One Sun Among Many

Why are we so collectively stupid?

The sun is the ultimate big brother to all of us. We are united, collectively delicate and fragile, under its protection. Why don’t we understand this? Why don’t we understand that we are an organism reliant upon systems that we do not control and must work within?

We grew and thrived as a species because of a powerful individual desire to do so — while recognizing that we needed the collective if we were to achieve anything lasting beyond ourselves. The greater good wasn’t some point of altruism, it was the only means to continue to grow.

Then, in a great leap of anti-biological insanity, we grew in our knowledge enough to feel like we no longer required the collective. And so here we are — absurdly and stupidly ignoring the tenuous position we are in.

We have reached an unsustainable place of being individually successful and collectively a planetary menace.

So what do we do?

We either care or we don’t.

If we care, collectively, we will prevail and flourish as a sentient organism. If we continue to ignore reality, then we will survive, until we don’t. We either recognize what we have and decide to attempt to sustain it, or we return to our distractions and grouse about our helplessness.

The modern form of human life is considered to be around 200,000 years old, the Earth about 4.5 billion years old and the universe in the neighbourhood of 13.7 billion years old. That means our species has existed for 0.004 % of the time our planet has existed, or for 0.0015 % of the time the universe has been in play. We are, profoundly, a new development.

It is well documented, by basic observation, that change is real. That things come and go. We are surrounded by evidence of impermanence, not the least of which is the knowledge that our own lives pass in and out of existence.

I suppose that this knowledge is what leads us to the choice of whether to care or not. If we know that nothing lasts forever, then why bother considering much beyond ourselves, beyond today.

It is undeniable that the sentient organism on Earth that is our human collective will, ultimately, thrive or fail as one. Without a doubt, the last human being will be the last human being. Doesn’t this mean everything to any consideration of whether tomorrow matters? There is no tomorrow alone. Alone, there is only the passing in and out of existence.

Until further evidence presents itself, we seem to occupy a unique position in the observed universe. The existence of sentient organic life appears to be limited to our Earth.

We don’t appreciate that we are a miracle of being.