Reply #105: Does it make you feel better to believe that?

[greyl]

Can you consider that some of the responses here might be from people who believe that Earth and its community of life should be regarded with reverence and not demeaned by platitudes born of wishful thinking?

The indigenous human cultures that provide diverse examples of how humans can live with sustainability on this planet didn't come to be that way because they prayed hard enough to the right God/s or because they had meaningful dialogs with other animals and plants. They came to be that way because they simply kept on doing what worked for them for hundreds of generations over the 3 million year course of human evolution, and they didn't adopt the idea that the Earth was made for humans to conquer and rule.

An intimate communion with a turtle will never provide the change of vision required for our culture to alter its course away from forcing 200 species a day into extinction. We need to look at what does and what does not work in the world with an analytical mindset free of our cultural biases. There is no secret hidden from our view that needs to be revealed by animal spirits, angels, or aliens. The answers are to be found out in the open, plainly, using science. Science is your friend and has nothing contrary to say about properly respecting our biosphere and its inhabitants. Magical thinking, anthropomorphic arrogance, and lack of foresight are what has largely brought the Earth bleeding to our feet.

Evidence based worldviews are a path of hope to the future, while lucid dreams and daytime fantasies only provide fleeting escape from the harsh reality that we are all captives of a civilization that compels us to continue destroying the world.