Sometimes absence is better than presence. How does this apply to living things?
In nature, what is not needed for survival is discarded. Everything a lion has, it needs. Everything a lion is, it needs. There is no excess in nature, no superfluity.
We are the single exception to the rule. We are the 1st creature to take evolution into our own hands (more/less) (culture, artifice).
There are advantages and disadvantages to having bigger brains (self-conscious evolution). This is the fire of Prometheus, this is the tree of knowledge. All other lifeforms are beasts or robots by comparison. Their ultimate destiny, shape and form is not theirs to command.
The hand of nature is not blind. Randomness can only produce chaos, not order. The other creatures, their evolution, is controlled by Gaia. Slow and perfect their evolution is. Quick and clumsy ours is by comparison.
When men pursue knowledge, gnosis (How) and science-- power increases.
When men pursue understanding, wisdom (Why) and philosophy-- control increases.
Blind power-- Destruction (we are on the brink).
Science is the power of our evolution, philosophy is the control.
We can teach ourselves to be wise. We must align ourselves with the universal law (that which is not needed is discarded).
What is needed? Are the words I speak now… needed? Obesity, a form of superfluity, no? Do I need a car, no, I walk to work. Do I need to work, I do, but only because society says so.
There is a tremendous inefficiency in our culture, an inefficiency few recognize.
There is another law in nature, the law is incrementally being implemented. This law is the law of symbiosis. As consciousness forms and shapes matter more perfectly (life, a conduit or vessel for spirit), this law will become more apparent. Life thrives on cooperation more than competition. Our bodies are products of this law. Once the cells and germs functioned separately and served themselves, now, they altruistically serve the whole. One day, artificially, naturally or both, all living things on our world and in the universe will serve the whole. It is ok for us to impose this order on more unconscious forms of life, but fellow sentients must see this for themselves.
We must begin to think globally rather than locally, our actions affect gaia and we reap what we sow. We must learn to discard the frivolities and vanities of our lives. We are witnessing a dawn of a new day. Periods of progressive wisdom are preceded by periods of progressive power.
