Conclusion

Toward the end of his book, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, Merlin Sheldrake suggests we can address our current, self-destructive course by starting to follow the Way of Fungi – a mycomorphic way of seeing, thinking, and acting. He writes: 

Radical Mycology…is an organization without a well-defined shape. This is no accident. Its founder, Peter McCoy, points out that fungi have the power to change the way we think and imagine…Radical Mycology organizes itself using decentralized mycelial logics. Regional networks loosely associate with the larger movement. Periodically, the Radical Mycology network coalesces into a fruiting body, such as the Radical Mycology Convergence I attended in Oregon. (p.214) 

How different would our societies and institutions look if we thought of fungi, rather than animals or plants, as “typical” lifeforms? (p.214) 

Symbiotic interactions reach across species boundaries; studies of symbiotic interactions must reach across disciplinary boundaries…I never behave more like a fungus than when I’m investigating them, and quickly enter into academic mutualisms based on an exchange of favors and data. (p.215) 

To study a flexible network, I had to assemble a flexible network. It is a recurring theme: Look at a network, and it starts to look back at you. (p.216) 

My commentary has identified twelve memes from the book that I believe embody the Way of Fungi and can influence our individual and collective consciousness. In review, these memes are: 

            1. Non-binary 

            2. Holistic 

            3. Situational Awareness 

            4. Without Metaphor 

            5. Inside Out Rather Than Outside In 

            6. Processes, Not Things 

            7. Integration 

            8. Dreamtime 

            9. Symbiosis 

            10. Holobiont 

            11. Psychedelic 

            12. Radical Mycology 

As mentioned in my Introduction, memes can be transmitted in various ways - "writing, speech, gestures, rituals, and other imitable phenomenon with a mimicked theme." Of course, we're probably most familiar with memes in the context of the internet. If these fungal activities became internet memes, I imagine words would be superimposed over photos of funny situations – often featuring cats – that portray their essential meanings and then shared virally as a type of horizontal meme transfer. This could actually work because the reach and influence of the internet is truly mind-blowing - billions of people across the globe simultaneously fixated by the same images/messages. Unprecedented. 

This type of viral experience might lead to the Way of Fungi “catching on” and “having its moment,” which could subtly transform our understanding of the human experience. This is not a novel idea. There have been many religions, philosophies, and movements that have challenged us to transcend our instinctual tendency of power and control to achieve something higher. But sadly, sooner or later, all have been co-opted by traditional groups of elites who most benefit from a way of life that includes intimidation and violence. How else could Christianity, which was based on the disruptive message of "love and compassion to everyone," be transformed into the Inquisition? 

The Way of Fungi is an approach that strives for a higher ideal while recognizing that we have a tendency to really screw things up. If we implemented this perspective, we just might be able to usher in a fundamentally new era, but the changes would have to be small at first. Like fungi spores falling out of the air, not all substrates would be suitable habitats for this ideal – but a few might be. In these places, hyphae would begin to grow and seek out other compatible strands. Over time, they would form a mycelial web of people and groups that could, like fungi breaking down a solid log, subtly undermine the structure of a human world defined by self-destructive habits and survival coping strategies. It would introduce a more fluid and equitable way of being that raises the power of partnership and collaboration over violence and intimidation. If we were to weave the details of the twelve memes discussed in this commentary into our intellects and season them with a dash of human compassion, we could nurture an approach to life that leans more toward partnership rather than domination. That would, at the very least, be a step in the right direction. One person at a time. One strand at a time, like mycelium growing hidden from view. It would be slow, but I believe it would be an approach that could gently lead us away from self-destructive tendencies and toward life-sustaining behaviors.