A NATURAL BACKLASH
In nature, when an animal is underdeveloped, sick, hurt or
too old to keep up, it is either killed or left behind. Many of us interpret that as cruel, but in
the natural world it is all about survival.
Those who can’t contribute or are too weak are left to their own
devices. We’re no different, although we
pretend we are. We’re still part of the
natural world whether we like it or not.
This is not about the natural world lacking in emotion or
compassion. There is plenty of
documented evidence that showcases that animals do care about their peers and
the pain, grief and stress is evident in their body language and
vocalizations. But . . . once they reach
a decision it is unequivocal and there is no point of return. Harsh, but necessary.
In the human world we’re constantly torn by what we can do,
should do and by what we can’t do and often find ourselves helplessly ill-equipped
to do anything meaningful. It causes a
great deal of conflict and distress.
We’re constantly torn between religious convictions, human emotions and
base instincts for survival. Once more
we have reached a critical moment in human history. Our needs and numbers have increased to such
an extent that not unlike the animals in the natural world, we too now decide
who lives and who stays behind.
Existentialism reduced to its purest form. Primitive instincts, desires and
emotions. There are basically two
options: do you heed the siren call of the strong or do you stand up for the
weak? Well, I’ll supply the answer for
you. We follow the tribe we belong to
and in our wake there will be victims galore: migrants, visible minorities, the
elderly, the sick, the homeless, the unemployed, the poor, the disposed and the
oppressed. Once we start to hate and
oppress we’re a mean bunch.
Entire nations are caught up in unwinnable conflicts,
genocide and ethnic cleansing, systemic poverty and famine. As a species we have never faced this much
conflict and adversity. Collectively
we’re running out of options. At our
worst, we do the worst. Not only is our
intelligence flawed and skewered, increasingly it is leading us down
conflicting paths and our priorities are all over the place and are as
misdirected as our actions. At least in
the natural world there is no pretense, no lying and no “political or economic”
agenda.
Our biggest mistake is pretending that somehow we’re not like
the animals in the natural world; that we’re different and that the rules that
apply to the natural world don’t apply to us.
Wrong! All lifeforms share the
same building blocks. Humans have
evolved into a flawed species; ignorant and full of self-importance and saddled
with a superiority complex that knows no boundaries. Achievements, no matter how great, don’t
guarantee success or survival. Kind of like
living in squalor in the shadows of the great pyramids. Yes, even Egypt was great at one time!
To satisfy our incredibly needs and numbers we’ve been busy
digging holes. Big holes. Deep holes.
And we seem to forget that all the living takes place on the surface. Our needs are no different than those faced
by all living species, ours are just more complicated and demanding and
therefore subject to increased adversity as the artifice we surround ourselves
with comes increasingly with a price tag we can no longer afford. As a result we witness desperate attempts by
individuals and nations looking for a way out, by whatever means. Our world, because of our needs and numbers,
has become so connected that it affects everything and everybody. Nobody is exempt. I trust that all of you who are reading this
are bright enough to fill in names, dates, examples and incidents!
Everything in the
universe is energy and momentum driven!
Many of you may find it hard to stomach that what we’re
facing today can be reduced to something as simple as energy and momentum and
the impact of those two primordial forces.
I wrote my novella Energy & Origin to explain that this is an
unstoppable force. Energy created life. Life is energy. We’re pushed along by the forces of energy
and momentum and changing course or ignoring this reality is a wish that will
never be granted. It is sink or swim. There is no going back. It is a relentless, forward moving
force. Going with the flow is not
unnatural, going against is! All life functions
within the same predictable patterns of energy and momentum and you can talk
alternatives and options until you’re blue in the face, but it won’t change this
reality. We’re not in control, we’re not
in the driver’s seat and the fact that in bad times we elect the worst and
silence the best, is simply a sad aspect of how energy and momentum work. It is a force that can’t be controlled or
harnessed. The physics behind energy and
momentum and how it behaves is straightforward and predictable. One simple example we should all be familiar
with; crank up the heat and you increase the level of energy and momentum. When global temperatures rise, every degree higher
equates to an increase of ten to twenty percent in weather extremes. Planet Earth is totally immoral and when it
strikes back it doesn’t care whether you are guilty or innocent. Nature’s wrath is unforgiving. Our
unnatural habits and out of control numbers are the main reason for a natural
backlash.
Meaningless agreements and empty promises don’t cut the
mustard and the planet will deal with us in the only way it can. We should never lose sight of the fact that
it is the planet that provides, not industrialists, bankers and politicians. At least the monkeys we descended from were
bright enough to stay in the jungle.
As a writer it is not my job to sound disparaging or
pessimistic. Writers observe, interpret
and report. And when it comes to
improving our worst behaviors and habits?
It’s not that we can’t read the signs pointing us in the right
direction, it is following direction that we’re having a problem with. Always have!
Too many people, too many voices and nobody is listening.
There is a simple test you can perform to test the veracity
of my hypothesis: Do you think that you
can stop your breathing; prevent blood, nutrients and oxygen from flowing
through your veins and cells and stop your brain from thinking? Living
cells ceaselessly demand, you guessed it, energy! You can’t stop those needs, those demands, no
matter how hard you try. Do you still
question the power of energy and momentum?
Not only are energy and momentum the two original primordial
forces that made the universe possible, without energy and momentum the
universe wouldn’t exist.
Energy & Origin by
W.M.A. Bes is available on Amazon.ca
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