With the prolonged flu that ran in the house (well, everybody got it in turns), and amidst the occasional coughs and nose-blowing, I remembered an interesting hypothesis made by some scientist (I can't recall his name) about living in tune with the rhythm of nature.
His hypothesis stated something like this: The reason that more and more sickness and diseases appear in this world is due to human not living in tune with the rhythm of nature, hence breaking the natural harmonic sequence of life, cycle of survival.
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Past: We adapt to nature
In the past, life is simple. Seasons come and seasons go. Life is adapted to how season changes. Human work when sun rises, rest when sun sets (well, this is conditioned on we are non-nocturnal animals, hehe). In longer terms, human sow seeds and harvest according to seasons, and rest during winter, where the force of nature is too strong to withstand. In human dietary, people eat the local food, according to what is available during certain seasons and periods. Activities in life are also done according to the suitability of seasons.
Present: We make nature adapt to us
With the advance of technologies, better economic transformation, better transport and communication, more integration of different nations hence better mobility, we expand beyong our small circle of 'local commnunity'. We become global. Human work all day long, all year long, with the comfort of air-conditioned work place, we can afford to work even in the worst condition of weather. Also, all year long, we can eat whatever food from whatever place in the globe, due to efficient transportation and international trade. We travel to many different places, any time, any where.
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Though his hypothesis sounds very radical, and there is also a tinge of anti-globalisation feel in it, I found that, there is actually some plausible argument in it. True, with the growth of the human race, we are now exposed to a multitude of different cultures, lifestyle, and knowledge. We are becoming global. It is also true that we have, to some extent, neglected the needs to listen to the nature. We now live our life according to how we want it to be, and we don't really have to take too much consideration about following whatever rhythm of nature, because we are somehow "shielded" from it by our own various creations of technologies. We have let nature become irrelevant to us. Nature becomes something that we can set aside as some "issues", not as part of our life. Nature becomes something that we can find "substituttes" for it, should some resources run out, or some livings extinct.
I am not blaming technologies, nor demanding people to revert to totally pre-historic life. I am just wondering, in this fast tempo of life that we are currently leading, do we have time to stop and listen to the rhythm of life? Do we still realize that we are still a part of nature? Are we still be able to survive by means of nature, if someday we have to dispose everything human-made in our 'society'?
Suddenly, I found we are so far from the origin we come from. The same earth that nurtures us from the earlier worlds is still there. But human has changed. I somehow feel a sense of loss, of something within, is it the connection to the rhythm of life? Do you, feel in your heart, the rhythm of the nature?
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5 comments:
It is so good to have back on line with your eloquent posts, YD.
I largely agree with this hypothesis. Humans evolved with a great capacity to reason in order to survive, but one must choose to use it, it is not automatic like instincts.
The present widely accepted paradigm is no longer to live with nature, but to use it up. This started with agricultural societies and has excelerated in the last few hundred years with the discovery of cheap engery (coal, then oil and gas). We are now mostly disconnected from even the need to use resources for survival, but instead are driven by economic theories that require unlimited growth and consumption. This is obliviously not a sustainable model as the world and the universe are in fact limited.
If we manage to extinguish our own species, as it appears we are bent on doing, nature will get along just fine without us. We are already incapable of feeding all the people alive today, living off resources that rightfully belong to future generations, and a catastrophic climate change of our own making is bearing down upon us.
It would be nice if we could learn to get along with nature instead. It does not require living a pre-historic existence, though life for those people was much better than modern people have convinced themselves to believe (we always tend to believe the way WE think and do things is best don't we?), but it will require opening our eyes and minds to this "rhythm of life" and changing the way we look at things and the values we attach to them.
I think history has already proven that hypothesis for another reason. All living things are adapted to their own environment, including human beings. As we keep pushing the envelope of what we consider "our environment", however, we expose ourselves to things to which we are clearly not adapted.
That's why epidemics occur. "Foreign" diseases get introduced into populations that aren't adapted to deal with it, and presto!
Look at how smallpox devastated the Native American. Look how the common cold has recently devastated some Amazon tribes. And now we have yet another mutated flu virus from China threatening us with disaster...
Mother Gaia keeps reminding us not to ignore her. Perhaps we need to listen again.
Indeed Moody. And those diseases are also adapting to their environment to find ways to attack us and defeat our medicines.
They also get help from some friends in biological warfare labs around the world -more than most people would care to know.
Upon further reflection in view of Moody's comments, I would also have to say that it is not so much disease that is promoted by modern lifestyles, but rather a degredation the natural environment, of our spirit, and value of human beings themselves.
Like the man falling from a high building, we, half way down, seem to keep yelling "so far so good".
Thanks panda and clark, oops, moody for the meaningful comments!
I think I will steal a phrase from panda... 'I will retreat into my cat basket and meow on all this for a time.'
Humans have evolved into (or rather, have always been) a self-centered species that think superiorly about self. We used to think the world revolves around us. Almost every old empires used to think that they are the center in the world. We dispute any existence of life forms in outer universe, other than us. We think individualisticly. Until now, we still think that we can control everything, including the much older, wiser force of nature. What fools.
Some consolation is to discover there are still people who care. people like you guys... young people like Low, who still smells the fragrance of nature and feels the heartbeat of the earth. (well, low, where are u? i demand your presence here. hahaha...)
erm.. i think i better retreat to my cat basket. my attention is alwys diverted on my way home. >_<
I have no choice but to adapt to the rythmn of nature when I go kayaking. The tide times table is like a 'bible or koran' that I have to consult and respect so that I know when the low and high tides are, for easy put-in and take-out. Otherwise long and/or difficult portages would be in order.
At sea, you'll have to follow the rythmn of the ocean swells and that of the weather to get back to shore safely. There are simply NO arguments! You 'go with the flow' and follow the rhythm and moods of nature! Such is the nature of the world and we a tiny speck in the vast oceans of the universe. Why struggle?
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