastic for Food Are Becoming a Part of the Human Microbiome

The transformation of the environment has gained momentum through human activity. Our entire world is permeated by microwave radiation in radio frequencies affecting microbes. Plastic is everywhere, even at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and in the wilderness of Lapland and otherwise pure Finnish lake waters. There are microplastics in the air you breathe and also in your food.

Even if we stopped using plastic at this very moment, our food chain would still be permeated by microplastics. No matter what we do, it is impossible for humans to remove the plastics they have produced from the planet without causing more destruction.

When I first heard a few months ago about a study that found that plastic was found in the placenta, I was startled. I had known for years that this was the case. Of course the placenta contains microplastics! Why would it not? After all, we both eat and breathe microplastics all the time.

After getting acquainted with the evolution of microbes, I realized that everything is fine. Even though it looks like we are nearing the end of the world, everything’s still fine. Life goes on, consciousness is developing, and life shall flourish in ever more wonderful and diverse ways. We, humans, are also going to survive, as microbes have already learned to break down plastic!

In the world of living creatures, it can be said that when the small ones change the big ones follow. The fact that microbes are already breaking down plastic is great news! Researchers in Jyväskylä University in Finland have recently discovered that bacteria and algae in Finnish lakes break down plastic and convert it into useful fatty acids. It is quite possible that microbes have “learned” this skill very quickly after the invention of plastic.

I suggest that in a few decades, these plastic-degrading microbes will become part of the microbiome of multicellular organisms, animals, and humans. Through microbes and viruses living in their gut, a person can also gain the ability to break down plastic!

“Microbes take carbon from microplastics and make the necessary fatty acids from it. Algae were able to process even omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids from carbon derived from plastics,” stated Sami Taipale, a researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, in an interview with YLE (The Finnish Broadcasting Company). If a person’s immune identity were to accept such a microbe, it could live in the human gut and break down plastic into useful omega fatty acids.

If these microbes became part of the human bacterial population – the microbiome –  the result could be an increased level of consciousness, as the brain and thinking processes thrive on those useful fatty acids. After all, a change in the microbiome always results in a change in consciousness because our consciousness consists of both our own and the microbial consciousness that together creates our immune identity.

The present adaptation phase, however, with its thousands of developmental stages and viral variants, can feel painful, as microbes that transmit genetic information can cause resistance in the body and an immunological reaction or disease before they enter the microbiome.

If we look at viruses only from the narrow perspective of medicine, we may be mistaken in thinking that viruses are a medical problem and that they only make us sick. When I look at the bigger picture and consider the importance of viruses for the whole of evolution, the perspective becomes quite different. They are on our side to help us adapt to the constantly changing environment!

Even so-called harmful microbes can live in sweet harmony with the whole living creature without causing any harm to the microbiome of healthy people. Instead of focusing on individual microbes, we should always look at the whole picture of the human being.

Everything Is Fine. Nature Never Makes a Mistake. Nature Is Always More Perfect than We Can Ever Imagine.

You can hear more of my thoughts on the microbiome in my Free to Heal® -online course, where I teach a self-heal method based on neuroplasticity, microbiome and spirituality. And later this year in my best-seller book that is currently being translated in English, Swedish, Spanish, French and Russian.

With Gratitude and Love

Maria Nordin, Architect, Philosopher and Creator of Free to Heal® 

PS. This insight of mine does not make my lifestyle any less ecological. I continue to recycle, turn off the lights, avoid flying, and wash everything with bar soap. And I also collect the “corona masks” thrown on the ground and deposit them in rubbish bins.

I am, however, completely liberated from personal as well as collective guilt and anxiety for the present climate and environmental change.

I am perfectly confident in our future. The world is magnificent and when you truly realize the message of this text, you will see that it is even more magnificent than any of us can ever comprehend.