written 12 November 2023
published 19 November 2023
Some people feel humans are just a lethal parasite, killing our host planet, and the sooner we die off, the better the rest of life will be. Reading the news, it is easy to understand this perspective.
The nuclear exclusion zone around the damaged Chernobyl nuclear plant is thriving with wildlife, despite horrendous mutations and diseases, because there is no human impact, compared to other areas. Humans are more hazardous that severe nuclear contamination. From space, cities look like grey, concrete dead zones expanding across the landscape, and industrial sites are mostly devoid of life. Our extractive economic model, preferentially focused on short term exclusive gains, makes it profitable to kill the planet.
But humanity is a very young species, still learning and evolving. Even viruses, which are barely alive, evolve over time. If a virus is too swift in its lethal predation, killing the host before it can infect another, it dies out. Over time, it moderates, either killing less swiftly, or making a deal with what becomes a host organism, where it survives without attacking that particular species. Life learns.
Every problem we humans manifest comes from the same flawed perspective: the illusion of absolute separation in the reality of a massively connected world.
Consider just the obvious problems, misogyny, racism, religious bigotry, and nationalistic wars, all running rampant across the planet right this minute. Each one is rooted in the idea that some part of the population feels "better" than some other part, and chooses to oppress or kill them. Justifications are often based on the idea that "God is on our side", even though each side in a conflict often believes the same thing.
Our economy reflects this separation perspective, justifying horrible oppression as "just business", with the added bonus that the entire system is rooted in the fraud that costs can be "externalized", by pretending they don't exist, or are "not my problem".
The climate crisis, my particular focus, is another symptom of the same separation, as people ignore that they are part of life. Just hold your breath and think about where the oxygen comes from, and notice how important that next breath becomes.
This illusion of separation is deeply rooted, dominating humanity for thousands of years. But we are learning. Democracy and human rights are expanding. In the last few centuries, humans have discovered the stored energy of fossil fuels. In the last century we discovered the energy inherent in matter, accelerating our social transformation with quantum physics and the computer revolution. We are experiencing the fundamental material interconnectedness of the world, but living with Paleolithic brains and medieval cultural structures.
However, those social structures are now constipated, corrupted, and failing in their basic functions. The old way of "doing business" no longer works. Some people want to be told what to do, and crave an authoritarian leader, saving themselves the effort of thinking for themselves. But that won't work, as the fundamental separation perspective wouldn't have changed, still "us against them". We are being forced to evolve, to experience the inherent cooperation of the world, learning to live like a multi-celled organism.
We are a global society, and can no longer abide the wealth extremes where a few have massively more than they need, and billions are sick and starving. Diversity is a co-operative strength, not an invasion to be feared. Violent, hateful leaders anywhere, are a threat to all of us everywhere. For example, while not equivalent, the authoritarian leaders in Israel, and the terrorist leaders in Hamas, make the whole world worse off.
There are life forms that grow by molting. Their brittle definition of "what is" becomes too small. In order to live, they have to crack out of their shell and expand. Humanity is in the process of molting. The rigid social/economic patterns that have defined us as limited beings in competition are cracking apart. For those attached to the past, this feels like a disaster. The challenge is to begin identifying with what is emerging. The experience begins within, as we grow larger than our little, fear defined, egoic sense of self.
Humans are powerful enough, and numerous enough, to destroy the ecology of our planet, but cannot survive unless we deliberately refrain from misusing this power, placing the vitality of a biodiverse planet above all other considerations, as a recognized move of self-interest. Are we wise enough to survive?
