From the perspective of spiritual ecology, some of the suspected causes merely stand in the foreground of the disappearing honeybees  -  EMF radiation; GM crops; and diseases and pests  - while artificial incursions of modern bee-keeping on overall hive ecology are recognized to prevail at the root of the issue.

Although more research is needed on EMF radiation of wireless technology and genetically modified crops, indications thus far are inconclusive.  And this report uses the varroa mite as an example of the disease/pest element in the eco-scenario of the honeybee.

          In the end, modern bee-keeping emerges as the principle cause, and is only abetted by these other elements.

Diseases and parasites, such as the invading Eurasian varroa mite, when looked at in the same light as other modern agricultural issues, actually presents itself as a red herring for anyone in pursuit of the central cause of bee decimation.

While initial losses appear to have accrued as a result of varroa, it is almost certain to be a temporary phase.  The situation is not unlike problems in other areas of modern agriculture.  Using the cattle industry as a choice example, pathogenic forces are not really threatening stocks but, rather, decades of contrivance and intercession by means of antibiotics, hormones, and other artificial “propping up” of the species that have weakened and degraded the overall constitution of the species.  (And let us call events like Mad Cow disease a symptom, not a cause, of the bottoming out of the cattle industry.)

          Witness the decidedly hale condition of the bison alongside the debilitated circumstance of cattle.  In a word, predation strengthens a species, and interference with that predation leads to debilitation.  The finest shepherd ever invented, in terms of a keeper for the bison herds, was Canis lupus, the common wolf.

          There are times, and this includes livestock, bees, and any other biological form, when a producer has to “take in on the chin” and let the species evolve by allowing the surviving, adaptable members of the population reproduce.  The result will be an enviable level of wholesomeness in both species and product.

This leads to the heart of the matter  -  too much interference.  For example, in a bid to avoid having to work with a species that can become what humankind deems as overly aggressive, we have been cultivating a more “docile” temperament in the bee.  Therefore, unlike its more combative relatives in other parts of the world, who are able to bite at, mutilate, and dispose of the varroa mite, our more passive breeds are not equipped to handle these intruders. 

Time will heal the varroa situation, if we let the honeybee “duke it out” in its own way, under its own terms.  As with most predation, the strongest will survive to carry forth its capable seed into future stocks.

The foregoing list of strategies used to manipulate production demonstrates that mankind is capable of invention.  In fact, we are able to wax clever, even to the point of genius.  However, in this modern era (in which we find ourselves so often losing the perspective of overview, due to reductionism and specialization, among other things) it appears that when we fail to perceive the whole picture, our inventiveness falls short of the masterful way that a naturally developing hive proceeds.

Perhaps there are effective ways to work in harmony with the bees, even using a certain degree of creative intervention.  But just which particular intercessions will time prove to be both wise and productive, in terms of a win-win for both bee and human?

          Who can know, but those who gain utmost understanding of the synergy and multi-dimension of the bee kingdom?

One of the things a researcher quickly discovers when approaching the subject of honeybees is an abundance of material.  Volumes have been written about these creatures and their intricate society.  The community of bees comprises a mysterious membership in the ecosystem. Hives are workplaces of rarefied intent.

The scientific perspective states that no microbes can grow in honey because it is too acidic, has a high osmotic pressure (therefore microbe cells lose their water and die), as well as enzymes.  And this is true.  Another way to look at it is that honey is immune to earthly forces of decomposition because it is gathered from resplendent aspects of plants.  Flower blossoms are composed more of rarefied (etheric and astral) energy, than physical substance. And this is also true.

Leo Tolstoy, after his own lengthy study of bees, had this to say: “The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery [of the bees’ aim], the more obvious it becomes that the final aim is beyond its reach.”

The most essential thing we learn from reviewing the Steiner material is that beekeepers would do well to acquire a metaphysical understanding of bees and the complex masterpiece of the hive.

          Mystery lives in the hive, and within the golden elixir that is honey, mystery we have yet to, or may never, discover.

Spiritual ecology holds that the first step in addressing an issue pertaining to the realm of nature is to deepen our understanding of the overall synergy of the particular eco-community in question.  A useful place to begin the process is a review of Steiner’s lectures by Bobby Matherne (see link below). It is a lengthy piece  - be prepared to dive into a deep pool.

          Meanwhile, the short answer, at least for consumers, is to buy only honey produced in an organic manner - and through non-interference methods. Withdraw all support from other means of production.

          If you are a marketer, establish non-interference standards and label those products so consumers have a means of choosing.

         If you are a scientist, reductionism leads to reduction in the world of nature.  Take off the blinders that induce you to seek an answer in terms of a virus, pest, or pathogen, etc.

          And if you are a bee-keeper, or a scientist, study Steiner.  Try to see the pathogen aspect as a symptom, not the cause, of the problem. 

         Get an overview.

This article opens the box on the disappearing honeybee issue, so-called Colony Collapse Disorder, by using spiritual ecology and the indications of 20th Century renaissance man, Rudolf Steiner, to realize the common denominator of suspected causes.  If entrenched analysts, who have been concertedly looking at external threats for the villain, were to turn their sights 180 degrees, they would discover that "we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us!"  - that is, overall human interference.