Excerpt #2 from my book, Interconnected, Interrelated & Interdependent, Like It or Not:
One recent evening while lying in bed, I was struck by a juxtaposition of sounds.
I was simultaneously being serenaded by the music of so many crickets outside my bedroom window and the melodious strains emanating from the strings of a concert violinist from a recording to which I was listening.
It was a reminder of the ever-present interface between nature and humanity.
The phenomenon and origination of evolution, not only our own but that of our universe and galaxy, is beyond our ability to comprehend, albeit we understand snippets.
For what purpose we exist, if any, remains a question unanswered.
Some things, however, are quite clear: We exist as less than a tiny fragment of an immensely larger interlocking whole in which all the parts are interconnected and dependent upon each other for survival, are ultimately responsible for our wellbeing, and by our actions determine the conditions under which we live or die.
Evolution is not about to cease.
However, it is possible that we humans as a life-form, and as a civilization, could by our own hands become extinct.
Not unprecedented, it’s happened to earlier civilizations that self-destructed and disappeared due to combinations of war, environmental degradation, disease, climate change, and related famine.
It is apparent that the likelihood of this happening is increasing when we examine the results of our escalating opposition to each other and to our biosphere (the worldwide sum of all ecosystems, also termed the zone of life on Earth).
Today’s world is fraught with peril of unprecedented, if not always visible, dimensions.
We have generated a destructive and unsustainable momentum that is life-threatening to our species.
The crisis, that some feel needs to occur in order to igniteour sensibilities and finally unite us, already permeates ourworld in a multitude of forms.
It is a paradoxical situation, for we have coincidentally acquired more knowledge, created more material wealth, and have had at our command more technology than has ever before existed.
In effect, we currently have in place every means required to create a paradise on Earth.
The obvious question is, “What keeps us from doing that?”