(This blog was originally published at http://www.masterpeace.org/blogs/post/a_conversation_with_evolution)
(Note: The term ‘god’ is used in
this article to mean the process of evolution and not the idea of a
personal/religious god.)
Me: Why is there so much conflict
in the world?
God: Are you not supposed to be
the most powerful and intelligent specie on the planet? Perhaps you may want to
try answering that question yourself.
Me: I am not so sure about that any
more. I mean, we have managed to cause conflicts around the world, crashed a
few economies, screwed up the environment, raped and plundered millions and
even littered garbage in the little part of outer space we have clambered up
to. Is that what our power does?
God: That depends upon what power
means to you.
Me: I thought power meant our
ability to control things around us.
God: And why is your definition
in the past tense?
Me: Because I am not sure any
more. We barely have control over anything. If I look around, people are
jittery about global warming, they bite nails over volatile stock prices, tear
their hair over rising prices and worry about depleting fuel. Sometimes I look
at animals and birds around us and wonder – they never seem to have conflicts
or worries. Yes, they kill. But they only kill to eat, not to hoard food. They
barely compete the way we do. I am not sure if they collaborate, but at least
their competition is not cut-throat like ours. So what does our power really
account for?
God: Now that you acknowledge
that there are other residents on your planet besides you, are you willing to
consider the premise that you may have something to learn from them?
Me: Yes, I suppose so.
God: Good. An open mind is the
first necessity as well as the outcome of real power. Now, coming to your point
about hoarding: all living beings store food when they sense imminent scarcity.
Birds store fat in their bodies before long migratory flights. Camels store water
when they come across an oasis. Ants store food in their nests for extreme
winters. Storage is natural. The difference between animals and birds and you
is this: they store. You hoard. They collaborate with nature. You compete with
each other.
Me: You mean we are greedy?
God: Evolution does not judge. It
merely gives everything in the environment a chance to grow.
Me: So I need to choose a neutral
term to describe what we do?
God: This is not about word play.
You will progress in your thought process if you find out why you hoard. Other
beings store due to instinctive knowledge of and connection with the earth’s
natural cycles. You hoard out of fear. What is it that you fear?
Me: I think we fear lack. We fear
that there won’t be enough. And therefore those that have hoarded – whether it
is money, food, land, homes – will be more powerful in days of scarcity. But
there again, do animals not fear? I know animals panic and run when they are
chased by predators.
God: The fear of animals is an
instinct for survival. Yes, they certainly value and protect their lives. They
run when they are chased by hunters or predators. However, when an animal is ultimately
killed, it gives up life without the drama that your power play entails. All
beings close to nature and its rhythms, including some human communities, are
gracious in death. They do not fight it, for they know death is an essential
element of life. It allows for evolution and progress by providing a pause – a pause
that is like the momentary stillness between an exhalation and the next inhalation
of breath. It is crucial. If you start inhaling before you have completely
exhaled, you do not have enough space for fresh air to enter the lungs. Beings
that are in sync with nature do not erect monuments for their dead. They mourn,
and move on. They do not plot to avenge the death of their kin, whether they are
killed for food or for fun by you. Of course, a mother tiger will fiercely
protect her cubs from intruders. But that is out of respect for life, not out
of a need for possession. And that is why she cares and nurtures, but does not
resist when the cub grows up and wanders away to find his own territory.
Me: Is our superior intellect and
emotional capability not an asset then? What about being humane? Where does
that figure? And what about the idea of being civilised as compared to being
savage or animal-like?
God: Those are your definitions.
Tell me, what is a superior intellect expected to do?
Me: It is supposed to make great
decisions.
God: What about your emotional
capabilities?
Me: Those make us compassionate
and caring.
God: What is being humane about?
Me: It indicates the tenderness
and sympathy in our behaviour.
God: And what is civilisation?
Me: It is being orderly and
social. It means living in a progressive community and following rules that uphold
the safety, dignity and respect of our fellow beings.
God: Impressive traits I must
say! What a wonderful world it would be if you used all those traits to create
one…
Me: Well, we have advanced
technology. Life is infinitely easier than it was a few centuries ago. A lot of
us live in comfortable houses. But yes, a lot of us starve. A lot of us are
raped. A lot of us live in fear of our fellow humans. And a lot of us seem to
hate some fellow humans.
God: Perhaps all those traits you
describe can come to your rescue?
Me: It is not that we lack them.
But… I don’t know… why do we not display them all the time? Why do we have both
peacemakers and warmongers? Why do we have both altruists and hoarders?
God: Yes, you do not lack them.
Those wonderful traits are very much present. But what is also present is the
fear we spoke about. Humanity as a collective has a fear of lack: lack of
power. As your genus evolved, it developed the ability to stand upright on two
limbs, as compared to other land animals. This ability gave it an advantage of
height. Gradually increasing brain sizes also gave it other mental abilities such
as development of complex language patterns and communication within a group.
Given that, at that point, the only source of reference and comparison were the
other land-based four-legged animals, it was perhaps natural to feel different
and marginally superior. However, what your specie seemed to ignore was the
biological cost of this evolution: An upright posture also meant a body that
gradually evolved to be slender and narrower at the hips, to support the legs. The
females in your specie faced the consequences of this: as compared to other
animals, the birth canals became very narrow for the size of the baby after a
full gestation period. If you observe animals giving birth, their hips are wide
enough to facilitate a natural birth without the need for stitches post-labour.
However, human females had huge mortality rates due to the mutation of the
posture. Latent survival instincts kicked in over a period of time and the body
learnt to deliver babies sooner, when their cranial size was just about the
size of the opening of the uterus. However, this also meant that human
new-borns had very under-developed brains as compared to other mammals. This
phenomenon continues today. Consequently, your babies are helpless at birth.
They need to be nurtured with great care for a long period of time till they can
survive on their own. Look at the young ones of most mammals: they begin to move
and eat on their own very soon after birth. Now, the consequence of this biological
dependence is this: it gives scope for and promotes psychological dependence
and gives rise to conditioning. Therefore, there is a huge probability of
inheriting emotional legacy, not all of which is healthy. Over millennia, this
inheritance has metamorphosed from an initial sense of being different as
compared to land animals into a feeling of superiority and simultaneous frustration
at the lack of total control over the environment. And this mixed feeling leads
to your fear, for your belief about being superior is challenged by the reality
that contradicts it. And it is this collective fear that you act out of, that
has led to the world as it is today. The conflict outside is reflective of the
conflict inside.
Me: Wow. We are botched up. It
seems quite improbable to now stop controlling the environment and give up the
technology we have built up. I mean, yes, we release CFCs and destroy the ozone
layer, but can we really give up the air conditioners? Yes, we build concrete
jungles and destroy forests, but can we give up urban housing? Yes, we deplete
the earth of her oil deposits, but can we stop driving cars? And yes, we force
the land to yield using chemical fertilizers, but how else do we feed billions
of us? Are we doomed? Can we do nothing about the world now?
God: No, you do not have to give
up reasonable growth. But you do need to give up the legacy of fear. Yes, you
have superior capabilities intellectually, emotionally. But true intellect and
courage is when you can acknowledge your power and ability to create and
develop your world and yet, choose to exercise that power only and only for
inclusive creation and development. Include the planet and all its life in your
plans. They are as sacred as you are. Your sense of separation from them due to
your perceived superiority has now snowballed into a sense of separation from
fellow humans. If you want to heal this conflict between human nations and
communities, start healing where it all began. Reconnect with nature and its rhythms.
You talk of intellectual superiority – are you superior enough to understand
that there won’t be a human race if you destroy the living planet that you need
for your sustenance? You talk of emotional superiority – do you have the
courage to correct your belief from ‘the world belongs to humans’ to ‘humans
belong to the world’? True power is not about proving your superiority. True
power is sharing your superior capabilities to uplift an entire world without
having to make someone inferior just so that you can feel superior.
Me: Where do we begin now?
God: Begin with yourself. Be the
message. And the change will begin. You are only one, but you are one. And
enough individuals have changed the world in your history. The only difference
is that often, the change was for the world. Now, the change is for you. The
suppression of the feminine energy (not the female gender) began biologically
with the shift of the human posture. The feminine began disconnecting from the
natural rhythms then. The feminine energy is the ability to flow with nature.
It is the ability to create and destroy joyously, knowing that all of evolution
is cyclical. Like the waxing and waning of the moon, like the alternation of
day and night, like the cycle of the seasons. The masculine energy is the ability
to enjoy and use these cycles to grow. Through the collective choice of
humanity over centuries, the masculine has risen in a manner that has
suppressed the feminine. You have tried to conquer death and in the process spurted
birth, thus unbalancing the feminine. It is time to right the balance. And it
has nothing to do with your biological sex. Each of you contain the masculine
and the feminine. Let the feminine rise again, till it is in balance with the
masculine. Then you will flow again with the rhythm of life on this planet.
Me: And will we continue to develop
as rapidly as we have done in the last few decades?
God: Do you mean develop, or evolve?
Development is a human construct. It may not align with the rest of the world
at all, as you have experienced already. Evolution is sustainable development.
All life forms on this planet are where they are today because they permitted
evolution for millennia. Till your specie came along and decided you can take matters
into your own hands. In denial of death, you deny evolution. In fighting
nature, you stall evolution. Let your superior capabilities choose now between
development and evolution. And remember, you choose for an entire world. That
is your power.
