Observe And Learn: Life Beyond Our Own
This article is a spinoff from Observe and Learn: Entangled. It starts off from the same platform, then veers off on a tangent. The method allows us to explore multiple points via common denominators.
See the entire ‘Observe and Learn‘ feature series here.
source: http://omnimetaversal.com
The world is a finite, interconnected place. The more our civilization grows the more we see of it and the more we appreciate how much everything works under an umbrella dynamic. The clearer our interdependence becomes. From the weather and climate and how a shift in temperature here creates all sorts of changes everywhere, to a drop in earnings in Apple Inc sending the market tumbling, to a forecast of economic decline spreading to global markets and sending currencies in freefall, to war in an obscure country we may have never even heard of affecting oil prices and sending inflation indices soaring, it’s pretty much clear that everything we do affects everything else. Nothing goes unnoticed or unregistered anymore. Everything matters. The Butterfly Effect has begun and we are part of the greatest game ever played: Life in Entanglement.
Entanglement is a simple and visionary concept on the interconnection of all matter. In a nutshell, physicists have theorized that everything is bound via some invisible unbroken bond transcending space and distance. Matter that used to be packed together in an infinitely condensed area prior to the Big Bang is still connected to itself, they say, in very tangible ways. They are all part of the same thing, the same matrix, whereby changes in one affect changes everywhere, no matter the distance between them.
source: http://spiritualtranzendence.blogspot.com
The concept is not new. Religions and esoteric practices have long spoken of how we are all one, part of the same dynamic, part of God, part of each other. From Christianity to Buddhism to the animist indigenous belief systems, there are countless creeds and teachings testifying to the interconnectedness of life and the need to respect it. Some have placed emphasis on kindness – be good to others because in a sense you are being good to yourself. Others have placed emphasis on practicality – live your life wisely and show respect to those around you because everything will be accounted for.
The Economy, our latest most far-reaching belief system to date has caught up with science and religion and is slowly fitting entanglement into its bill. In an all too real, all too surreal turn of events, we are reminded every day how entangled we all are, theoretically, practically, psychologically, economically. War in Libya makes us sad or mad while sending the markets spinning and oil prices soaring. Prospects of revolution in all the Arab states makes us happy that democracy is taking hold in that part of the world, but also makes us feel unsafe and insecure about oil supply, or about theocrats and other fanatics rising to power. Financial crises in Greece and Ireland make us angry we have to pay for the failures of others, or sympathetic to their cause, or afraid everything will come crumbling down in one big crack, or certain there is a conspiracy taking place. Earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan fill us with horror at the sight of catastrophe – but also with admiration at the strength and determination of a whole people. Day in day out, we are reminded how everything is part of everything else, joined at the hip and throbbing in unison into the future.
source: http://www.somersault1824.com
This entangled setup is a watershed phenomenon in our history not only as a species but also as an eco-system, as an ecology. It brings individuals together in very conscious ways, networking them together so as to create a super-mind on earth, one which begins to work like a gigantic, arcane, unicellular organism, made up of a number of organelles.
This is important when considering the future. The vast web of consciousness we are creating, and our awareness of it, marks the passage of the human species from childhood to adulthood. We have become self-aware, not only of ourselves but of the whole dynamic. Part of which we rule over. Our actions now affect everything, central and powerful as we are, making things happen by pulling strings and all nighters. Put in other words, if earth is a giant organism, call it Terra, we are the brain that runs the show.
In the wake of this realization, crucial and groundbreaking as it is, our existence suddenly assumes value we had never considered. Technologically and intellectually gifted as we are, we have the capacity to lead young Terra, ourselves included, into the next stage of existence. Like all singular creatures, biological and “artificial” alike, she needs special care to function properly. There is little room for error, everything now measured and accounted for. Faltering or neglect leads to poor conditioning or disease, and, stuck as we are in one place with nowhere to go and no one to help us, we cannot afford to get sick too many times, it may be the end of us.
source: http://www.childrenandnature.org/blog
We need to find a space beyond the one we occupy, now more than ever. An organism cannot live entirely within its own body, it needs an environment to interact with. Our closed loop provides no such room, and we, self-aware as we have become and growing into more elaborate form, need to reach beyond ourselves and find space to grow in.
The reason is not abstract but practical. We need space to find food in. Our reserves will only last us so long, we can no longer feed off the fat and muscle of our own body. Nourishment needs to be found out there, beyond our sphere, and fast.
We also need space in which to discard our excrement. How long can we afford to keep our waste within our body without getting sick? Pollution is nothing more than holding in what ought to be secreted, excreted and defecated, failure of which leads to infection and septic shock. In other words, the world needs to stop holding it in and take a dump somewhere far away from here, and fast.
source: http://chanpoetry.blogspot.com
See where this is going, how Earth and all life on it, ourselves included, is a super-organism in its own right, with basic needs no different to any singular life form? Food and hygiene, it’s what it’s all about, as simple as that. Consume our reserves and we starve to death. Hold excrement in and we get ill, and eventually die.
Disturbing insight, but useful. Gives new meaning to the terms sustainable economy and pollution.
Looking beyond health and hygiene, we also need companionship. Every living thing, from amoeba to frog to kangaroo and human being seek their own to mate and interact with. Complex organizations like beehives, termite colonies and corporations do the same, but being a little more complex and abstract as they are – and unable to interact and procreate like classic singular organisms do – they still seek something else to interact with, another system that will provide their existence with meaning. And so must we, seek out something beyond our Terra body. How much longer can we be satisfied with an existence cut off from everything in the universe, sitting in our little corner, looking out at the stars, at the light, at the wide open space stretching before us, and not leaping out to be part of it? It’s time we stopped masturbating in the dark and stepped out to explore the world.
Doing so will open up the loop again and refresh our horizon. We will be able to live healthier, cleaner lives, and perhaps meet those others we have been searching for all this time. The universe needn’t be a bleak desert we are destined to endure alone. There may be life beyond our own after all, perhaps similar to us, perhaps totally alien. All we need to do is find it. Who knows, we may like what we encounter and get along with it. We may form bonds with it, embrace it, live with it, and eventually find out how entangled we all are, no matter how different to each other we may be.
source http://www.farleyspace.com
guys, thanks for your good comments. greeneggsandfram, regarding waste, the way i see it, sustainability can be achieved only if we manage to expel our refuse from the system. the premise is organic, organismic rather, and based on the simple need to keep a living-closed-loop, like any organism, sanitized and free from excess toxins, before it goes into shock
Not sure I agree with the subtle normativity regarding expansion into space, especially the bit about dumping our waste somewhere else, though I still can't tell if you were advocating more for that or for sustainability on earth. Regardless, interesting piece. Of course the sooner we recognize the interconnectivity of the countless systems on earth, the better prepared we'll be to sustain them. Hopefully any improved maneuverability doesn't harbor new found selfishness and anthropogenic tendencies. Notwithstanding the outcome, interconnectivity and its prevalence is an important notion to acknowledge.
Wonderful post, Nicolas. The realisation that humanity is just part of this great weave of interconnectivity is humbling indeed. So much has been said about the great divide between the natural and the anthropogenic, when in fact humanity is really inseparable from this super-organism that is nature. Denying that it is so is denying our being.
EXCELLENT! Love the way you weave the Interconnectivity. Blindingly obvious, n'est pas?... providing we want to stand up and pay attention. I'm still standing :-) Thanks for this
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