Where did this great human experiment called ‘civilisation’ go wrong? We live in a society that is perversely obsessed with trivialities; a society based upon disposable products. Our world is slowly being poisoned and choked with all the harmful waste and emissions that our industrial machine churns out and, in order to keep that machine going, we rape the planet for its resources, wiping out species after species as if they are as disposable as our products.
Centuries of philosophical debate, artistic and literary achievement and political development have resulted in a society that seems to idolise ignorance, greed and selfishness. The leaps in our scientific achievements far exceed the growth in mankind’s rationality and morality creating a world full of horrifying weapons that we’re all too willing to use on each other; a world that is filled with hatred and fear. And we call this progress?
For everything mankind has achieved, are we really any better than our primitive ancestors? They at least lived in harmony with nature.
Our sense of wonder and insatiable curiosity brought us to this point but now we have begun to stagnate in a world filled with tabloid headlines and reality TV and the talent-less ‘celebrities’ they spawn whilst we ignore the things that really matter. We search the heavens for some sign of extraterrestrial intelligence when I am not entirely sure that we have found intelligent life on Earth. Perhaps we have been looking so hard to find our place in the Universe that we have lost sight of ourselves and turned a blind eye to the mess that we are making of things.
Our civilisation seems to be producing pain, misery and despair in undreamed of quantities whilst producing more problems than it solves in the process and perhaps now is the time to take stock of where we are and reassess what it is we really need before we reach an unavoidable crisis point (if we have not already done so).
Until we can answer my original question, we have no right to continue along the path we are on as a civilisation. Until we reassess our priorities as a species, we have no right to proclaim ourselves more important than the rest of the biosphere of which we are a part.
Centuries of philosophical debate, artistic and literary achievement and political development have resulted in a society that seems to idolise ignorance, greed and selfishness. The leaps in our scientific achievements far exceed the growth in mankind’s rationality and morality creating a world full of horrifying weapons that we’re all too willing to use on each other; a world that is filled with hatred and fear. And we call this progress?
For everything mankind has achieved, are we really any better than our primitive ancestors? They at least lived in harmony with nature.
Our sense of wonder and insatiable curiosity brought us to this point but now we have begun to stagnate in a world filled with tabloid headlines and reality TV and the talent-less ‘celebrities’ they spawn whilst we ignore the things that really matter. We search the heavens for some sign of extraterrestrial intelligence when I am not entirely sure that we have found intelligent life on Earth. Perhaps we have been looking so hard to find our place in the Universe that we have lost sight of ourselves and turned a blind eye to the mess that we are making of things.
Our civilisation seems to be producing pain, misery and despair in undreamed of quantities whilst producing more problems than it solves in the process and perhaps now is the time to take stock of where we are and reassess what it is we really need before we reach an unavoidable crisis point (if we have not already done so).
Until we can answer my original question, we have no right to continue along the path we are on as a civilisation. Until we reassess our priorities as a species, we have no right to proclaim ourselves more important than the rest of the biosphere of which we are a part.
I concur Valen. I now believe that we humans are an experiment that went hideously wrong somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, although mankind has an enormous capacity for love, compassion and justice, there is an undeniable dark side as well. Even if every single one of the psychopaths in power who are perpetrating evils against the planet and its innocents were rounded up and executed, eventually, corruption would reoccur and the cycle would repeat. As much as they would like it to be so, humans are incapable of creating and sustaining lasting peace, justice and prosperity for all. Just look at most of our own families and the discords and hatreds that exist within them. How can there ever be peace on a worldwide scale that lasts? Whoever or whatever made us this way seems to either have lost interest in their failed experiment or enjoys watching the horror show we know as life on earth. I don't really believe that 2012 will bring in a era of cosmic enlightenment and harmony as some new agers believe, but I sure wish it could be true.
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