On anorexia
Arachnocampa luminosa, a cosmos-conjuring spell. Bioluminescent fungus gnats project the entire cosmos on Waitomo Cave roofs in New Zealand.
These New Zealand glowworms live to starve and glow. The glow results from a chemical reaction in the creatures’ excretory organs, and, with the help of dangling feeding lines, attract prey to the silk webs where the larvae live. The hungrier they are, the brighter they glow. These are their glory days. After emerging from the pupal stage mouthless, they will die of starvation within 100 hours.
They live to starve and glow. They are born mouthless. The hungrier they are, the brighter they glow. They are rewarded for the hunger they keep. It’s an attractive, inescapable, destructive high.
But look at how pretty they are, look at the very light they create themselves. It’s okay, because they’re hidden, they’re tucked away in the safe anonymity of the caves, and they’re not forever. No sunlight has to reach them. The sunlight won’t let them glow. Food won’t let them glow. So just let them glow.
You like looking at them glow, don’t you? They’ve given you the cosmos, they’ve made you forget. And in doing that, they've given you everything by leaving you empty.
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