FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I have just had a thought that I hope is worth sharing. I was thinking about how we use our human brains. We are told we utilise only a small percentage of the brain's overall capacity, which means a great deal of it remains untapped potential. This awareness led me on to its actual structure namely billions of neurons making connections continuously. We are also told brain cells die continuously as well. Thus, the older we get the less able are we to function as fully as we did when those we used when young were active. However, we know as well that there are people who keep their minds stimulated, and retain a much greater number of active neurons than those who fail to stimulate them throughout their lives.
Having said that, I moved on to another thought, an analogy. I saw the possibility that the whole of humankind functions as if it were a single brain made up of billions of neurons. Each neuron is a single human brain in this analogy. In our present world, billions of neurons exist, but the majority remain untapped potential. Every death is equivalent to the loss of a vital brain cell, and millions die every day in our world through neglect by the active neurons, and lack of nourishment.
Where the brain is active, I saw a sad picture. Instead of concentrating on achieving our full potential, I see huge numbers of human minds trapped in myths, in pursuits providing only fleeting satisfaction, and a tendency now to escape into paranoia, despair, and oblivion in one form or another. The effects of these activities has resulted in humankind arriving at a point where vast numbers believe that death will give them what they wish for, namely true happiness forever.
We are in grave danger now of allowing everything we are to be destroyed for a myth. The few, who now hold the reins of power in our world, provide those of us living within their sphere of influence with a continuous flow of material goods. The result of this means that the resources of our earth are not shared amongst the whole of humankind, but directed towards only those with the means to purchase the goods. This applies, not only to material goods but applies to drugs to cure sickness and disease, medical facilities and education. This unfair distribution is defended vigorously by those with the wealth and know-how to do so, and the military machine never ceases its continual pursuit of better and more efficient weaponry. For every weapon made, some social good is discarded or never brought into general use through lack of funds.
The earth reflects our misuse of these resources. It gave us life, and we are stripping it bare in the pursuit of mythical happiness. Material goods, the ever-increasing desire to stave off death among the active areas of the brain of humankind and the indifference of the death and neglect of the untapped potential are leaving wounds on the earth. These wounds, unless tended to urgently, will bring about a disastrous future, if not for us, then for future generations. The earth's environment provides a home for humankind. It is not benevolent or caring of its inhabitants. Perhaps it does not matter one iota whether humankind survives or not. It is up to humankind to adapt to it, not the other way around. Try as we might to tame nature, nature in the end will always be the winner. We are of nature and were not as we have been erroneously led to believe created to hold dominion over nature. We work with it or we die. If we were using our brains properly, this would be obvious by now, but it still has not sunk in to many minds that this is the case.
I see one other major difficulty facing humankind as a single brain now. I think many human beings are somewhere in between a mental breakdown and a form of dementia. The former want the rest of the world to believe that the end is nigh, and are busy promoting this to all and sundry. Those who have succumbed to this sickness are trying to lead the rest of us towards the final battle between good and evil. After that, they believe the good will take over the earth, and a state of happiness will be established in a renewed earth by a god, which three major religions battle over for ownership. The latter are similar in that their dementia forces them to forget the world they live in now, and remember only the past until even that vanishes. Being trapped in the past, or believing in a myth, are equally dangerous to the well-being of the whole of humankind. The resultant paranoia produces human beings, most particularly in the case of the former, determined to win at all costs, and use whatever means available to do so – however terrible the effects on their fellow human beings.
This has been a difficult thought to express clearly but I hope I have succeeded. We are in danger now of being blinded by myths. It prevents us from facing the reality of our existence, and the achievement of our full potential. Hundreds of thousands die everyday because of it. Our earth is suffering because of it. Our relationships with each other are becoming fractured, and tribalism is emerging again as a powerful force for disunity. Intolerance, hatred and fear of the different are on the increase. It is never too late to stop and think what we are doing to ourselves. It does however take a great deal of courage to stand back and look at what we really are. The picture that emerges is not an attractive one. It is of a stunted creature, which contains within it an amazing number of abilities and it is throwing them away or wasting them on fruitless pursuits.
To bring this thought to a close, I can only repeat what I have just said in a slightly different way. It cannot be too late to stop and think about what we are doing. If it is, we are in danger of wiping ourselves of the face of the earth way before we will be forced to leave it by nature itself. Please, at least, consider the possibility.
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