“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.” ~Gandhi

 

Recently, I watched a Netflix series entitled, Life on Our Planet.  It is one of the more inciteful shows I have seen. The story is fascinating, it is a story of our planet over the course of the last 4 billion years.

One of the most impactful concepts from the show was the idea that there are 3 fundamental rules that drive the rise and fall of life on earth.

Evolution, Competition and Mass Extinction.

Evolution 

Evolution is best described as the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form. We usually think about this in the context of living organisms. It has been hypothesized we are all descendants of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), a common ancestral cell from which it is said all current life forms evolved from over millions of years.

My Thoughts: We are all evolving. However, instead of looking at all of the similarities, we seem to be focused on the differences. We fail to see that we are all part of one race, the human race. Instead we attempt to divide so we can be in control,  or we allow ourselves to be divided thereby allowing ourselves to be controlled.

So we fight, we argue, we kill, we blame, we shame, we steal, we go to war, because we want what others have or we want to control them. Wanting others to believe exactly what we believe, be it politics or religion, is just another attempt at control.

Ervin Seale said “Unfulfilled desire is the real trouble behind every human problem.”

Competition

According to the Britannica Dictionary, competition is defined as the act or process to get or to win something. In the context of the show, competition was about survival, both within a species and between varying species.

My thoughts: When we view other cultures (race) as different species, we feel the need to compete and we must win. In competition, you either win or you lose!

Think about the superpowers who for hundreds of years have fought and continue to compete for world domination. Which means someone has to lose, usually the weaker of the two.

It starts with, “You have what I want so I will take it.” Never mind that it is the same species (human), they simply choose to see them as the enemy. It has happened for thousands of years and is currently happening all over the world. We are literally wiping out our very own species.

Why? Because we have dinosaurs in powerful positions, whose little brains have not evolved. Who out of fear, want to control everything and everyone. Who out’ve greed, feel the need to dominate and control the supply of resources we all need to survive and thrive.

Question: Why do we allow dinosaurs to die in office?

Which leads me to my next point.

Mass Extinction

Over the course of 4 billion years our planet has faced 5 mass extinctions. Each time, some larger more powerful force than those inhabiting the planet, wiped out nearly every life form in existence. It is believed that each extinction was driven by some natural phenomenon that was beyond the control of anything living on earth.

My thoughts: The shows mentions the cause of these extinctions as, a giant meteor the size of Mt Everest, volcanic activity, climate change, changes in atmospheric chemistry, or in the ocean. You may call it that or you can call it the universe, source, God, mother nature, or anything else. It doesn’t matter, it happened!

Each extinction took place with the inhabitants not being in control.

Which led me to thinking; As advanced and intelligence as we have become, do we have any input in deciding our destiny on this planet?

It’s Our Time   

There may be factors unbeknownst to us, unfolding in the universe that are beyond our control pushing us towards a sixth extinction. I do not know, I can only speak to the ones I believe we control.

I do believe we have the ability to control some factors that are driving the human race towards extinction. But we cannot do it not unless we evolve our current thinking.

We can start by waking up and realizing that:

• We all originated from the same source, regardless of what you call that source. We are more alike than different, regardless of what the minority tells us..
• We have enough resources to feed and clothe every human being on this planet. But we won’t until we realize we are on the same team and we are in the game of our lives. The competition is not between us.
• We all have a responsibility to do what each of us can to apply the 3 fundamental rules in a way that gives us a chance to evolve to the next level of genuine intelligence

Final Thought

I do not control the world, at times I wish I did, I would change a lot of things. But because I only can control myself and my thoughts, I must begin there and ask myself this question everyday:

Did my thoughts and my actions today make the world a better place or a more bitter place?

I challenge you to do the same!