Reconciliation

Can we reconcile the world that we have created for ourselves with the natural world?

I think the answer is yes. But, clearly, we can't get there by staying on the same course that brought us the mess that we are in today.

The reconciliation of our kind with the world is probably easier than we can imagine. I think all we need to do is to begin to act in a reconciliatory manner and stay the course.

"How to begin?" used to be the big stumbling block. But, not anymore if we come to terms with the fact that the world we have created will not service the future of humanity or service life in general.

It is way easier if we have an alternative that is ready-made to be used - one that will take us down the path of reconciliation with the world.

How or why we got to this point in our development is a lively debate that will hopefully entertain us for centuries. But, that debate does not provide new ideas of the kind that we need to move forward.

The reality is that we are here as a result of our creativity and ingenuity. Now is the time to once again summon our talents, reinvent our relationship with the world and go forward.

The art work illustrating this blog entry today, called "Reconciliation," deals with some of the requisites that our reconciliation with the world should have.

First, we have to come to terms with the scale of our challenge. Since our challenge is global and since a global challenge cannot be overcome by a fragmented civilization, then the challenge must be faced by humanity working collaboratively as a single species.

Second, we have come far enough and gathered sufficient evidence to know that we are a part of the natural world. Our insistence that we are somehow separate or superior to the rest of nature must finally be left in the past. We can now look at that old worldview as just a part of our childhood as a species.

Stepping into Planet Earth 2.0 is like a rite of passage from that childhood into adolescence with a fresher view of the world that comes from getting older.

Reconciliation with the world is a path to our eventual adulthood as a species. The image "reconciliation" illustrates our embrace of the planet as an adult species. Within that mature embrace, our priorities about life are now in line with nature and our participation as collaborators with the world fully promotes and sustains life.

Tiité