A weblog with random thoughts and reflections on society and ecology.
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Sunday, October 26, 2003
Relationship to Life
A society must incorporate a deep respect for all life to maintain itself. To include all life in our circle of concern, to include them in what we see as "us", will help us organize our lives in a way that is truly life-supporting. A way that is sustainable - for ourselves and the larger systems we are embedded in.
The way we currently relate to non-human species reflects a blindly dualistic attitude. We see "them" as separate from "us", and not how we are expressions of and embedded in one system (the universe, the Earth). We do not realize that the way we relate to other living beings reflect how we relate to aspects of ourselves. The dualism, the narrow circle of concern, hurts us as much as it hurts other beings and the ecosystems we all are parts of.
Everything is in continuious change. Galaxies, solar systems, planets, ecosystems, individuals, bodies, experiences - all continually die as they were and is reborn into something else. There is nothing to hold onto - human beings is a transient phenomenon. How long we - and our (human and possibly post-human) descendants - will be around is largely up to us.
There is a good chance that the universe is set up so that species that habitually harm themselves by harming the fabric they are dependent upon, will not be around for long. This may be no tragedy from the perspective of the Earth or the Universe, but it certainly is to us.
Selfishness, combined with a realization of our dependence of a healthy Earth, leads to altruism. Bringing all life into our circle of concern. See them as "us".
22:40
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