People associate mushrooms and fungi–you know, molds–with death and decay.
…which is why these things are so beautiful.
That which doesn’t die and decay is far scarier and frankly, disgusting–like too much plastic. Especially when plastic is wasted, it’s appalling. Those things might as well never go away.
I am not an environmentalist. I do not trust most of the -isms out there because most people who scream about -isms (that I have seen) spend more time screaming about -isms than actually acting on their self-proclaimed -isms. But I do not like the idea of waste, physical and otherwise, because it is senseless. Mushrooms/fungi offset a lot of that senselessness.
It seems that the mainstream culture might be so terrified of The End because a lot of it depends on various pyramid schemes that must continue on forever, otherwise the whole system will collapse.
(ex: Be positive! Just do it! Then we will all succeed! Except, all I’m teaching you is how to be a teacher who teaches “Be positive! Just do it! Then we will all succeed! Except, all I’m teaching you is…” — basically, an infinite trap.)
(ex2: Borrow! Make money! Borrow some more! Make more money! Borrow some more more! Make more more money!)
At some point, stuff just gotta end.
Infinite expansion isn’t possible.
Infinite existence isn’t possible.
Existence isn’t good.
Death isn’t evil.
Anyway, I saw beauty in this documentary that I didn’t even know existed in this world. There’re some weird-looking mushrooms out there! Some of those things are cute!
A really important difference between plants and fungi is that plants have evolved to catch your eye.
I could over-analyze this statement too. Is the mainstream culture repulsed by ideas of death and organisms associated with death because it identifies too strongly with that which screams for attention? Because it cannot handle silence? Nothingness?
Plenty of studies discuss how the modern generation is incapable of sitting alone in silence, doing nothing. People will reach for their phones. If that isn’t possible, they gill give themselves electric shocks.
When a tomato gets red, it is saying, “Hey, I’m ready. Come get me.” The mushrooms don’t give a shit.
I want to be a mushroom who doesn’t give a shit. They sound incredibly sexy.
More official stuff from the creators of the documentary is here: https://fantasticfungi.com/
P.S. Mushrooms are yummy.
Image source
https://unsplash.com/photos/7qhL24a3kLs