EVE. Conflict around the world is getting worse and not better. A change in the planet’s energy was supposed to arrive with the new century. I assumed this was for the better. What has gone wrong?
DES. Mother Nature is perfect. Nothing has gone wrong. We are adaptive, like trees along the coastline that bend away from the prevailing wind. Except that in our case our adaptive behaviour is driven by our personal free will, so that (individually and therefore collectively) we create ourself and our society by what we do. We have reached a critical tipping point. Growth is almost abruptly accelerating. Stagnation has become less tenable. This is part of a cycle the species has attracted to itself at this time, because we have reached the stage where we are able to respond.
At approximately the turn of the century the appearance of modulated energy, as promised, facilitated and empowered this process. If our activities introduce cooperation and love and goodwill, this is what we will create within the environment. But if our activities prove we need more suffering in order to be able to feel for other people, be more empathic and supportive and nurturing, then surely we will bring the necessary suffering upon ourselves. We will create it within the environment. Why? If a person experiences pain, then s/he will be able to understand and respond to pain in others. Growth has taken place. When the power of love exceeds the love of power, the new century will usher in an era of universal peace. Our free will is the final arbiter. We decide which path we will take. In doing so we shape the future as we would shape a pillar of moist clay. Mother nature is perfect!
But am I being effete or simplistic? Let’s look at an example that has dominated the news media: the age-old conflict between Islam and Christianity, only one face of religious conflict. Islam is becoming more radicalised in many regions. Why? Democracy is as foreign and unacceptable to them as sharia law would be to many in Western countries, at least at this time. Think about it! There doesn’t have to be a definitive right and wrong. Why not respect, support, encourage, and try to understand?
Yes, the flames of radicalisation are being fanned by wild-eyed extremists consumed by hatred and the lust for personal glory (martyrdom). Surely this polarisation is encouraged by both deprivation and the challenge of foreigners on their soil armed with an incomprehensible political ideology. Of course sectarian violence within their ranks is another problem, but don’t forget the Muslim community is inspired by the same frantic energy that is sweeping the planet – at a time when the flame of infidel Christianity is flickering and waning.
What are Western democracies doing to arrest these developments? Forty percent of their food is wasted according to the US Natural Resources Defense Council. For example seven percent of food crops are never harvested, 17 percent of meals in restaurants and cafeterias remain uneaten, and families throw out 25 percent of the food they purchase – while hundreds of thousands of people in Third World countries die of malnutrition and its diseases every month. Most of them are non-Christians.
The extent to which we all come together to meet those challenges dictates the nature of our future on the planet. As we relate to our various environments, especially at the emotional level, we shape our behaviour and therefore the events which unfold around us. What we most need in order to evolve as a species is unerringly provided by our own hand. In effect we “put in an order” to Mother Nature by whatever name. She provides it. The human race continues to evolve.
