istingmyselfwithbees: They know they're going to die.

The bees that is.

A while back, someone on Facebook asked me if the bees knew that they will die if they sting. It's something I've occasionally wondered myself, especially when they just won't sting no matter how hard I try.

My friend Abe, (who also has a very well-written, entertaining, and educational blog focusing on his time in the Peace Corps in Africa, kindly wrote an entry about bees at my request. You may have seen my post on Facebook, but if you didn't, please check it out--it's well worth the read.) who has some beekeeping experience, said that the answer is yes. In fact, why don't I just give you the direct quote:

Yes. Which is why they aren't nearly as aggressive as yellow jackets and other hornet species when it comes to stinging. You throw a rock at a hornets nest, and you can easily get 100-1000 stings, even if you run. You throw a rock at a beehive, you get 25-50 stings, and maybe none if you run away.

Whilst facedown on the table awaiting a sting to the back of the head (which was excruciating in case you were wondering), I mentioned to my apitherapist that the bees know this, and she suggested that they also know that they are going to give you their sacred medicine. Which sounded a little fruity to me, but kind of comforting at the same time.

I'm not religious. AT ALL. As a younger person my attempts to subscribe to a religious path...let me put it this way--I simply have no interest. It doesn't make sense to me. Which is not to say that it doesn't make sense at all. Some people need a community which revolves around their spiritual beliefs, and it is a positive thing for them. Some people need to give something over to a higher power, and they need to be able to assign attributes or characteristics to that power. Some people need to name that power God or Jesus or Kali or whatever. I don't. And I tend to reactively recoil (at least inside) when people used words like sacred or blessed in their every day language.

I hope that you don't think that I'm judging--I'm not. I'm just trying to give you a better understanding of who I am, and why when someone says something like the bees and their sacred medicine, I am more inclined to roll my eyes than anything else. Except that I do feel blessed to have this option. I don't know if sacred is the right word, but it is something... However, please don't send me links to ancient bee goddesses or whatever.

I found a link to a website about artificial insemination of the queen bee which likens it to rape. I am a bee killer. I am using their lives to make mine better. It seems hypocritical that it should make me squeamish. Hell, I'm not even a vegetarian, although I only eat fish and chicken now, and my reasons for doing so have changed. I used to eat meat simply because I liked it, but now I eat it because I noticed that my body isn't healing like it is supposed to without it. I still wear leather shoes.

Doing the stings isn't like buying a headless filet or cut of meat in the store where I am completely disconnected from the actual animal. Eating meat must be a completely different experience when you have to kill and clean the animal yourself--I would think that meat must seem more valuable. I know that you'd get used to it, but I wonder how I would feel about eating an animal that I raised myself.

Did you see that movie Winter's Bone? It is a powerful film. I can't recommend it highly enough. Here's part of the scene where they kill and clean a squirrel.

So what does bee consciousness look like? The reason that they are aggressive when first captured is that their main imperative to protect the hive. I'm guessing that imperative overrides any desire for survival, since it's a greater survival (that of the hive) which is their goal. But are they afraid of dying?? Do they have a conscious concept of death?