Bigger is not always better!  Contrary to popular opinion good things do not improve with size.  Case in point: we just acquired a new microwave, medium-small in size.  It works very well, doing just what it was supposed to do.  It is bigger than our old one, why it could probably hold six coffee cups at once for reheating.  I only ever reheat one cup of tea or coffee at a time.  Sometimes I reheat a plate of leftovers; the size of the plate remains the same even with a larger oven.  And now, worst of all, my kitchen counter is smaller.

For Thanksgiving, when every inch of counter space is a cherished commodity, a bigger microwave oven proved to be more of a liability than an asset.

What has proved itself for my microwave oven regularly proves true for the larger world also.  In the domain of corporations and capital ventures companies strive for growth; yet beyond a certain point that growth is of questionable value and can become a serious detriment.  In the transition to the modern era of business we continually see mega corporations crumble as they become more and more unwieldy in an environment of fast and constant change.  Of course many smaller enterprises we never hear of also crumble.  But in the world of ‘small’, crumble is more often a form of transformation.  It is often the metamorphosis akin to the butterfly emerging from the cocoon.  Changes in the world of ‘small’, more often than not, increase the overall strength of the industry; or in nature, the species.  In the world of ‘big’, complete collapse is generally better for the whole. 

In the world of biology a species that becomes too big, that over-grows its environment, will suffer serious depletion through aggressive competition and environmental constraints.  This is natural; it is one of the balances of life, yet it is also natural to produce enough and more to compensate for any conceivable loss.  Every plant and animal produces enough to feed every hungry predator while still leaving plenty to grow forward in a normal cycle of change.  That is the status quo, the law of averages and; contrary to human behavior, we of the human species are not bound to the law of averages.  I say it again; bigger is not always better.

Politics and religion also suffer the plight of oversized stagnation.  Beyond a certain point of growth the only way forward is through aggressive conversion or assimilation.  This invariably leads to splintering; because an oversized organism cannot change as a whole with shifts of environment or consciousness.  Individual groups start breaking away because the larger body is unable to respond to individual needs.  Soon our mega nations and religions start looking like lizards on the Galapagos Islands.  Every island has a slightly different species, all looking similar but not really the same.  There will be commonalities among many but the furthest extremes may not even be identifiable as having ever been related and often the new sub species like the human splinter groups end up fighting for the same territory.