​The Last Flight of a
Disappointed Mosquito

​A Theology for Small Things
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“And when she purses her lips and makes a noise, audible only to me, that sounds like the last flight of a disappointed mosquito, I know I’ve said something stupid.”
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- Tony Early, novelist, speaking of his friendly and mutual relationship with the novelist Alice McDermott when they lead writing workshops.


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Open and relational approaches stress that divine power can be understood as uncontrolling love active among the smallest and largest, the least complex and the most, in the miraculous and mundane. 

- Tripp Fuller, Thomas Oord, God after Deconstrucion,

 

Why This Page

One of the most challenging aspects of open and relational theology, including process theology, is that it speaks of Love's invitation to all creatures, including the small ones: the individual mosquito, for example. I don't know that any of us know what it means for the mosquito to be lured by Love. But at the very least hers is a lure toward intense experience and toward health of her progeny. She seeks blood from hosts in order to harvest proteins and iron found in blood, which are essential for the development of her eggs. Who can blame her?

She challenges the idea that the world is about "us."  For this reason alone, it can be good for us to keep in mind other living beings whom we consider small and insignificant in order to widen and de-sentimentalize our understanding of God and ourselves. The purpose of this page is to turn our attention in this direction: toward the last flight of a disappointed mosquito who could not find blood for her progeny on a given day.

Her quest, too, counts in the deeper scheme of things, if not to us then to the Love in whom, so open and relational theologians suggest, all creatures live and fly and have their being, and who invites all creatures toward whatever well-being is available for them.

​- Jay McDaniel

Love's Invitation to Small Ones

We think a universal Spirit of love always engages us, because this Lover is present to every creature in every moment.

Open and relational approaches stress that divine power can be understood as uncontrolling love active among the smallest and largest, the least complex and the most, in the miraculous and mundane. 

Imagine instead a God who can’t control and can’t stop evil singlehandedly. But this One invites all creatures to act in ways that bring health, beauty, and goodness. 

Creatures have freedom and agency, and God isn’t controlling.

Oord, Thomas Jay. God After Deconstruction, SacraSage Press. Kindle Edition. 

Varieties of Small Creatures
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​Small creatures on Earth come in a wide variety of forms, spanning multiple categories across different ecosystems. Categories include:

1. Insects: This is the largest group of small creatures and includes species like mosquitoes, flies, beetles, butterflies, and bees. Insects play diverse roles in ecosystems, such as pollinators, predators, and prey.​
2. Arachnids: These include spiders, ticks, mites, and scorpions. Arachnids are generally small, though some like the Goliath birdeater spider can grow larger. They are crucial for controlling insect populations and recycling nutrients.
3. Microorganisms:
   • Bacteria: Ubiquitous in every habitat on Earth, bacteria are essential for processes like decomposition and nutrient cycling.
   • Viruses: Though often not considered "living" in the traditional sense, viruses affect all life forms and can significantly impact ecosystems and health.
   • Fungi: Including yeasts and molds, fungi play key roles in decomposition and as symbionts in plant roots.
   • Protozoa: Single-celled organisms that often live in water or as parasites. They are crucial in nutrient cycles and as part of the food web.
4. Plankton:
   • Phytoplankton: Tiny plant-like organisms that live in watery environments and perform photosynthesis.
   • Zooplankton: Small animal-like organisms that feed on phytoplankton and are a vital part of aquatic food chains.
5. Nematodes: Also known as roundworms, these are incredibly abundant microscopic worms found in virtually every environmental niche, from soil to water to inside other organisms.
6. Mollusks: While some mollusks like squids and octopuses can be large, many are small, such as snails and slugs. Small mollusks are important for their roles in the food web and as bioindicators of environmental health.
7. Crustaceans: Small crustaceans include copepods, water fleas, and some types of shrimp, which are critical for aquatic food webs.
8. Amphibians: Some smaller amphibians, like certain frogs and salamanders, play critical roles in food webs and as indicators of environmental health.
9. Small Fishes: Numerous species of small fish are crucial for maintaining the balance of aquatic ecosystems, serving as prey for larger species and helping to control algae and plankton populations.

Each of these categories includes countless species, each with its unique role in its ecosystem, contributing to the biodiversity and functionality of our planet.

The Last Flight of a
Disappointed Mosquito

Process Theology and ​The Subjectivity of Small Things

Consider the subjectivity of small creatures: their subjective aims, purposes, and emotions.

Take mosquitoes. Consider their flights in search of food to nourish their bodies and those of their eggs. Consider the way they carry not only their own subjective aims but also what open and relational (process) theologians call "initial aims" from God: aims for surviving with satisfaction relative to the situations they face. Aims for health, which is a kind of beauty. Consider how as they prehend their worlds, their prehensions are clothed with subjective forms or emotion, such as pleasure and disappointment, whether conscious or unconscious. And how, moment by moment, they make decisions as to where and how to fly. They are subjects of their own lives. Finally, consider how their emotions and aims and decisions become part of the life of God, who "feels the feelings" of each and every moment of experience in the life of any and every living being on our planet and on any planet.

So many questions arise:

Insignificance Versus Significance: Is it justified for philosophers and theologians to consider their lives insignificant compared to the lives of human beings (and perhaps other mammals)?

Value in the Larger Scheme: Is it self-evident that they are less important, less valuable, in the "larger" scheme of things? Less relevant to whom? To themselves? To God?

Micro-Bias: Why is there a bias against treating small creatures as neglectable, except insofar as, like bacteria and plankton, they are instrumentally valuable in vast numbers?

The Relativity of Smallness: What makes them "small," anyway? Aren't humans and other mammals quite small compared to mountains, oceans, planets, stars, and galaxies? Doesn't "small" depend on context?

Temporality: Is the fact that their lives are short-lived at issue? Does the length of a life determine its value? To the creature? To God?

Contribution to Universal Life: Imagine that the universe as a whole has a life of its own and that every creature in the universe adds to the life of that Life. Think of this inclusive Life as God. Do small creatures add beauty to this Life? 

Divine Love and Suffering: Imagine also that the defining feature of this Life is love and that Love means it seeks the flourishing of each and every creature and shares in the experiences, including the suffering, of each creature. Does it share in the suffering of all small creatures, including the disappointed mosquito?

Developing Inclusive Philosophies and Theologies: What would it be like to develop philosophies and theologies that can take them seriously? How might theology itself be enriched by giving equal attention to the small as well as the large, with each perspective complementing the other?

The primary value of developing a theology in support of small creatures is that it is honest to biological life; it challenges a human-centric point of view; it deepens an ecological understanding of life; it revises the idea of time frame; it adds ta notion of divine suffering and joy. It may also, for some, expand a sense of moral community. Can it do so without diminishing a recognition of the value of human life? 

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Flying and Buzzing
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​The duration of a mosquito's flight in search of a blood meal can vary widely. Female mosquitoes, which are the ones that seek blood, typically fly for anywhere from a few minutes to up to an hour in a single stretch if they do not find a host. However, if they are unsuccessful, they might rest and try again later. The total duration of flight activity could span several hours during a single night.

Mosquitoes produce a characteristic high-pitched buzzing sound, which is most noticeable when they are flying close to the ear. This sound is made by the rapid beating of their wings. The wings of mosquitoes beat at a frequency of about 450 to 600 beats per second, which translates into the buzzing sound that many find annoying.
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The pitch of the buzzing sound can vary between species and sexes. For instance, male mosquitoes generally have a higher pitch than females because their wings are smaller and beat faster. This buzzing sound is not just incidental noise; it plays a significant role in the mating behaviors of mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes are attracted to the wingbeat frequency of males, which helps them identify suitable mates.

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