The Dilemma of Our Reason for Being: Why Are We Here?
What is our mission here, our goal here, our purpose for being here?
There is none.
There is no mission.
There is no goal.
There is no purpose.
Or, is there? Do we have a mission, a goal, a purpose?
Yes and no.
We are here because our parents were here, and they were here because their parents were here... This reason continues back thousand, millions, and billions of years.
We are here because something in our genes drove us to eat, to avoid danger, to breed, and to protect and raise our young.
If this is our natural reason for being, to live and survive and procreate, then it is entirely reasonable and sensible to recognize that it was the natural environment around us that allowed us to survive. We are part of a habitat, as is every living thing. We are alive because of the collective, just as each is alive due to the collective.
As we think about our purpose, our mission, our goals in the now, the present day, we see that it is in the interests of ourselves, our children, our species, and all species for us to do what we can to ensure that the natural world, the wilderness, is protected from the destructiveness that is now in the power of civilization.
This gargantuan machine is one of destruction: habitats destroyed, climate unsettled, oceans poisoned, soil eroded and washed away, and life extinguished.
It is reasonable and sensible, once understanding how we got here, and what is going on in the world, to want to do things to protect it, and move to the point, to believe that it is our purpose to protect the natural world... not for ourselves, but for our children, grandchildren, and for all living things in the future.
On our side is all of life, with the very tiny exception of the current global human civilization, specifically the one characterized by property, ownership, credit, and money. The entire mass of all living things on earth, minus the relatively minuscule mass of humans of this current civilization, is on our side.
Those of us who believe in protecting Earth are stuck in between the the side of life, and the side of the the civilization machine. We rely on the machine for our food and security, and are fearful of separating from this machine. At the same time, we understand that being part of this machine is adding to the machine's destructiveness.
This is the dilemma of our reason for being.
There is none.
There is no mission.
There is no goal.
There is no purpose.
Or, is there? Do we have a mission, a goal, a purpose?
Yes and no.
We are here because our parents were here, and they were here because their parents were here... This reason continues back thousand, millions, and billions of years.
We are here because something in our genes drove us to eat, to avoid danger, to breed, and to protect and raise our young.
If this is our natural reason for being, to live and survive and procreate, then it is entirely reasonable and sensible to recognize that it was the natural environment around us that allowed us to survive. We are part of a habitat, as is every living thing. We are alive because of the collective, just as each is alive due to the collective.
As we think about our purpose, our mission, our goals in the now, the present day, we see that it is in the interests of ourselves, our children, our species, and all species for us to do what we can to ensure that the natural world, the wilderness, is protected from the destructiveness that is now in the power of civilization.
This gargantuan machine is one of destruction: habitats destroyed, climate unsettled, oceans poisoned, soil eroded and washed away, and life extinguished.
It is reasonable and sensible, once understanding how we got here, and what is going on in the world, to want to do things to protect it, and move to the point, to believe that it is our purpose to protect the natural world... not for ourselves, but for our children, grandchildren, and for all living things in the future.
On our side is all of life, with the very tiny exception of the current global human civilization, specifically the one characterized by property, ownership, credit, and money. The entire mass of all living things on earth, minus the relatively minuscule mass of humans of this current civilization, is on our side.
Those of us who believe in protecting Earth are stuck in between the the side of life, and the side of the the civilization machine. We rely on the machine for our food and security, and are fearful of separating from this machine. At the same time, we understand that being part of this machine is adding to the machine's destructiveness.
This is the dilemma of our reason for being.