a topic too hot to touch

by the virgin terry

all earthly organisms are in competition for limited energy and other crucial requisite ‘resources’. the reward for winning is survival, and if one is (un?!)lucky, genetic survival into future generations.

i think most here agree that the best thing that could possibly happen for the prospects of biological diversity of future gaian life, however slim those prospects may now be (although certainly still ‘highly possible’, i think even dr. guy mc (is it hammer time again?!) must admit!) (sorry for my chronic unwieldy thought process / sentence structure) … the best thing for gaian life now would be for industrial civilization to drop dead instantly. that too, although highly unlikely imo, is still ‘highly possible’, i must admit! i digress. the point is, industrial civ. has got to go, the sooner the better for gaian life overall (but certainly not for the better of sheeple like us, in terms of our ‘long term’ survivability!).

what i’m trying to get at here is the crux of an inescapable dilemma some supposedly sentient beings like us face, regardless of how imminent or not, ‘doom’ is. that is, our own survival must invariably come at the cost of at least some other organisms. after all, there’s only so much energy and other requisite resources available on any isolated finite planet. we all must feed off of other organisms, to literally ingest their ‘flesh’, be it animal or vegetable, to survive.

the more enlightened one becomes in terms of awareness of the interconnectedness, the relationships shared by all gaian organisms, as well as a shared ‘sentience’ or consciousness, the more one must be struck by the absurdity and meaninglessness of this life. the idea that it’s ‘sacred’ is just that, an idea, convenient for sentient beings to have in order to value their own lives, arguably requisite to survival in the short and ‘long’ term.

if one isn’t too averse to facing harsh surrealities, one must quickly perceive that there’s inevitable conflict between loving one’s own life, and giving a surreal shit about the life of other gaian organisms. all blather about loving life that’s not your own pales in this harsh light, if one chooses survival over suicide, does it not..?! it’s only via rationalization (‘i’m such an infintessimal part of a vast problem that my suicide shall surreally make no difference to ‘the big picture’) that an enlightened one can justify not committing suicide asap.

sharp sigh. pause for discussion. all are invited to participate.