The importance of order.

As this turbulent and extraordinary year of 2020 draws to a close I think we should all take time to reflect on what we, as belonging to the species Homo Sapiens (“wise man”?), can start doing now and keep on doing into the future. 

 

We need to reflect on the full meaning of the term “civilization” and how this is expressed by our current ways of life and the general disorder we generate.

 

Such reflections may, just may, help to redress the disastrous and damaging ways we, as a species are despoiling the very Earth, the Nature, we need for survival.

 

To this end I offer the following extracts from quite an old book – but the sentiments expressed are, to my mind, still very true:-

 

From “African Genesis” by Robert Ardrey, (Fontana Books paperback, 1970 pages 393/394) - as an aside, Ardrey was one of the first people to suggest that human beings first evolved in Africa:-

 

“But no animal compulsion stands alone in the debate of our instincts. And so I return to my second assertion, that civilization is a product of evolution and an expression of nature’s most ancient law. Far antedating the predatory urge in our animal nature, far more deeply buried than conscience or territory or society lies that shadowy, mysterious undefinable command of the kind, the instinct for order. And so, when a predatory species came rapidly to evolve its inherent talent for disorder, natural selection favoured as a factor in human survival the equally rapid evolvement of that sublimating, inhibiting, super-territorial institution which we call, loosely, civilization.”

…….

 

“The choice is not ours. Never to be forgotten, to be neglected, to be derided, is the inconspicuous figure in the quiet back room. He sits with head bent, silent, waiting, listening to the commotion in the streets. He is the keeper of the kinds.

 

Who is he? We do not know. Nor shall we ever. He is a presence, and that is all. But his presence is evident in the last reaches of infinite space beyond man’s probing eye. His presence is guessable in the last reaches of smallness beyond the magnification of electron microscope. He is present in all living beings and all inanimate matter. His presence is asserted in all things that ever were, and in all things that will ever be. And as his command is unanswerable, his identity is unknowable. But his most ancient concern is for order.”

……

 

“He does not care about you, or about me, or about man for that matter. He cares only for order. But whatever he says, we shall do. He is rising now, in civilization’s quiet back room, and he is looking out the window.”

 

Be careful. Be very careful.

Here are a couple of quotes from a book by James Lovelock “Homage to Gaia” (Gaia, for those unfamiliar with the term, in this instance, is not the Greek goddess of the Earth, but refers to the now accepted concept that life on Earth is a self regulating community of organisms interacting with each other and their surroundings. By doing so the Earth controls its surface and atmosphere to keep the environment always benign for life). 

 

However, I thought these quotes quite interesting:-

 

Ø  “If, in caring for people, we fail to care for other forms of life on Earth then our civilization and we will suffer. I wonder if in the 21^St Century, when the grim effects of global warming become apparent, we will regret the humanist bias that led us to continue to burn fossil fuel and plunder the natural world for food.

Ø  I soon found out that salinity greater than five percent damaged almost all cells, whether from animals or plants…… This knowledge stayed with me and when later the idea of Gaia, a self regulating Earth, first came to my mind I began to wonder how the salinity of the sea had always kept below five percent. It has done so for over 3 billion years, otherwise marine life would not have survived. We still do not know what regulates salinity……I still do not know how ocean salinity stays below five percent; it is one of the puzzles posed by the notion of Gaia.”

 

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We dig up huge quantities of minerals leaving massive holes in the earth; we rip up millions of hectares of trees, cleared to plant crops; we use millions of tonnes of chemical fertilizers to try and replenish the soils degraded by over cultivation; we diminish the natural flows of rivers with unfettered irrigation; we poison the rivers and the oceans with chemicals which are the runoff from the degraded soils; we discard millions of tonnes of plastic, which end up in the sea; we overfish certain species of fish causing havoc with the food chain. 

 

We must all recognise that what we do individually or collectively, has consequences. And these are totally out of our control - we might not like them when we see what eventuates.  

 

But that is ok. There is money to be made, you see. And money is paramount. Cash is king.

 

Remember that we humans, all 7.4 billion of us, are like a thin layer of dust on the surface of the Earth. If every human being suddenly disappeared the Earth would quickly recover from our depredations and return to it beneficent state and a natural peace would be restored to that beautiful “blue” planet so evocatively seen from the surface of the moon. 

The Plutocrat

Those of you who may regularly read what I write will be aware of my love of poetry and of a few references to writers and composers of verse.

In this instance I quote from the Lebanese American poet and author, Kahlil Gibran – he who wrote the well-known book, “The Prophet”.

This is a very short tale from another of Gibran’s books, “The Forerunner”:-

The Plutocrat

In my wanderings I once saw upon an island a man-headed, iron-hoofed monster who ate the earth and drank the sea incessantly. And for a long time I watched him. Then I approached him and said, “Have you never enough; is your hunger never satisfied and your thirst never quenched?”

And he answered saying, “Yes, I am satisfied, nay, I am weary of eating and drinking; but I am afraid that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.”

Anyone you know to which this may apply? 

We need some harmony and order in the world.

Nothing is permanent in Life. Nature is dynamic. Life is dynamic. It must be so, because everything that is alive, either moves, grows or in some way changes with time. Nothing stays as it was and trying to keep something as it was is similar to chasing rainbows. This is the order of Nature. The order that dictates that a salmon shall return to the river of its birth; the order inherent in the cycle of the seasons, in the ebb and flow of the tides; in the spiral galaxies, in the stars and their courses, the order can be sensed in the regularity of all turning things.

We may not appreciate it but the universe is unfolding as it should – there is order and harmony in the way things happen. Nature is harmonious in its entirety. When order is absent and chaos reigns then there are problems. And have you noticed something – we humans are the only creatures on the face of the earth that can actually create disharmony? An ant cannot create disharmony, because an ant will always behave as an ant should; it is in its nature to do so; likewise with parrots or any other creature that you care to name. They cannot be anything other than the way nature (evolution, creation?) has dictated they shall be. Human beings on the other hand can and often do behave in strange and violent ways that cause havoc with the natural order of things.

The natural world is in our genes, we are all from the earth; when we die we return to the earth. We need order, we need harmony – chaos disturbs us, we become afraid and then panic sets. We cannot, as a species abide disorder and lack of harmony in our lives. Disharmony creates fear of the unknown and unhappiness is the result. Just look around at the world.

But we cannot expect harmony and order in the world outside, if there is no order or harmony within each of us, within ourselves. I cannot be happy and have harmony and order in my life if I know that my wife, or my children are unhappy, because of some emotional ‘disorder’ or ‘dis-ease’. It disturbs me greatly that there are others who are unhappy; who lack harmony within themselves and therefore are instrumental in creating disharmony amongst others.

Harmony between people can only come about when we treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. Harmony and internal peace and order will only be evident when we remember the Law of Cause and Effect. That what we do will affect not only our families but also many others. Remember the ‘six degrees of separation’? Knowing six people is alleged to give us a link to everyone in the world. So we must treat all sentient beings in an ethical way because we are all interconnected – it is in our genes. To do anything else is to invite chaos and unhappiness.

Harmony and nature.

What is more natural than harmony? Nature, as in the natural world, is harmonious – its colours, its sounds, the very balance between the various elements of earth, water, air and fire (warmth) are just right for us and the animals and creatures that inhabit this beautiful planet. It is inherent in the music of the spheres. Why then do we humans seem to be hell bent on upsetting the balance, and creating disharmony? What can I, you, we, do about it?

The first thing to remember is that for there to be balance and harmony in our lives we need to be balanced and harmonious within ourselves. We must be balanced and in harmony with ourselves, with who we are – remember we are the most important person in our lives. Finding this balance, establishing harmony is a never ending process. It is a journey of discovery and the most important that we will ever undertake.

By harmony and balance I mean that we each understand our place in the world, that we are part of humanity, that we are not better (or worse), or more important, than anyone else. That each of us has our place and our contribution to make in the great scheme of things. I am not sure that we need to ask the question, “Why?” all we need to do is to do our best.

If there is no balance, no harmony in your life, how will you see the necessity to have harmony and balance in the world generally? You can’t! Some readers may have realised that I like poetry and if you follow the full meaning of the following lines I don’t believe that you or anyone will go too far off balance, or be too ‘disharmonised’:-

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. (John Keats)