- The jungles and rain forests are disappearing, unnaturally quickly.
- Oil spill after oil spill after oil spill poisons hundreds of thousands of living things, while rusting old nuclear submarines lie crumbling in the depths.
- Chemicals are sprayed like crazy onto millions of landscapes and yards, washing down storm drains as soon as it rains, or being walked onto carpets, tiles and hardwood floors where little loved ones crawl and play and breathe.
We have not had time to assess the repercussions of our technology, or to circumvent the eventual damage that we will have caused by our refusal to face and correct our mistakes. It seems that the incredible confidence we once had in our species’ survival has become more fragile. Our very cells know that we have drastically changed the physical nature of our planet in a frighteningly short time, relative to the age of Earth, and even to humanity’s time upon it. Our confidence is waning. It must, but only for as long as it takes to redevelop that confidence on more solid ground.
- Once in awhile it might be fun to put ourselves high on a pedestal, but we do ourselves a great disservice if we actually believe we belong there!
There have been too many errors made over the last century stemming from our ignorant, arrogant, and often-cruel exploitation of the natural world. The attempt, by science, to inject a calm, rational objectivity into our view of life, has been pushed to the extreme, creating the belief that a true distinction can be made between the emotional and the intellectual. But like every element that exists in the universe, perspective too is simply a single point on a continuum. And from what we can see in this three-dimensional world, the pendulum swings forth and back. Perspectives change.
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