What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Mother Nature, in all her glory and beauty, holds the secret of the character of humanity. In fact, her inherent order and perfection guide us and bind us. The story of the evolution of nature is a fascinating one. After the Big Bang, a great expansion took place that over billions of years formed the integral and deterministic system of nature within which we exist.
The development was in stages. The inanimate level of existence came first — the sun, planets, rocks, water, minerals, dirt — the foundation of all the life that was to evolve. The vegetative level — that can grow, connect its roots together, and cover the earth — emerged next. Then, when their sustenance was assured, animals appeared with their more advanced qualities. They are mobile, can choose between good and bad for their well-being and reproduce in pairs. Now the earth was habitable for humanity, being populated with everything we need for survival and societal advancement. Humans have mind and heart that allow us to remember and learn from the past and to frame our futures from those experiences.
Of importance is that each succeeding level holds within it all the characteristics of those that preceded it, in addition to its more advanced qualities and abilities. Those elements that make up our bodies tie us inextricably to the entirety of nature. She lives inside us and we live inside her. The stunning reality of this is that we can continue to exist only in subjection to her immutable laws — the principles that are the prototype for our relationships with each other.
We’re all familiar with laws such as gravity and electromagnetism. There are many others that are less visible, but no less incontrovertible and absolute. Nature is an integral system that is interconnected, altruistic, balanced, harmonious, interdependent and unified. Science has exhaustively studied every facet of nature and repeatedly verifies the manifestation of these principles. One way to think about this is the very bodies within which we live. Each organ has a specific function, but all work together for the benefit of the whole body. When one organ is sick, the others offer support, for example, the multiplication of white blood cells when an infection is present. The organs receive sustenance from each other in order to return the favor, so to speak, when called upon. All systems in the body have one purpose: to maintain balance so that the person can develop.
So, what does it mean to be human? It is to act as nature, where no other entity takes more from the system than is needed, where within and among all its levels there is perfect unity and harmony, and where interconnection and interdependence cause every action to be felt by the entire system. This is the template for correct relationships among us and for peace on earth.
Mother Nature cares for us, but in order to survive, we must care for her, only not in the way you think. The implications of the laws inherent in nature are profound, in that the effects of our actions impact the entire system. You’ve heard of the “butterfly effect,” right? Or the hundredth monkey? Or entanglement theory and nonlocality? The power that we have to influence the collective is boundless and visits upon us all a serious responsibility, because the state of the world depends on the intentions toward which we act as we fulfill our desires.
Being human means that we choose carefully where we aim those intentions. The system of nature operates like the cogwheels in a watch, each moving according to its place in the system in order to maintain functionality of the device. If one becomes disabled, maybe rusted, the entire mechanism is disabled. The common good is assaulted. Watches and machines, of course, do not choose whether or not to remain in the flow of the system, but we do. Any action that is not in alignment with the principles of unity referred to above seriously interferes with the balance of nature and ultimately with the survival of mankind.
How do we fulfill the role and purpose intended for nature’s most advanced species? It’s exceptionally easy and monumentally difficult. We interact in the system with pure intention — to serve the common good, as well as satisfying our own desires. We honor our place in the scheme of creation. We freely avail ourselves of the earthly abundance provided for us, but only by carefully preserving nature’s balance. And most important, in our interactions with each other on all levels — individual to international — we don’t do to others what we don’t want done to us, but act only out of love and concern for the collective. We do this because we understand that nature is designed as a loving, supportive and integral system, and by allowing its laws to determine the direction of each cogwheel within it, we maintain the balance of the system in order to develop into the fifth level of existence — an inner connection and unity that becomes like the Upper Force that set it all in motion.
This is the meaning of being human.