I am not trying to push any type of political anything here. I want to ask a fundamental question about the relationship between humans and nature.
I want anyone reading this to really think about what we have done as a species to nature. It obviously stands apart from anything else as unique to humans and appalling. We have exploited and manipulated nature to the point of the planet being in a state of emergency right now. When I speak of the planet I am talking of the earth as a singular organism. We are part of this. Our environments are toxic: the air, the water, the food. Everything is processed, tampered with and degraded for the sake of material satisfaction and our contemporary, overstimulated culture. What we have done for our benefit at the cost of destroying ecosystems is unbearable to think about. Not only has it cost the lives of countless animals and humans alike, we are annihilating EVERYTHING that matters. With modern, modified food have come the multitude of modern medical problems (One of countless examples). This is serious because fundamentally we are animals. We have certain needs: food, shelter, sex/love ALL of these things have been deeply, horribly affected by us not being connected with nature. We are part of it. We are not above it. It is everything. Next time you are outside, look at the infrastructure man has built, next to nature. Nature (read:life) grows through the cracks in the cement and birds chirp in the trees next to the factories we have built. That sharp contrast is unnerving.
What inside of us lets us do this to our world? I just cannot comprehend WHY millions have deemed it o.k. to have such disregard for the thing that brought them into this world, without it you would have nothing. Nature is the ultimate work of art that you LIVE in. It is all around you. Going against this is to destroy yourself, the very thing you are. People have grown to hate nature, to think it disgusting and crude. To put themselves in sterile, man-made, lifeless constructions. Nature is energy, it is life.
Our man-made world has created all of our problems. Almost everything created by man has had a short term gain and a long term, deeper disturbing consequence. People work all day at jobs they hate to come home to disconnected families who eat their processed, chemical laden and mass produced food while sitting in front of the television being fed a false reality and being subconsciously indoctrinated with symbolic brainwashing. The whole system fits together to keep everyone feeling a void in their lives and the need to keep filling it with other man-made things. The machine feeds itself.
How can there be any genuine or truthful in a world abundant with falsehoods?
I believe ultimately nature is more powerful than we, and could easily reclaim everything.
Why have we evolved, or rather devolved, to be this way? Why our species?
I know these questions are ultimately unanswerable. But why is there a deaf ear and blind eye turned towards this? Why isn't there mass outcry? Is it not hitting you over the head at this point? Has this cycle not gone on long enough? What inside of us is wanting to kill ourselves subconsciously as fast and painfully as possible?
I urge everyone to watch this. It is simple and beautifully well put. Nothing more can be said...
YouTube - Alan
Watts: A Conversation with Myself - Part 1