Our lives are governed by forces that are higher than ourselves. From a spiritual perspective, the governor is ‘God’ or the universe, and its purpose is to guide us and sit with us as we navigate through life. Our spiritual higher power is a positive influence.
From a worldly perspective, however, our lives are governed by forces that take the form of political leaders and monarchs, which are negative influences. Why? Because while the former looks out for us, the latter controls us.
Unlike our spiritual higher power, let’s call it the universe, which serves to remind us to appreciate everything in life, the higher power here on earth, namely, political leaders, serves to do the opposite.
Instead of appreciating the earth and everything that it has to offer, ‘nature is beautiful’, through the higher power on earth (party politics), we are made to believe that some aspects of nature are more beautiful than others.
The rose is deserving of the bouquet. The dandelion of the bin.
Flowers are beautiful, but only the ‘right’ type of flower. If it’s not ‘right’ (i.e., if it’s not controlled by us), then it’s not a flower but a weed.
Weed (noun): ‘A wild plant growing where it is not wanted.’
Not wanted according to whom?…
The fact is that everything in life serves a purpose, and therefore, everything in life is wanted. Owing to the egotistical nature of some humans, however, this is a fact that all too often gets disregarded by people who believe that only that which they create is worthwhile.
If we planted it, it’s beautiful. If it grew there of its own accord, it’s horrible. It doesn’t matter about the butterflies and the bees that feed from it. It’s horrible.
Humans try to convince themselves that they are in control, hence why they try to tame that which cannot be tamed. And while the digging up of weeds might seem like a small thing, it is, in fact, part of something much bigger.
In the same way that only the right type of flower is beautiful, similarly to some, so too is only the right type of metal beautiful…
Despite over ¼ of the earth’s crust being made up of various metals, the world only wants gold, a rare, precious metal that is not only difficult but also dangerous to mine.
Gangs working beneath the Peruvian mountains do so with guns and are unafraid to shoot at anything that gets in their way. Frighteningly, this is something that is only going to escalate as the demand for gold rises (last year alone, demand for gold rose by a third).
The question, though, is why? Why are some things valued higher than others when they’re all natural?
Only when we stop assigning made-up values to nature will world peace prevail.
We are lucky enough to get to experience life as we pass through on our journey(s), the least we can do is therefore leave the world as we found it. Unfortunately, however, far too many of us don’t…
Forgetting that we are a part of nature, we are obsessed with defeating it.
We go to zoos to gawk at animals that we have taken away from their homes and enclosed, as though they were born for our pleasure. And those that are left in the wild, we kill. Whether slaughtering cows for beef or elephants for ivory, food vs fashion, we reduce their lives to nothing, and all for the sake of satiating our greed.
We cut down trees for this reason, too.
We cut down trees to build houses that no one can afford, creating an entire ecosystem that we call a city. The ultimate visual representation of human greed, cities immortalise our taming of nature, where a species that represents a meagre 0.01% of all living things has destroyed much of the world (mountains and rivers and waterfalls and love) and rebuilt its own (skyscrapers and pavements and roads and egos).
It’s taking greed to a whole new level…
How can we solve the problem & let nature prevail?
The only way to live in true harmony with each other is to live in harmony with the world. In order to achieve this and appreciate the value in everything, we must stop viewing nature as our subordinate.
When we realise that we all exist as one, wars lose their meaning.
What was once a fight for land becomes a fight for… nothing. Because we realise that the land was never ours to have in the first place. Like natural resources. As we discussed earlier, gangs are killing each other in Peru for gold because people have the misguided belief that it is theirs to take.
The earth owes us nothing.
So, do away with the capitalist dream. Ditch your city apartment and exchange it for a house by the coast, where you can spend your free time on the beach collecting pretty shells and dipping your toes in the sea. Make home a place where you can partake in more creating and less consuming. Make it a place where you can appreciate the little things. The things that cost nothing but mean everything. The things that you will retell the memories of to your grandchildren one day, with a smile.
Do away with the capitalist dream, my child. This is what it means to live.
No more exploiting nature through our belief that the world exists to serve us, we must acknowledge that, if anyone should be serving, it is us.
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