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Have humans given planet a good dose of the flu?
Just as we humans can be individually regarded as a complete
organism, we can be, or should be, or were once upon a time, part of ecosystem,
which could also be regarded as a system, which is part of a huge organism, a
super-organism, called Earth.
At least until we became civilized we were part of the
super-organism Earth: harmonizing with nature, always part of the web of life
and in perfect balance with the environment. We were aware of ourselves as part
of the whole. We believed in the Earth.
But, as it were, the Earth developed a disease which
attacked its perfect immune system: Civilization. Slowly we evolved towards a schism, a time when our ego
selves developed to a point where we feared our environment, our fellow
creatures and finally each other. Now we have achieved the ability to fear even
the pain and darkness which resides in our own souls. We are always trying to
distract, divide, conquer and destroy.
Caused by our
abandonment of our super organism Earth body, our bodies developed illnesses of
the mind and body. As we deserted our natural heritage, everything rejected and
oppressed re-surfaced as disease of body, mind and soul. And just as we are
part of the organism Earth, so has the Earth suffered from our rejection. The
decimation, plunder and destruction wrought by our specie have finally
threatened every living thing.
This traumatic separation from the earth is evident in our
day to day lifestyle. When we come home at night we flee our inner thoughts by
distractions such as television and alcohol. We conveniently file our parents
away into old age homes and teach our children that life giving soil is
actually dirty.
Are we a virus that is attacking the immune system of our
planet?
Recently, author and Ayurvedic
doctor Deepak Chopra was in
South Africa. In his talk he
mentioned that in order to live, our cells are continuously dying in our
bodies, in order to be replenished. We are continuously re-cycling ourselves on
a cellular level. Emotionally and spiritually, we follow this same cycle as we
grow in experience and wisdom. The only cells in our bodies which do not grow
are called cancer. Cancer cells do not die and are not capable of being born
again.
Are we analogous to a cancer on our planet? We do not renew
ourselves on the whole. We mostly cling to old ideas and belief systems that
have long worn out. We need to redefine ourselves and our need to live within
the boundaries of nature.
Who amongst us will take up the call to become part of the
immune system of Earth, part of the super-organism to which we belong, who will
take up the sword and fight the disease and facilitate the healing, and how is
this possible?
The obvious answers are often touted in the media. Recycle
your garbage, install a solar geyser and grow your own vegetables. While noble,
these solutions are symptomatic - plasters placed on the top of the tumor. What
is really needed is a shift in consciousness. A deeper step than the solutions
above may be sit quietly for fifteen minutes every day, let your mind rid it
self of daily clatter and take notice of drum that beats within your chest, the same drum that is
inextricably linked to the beat of the earth. The first drum you heard and the
last beat that you will feel.
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