There are systems within systems
Can you imagine your body, within it has many systems
They are interconnected, one in relation to the other
Nothing existing in isolation.
From the outer skin right into the smallest cells, all are in relation.
It’s the same with our Planet Earth, it consists of many systems.
Landscapes that encompass many ecological variations.
Land, Fresh waters, salt waters and air, all interacting.
Within a leaf, photosynthesis occurring between the light and
the chlorophyll, a silent conversation of energy and transformation.
Carbon dioxide drawn in, oxygen released — a breath that trees offer freely,
their quiet labor sustaining the pulse of life across the globe.
So too in the oceans, where currents carry warmth and memory,
guiding the migration of creatures, stirring the nutrients from depth to surface,
a system unseen but essential — the lifeblood of marine realms.
And deep within the soil, hidden networks of fungal threads intertwine with roots,
sharing nutrients, signaling danger, collaborating across species —
a vast underground web, older than cities, wiser than machines.
Each element, each organism, each motion — part of something larger,
a choreography of existence where nothing stands alone.
From microbe to mountain, all is connected.
Systems within systems,
echoing the patterns within us —
breath to blood,
thought to nerve,
cell to spirit.
To understand the world,
we must look not just at the parts,
but at the spaces between them —
the relationships that weave life together.
Rachel Shields
The Knowing In Nature 2025
