What are we doing here?

After centuries of existence humans still don't agree on exactly how we got here, what we're doing here, why things unfold as they do, or what happens when we die. Isn't that something?

There are now over 8 billion humans sharing a sacred life experience together on Planet Earth. This means that within our shared context, there are over 8 billion unique life experiences happening at the same time. That’s not even counting the experiences of Life’s non-human biodiversity.

No living being on this planet is exactly like another (barring genetically identical organisms). Consider, for instance, that there's a 1 in 4 trillion chance of any one human being born…of you being born. Even identical twins have their own unique characters, dreams, and ways of doing things that only each of them can.

Yet as diverse and unique as Life in general and humans are, we are far from being disconnected. All of Life shares the same basic components and follows the same core biological rules, including humans. This fact suggests that we—right along with the rest of Life—may have come from a shared ancestor.

Let that soak in: As diverse as it is, Life as a whole—including humans—is very likely all related.

And on Planet Earth, Life (including humans) is irrevocably entangled. This means that an action by any part of this Life impacts the quality of life for all the other parts. We are inescapably interconnected and dependent on each other, not on a species-by-species basis but on a life-as-a-whole basis. We flourish or fail together as one entangled organism we call "Life." There is no separation among the various aspects. The only question is which way we choose to go (flourish or fail) and how fast we get there.

Humans are the most impactful species on Earth and it is easy to argue that we are also the most harmful. To date, the actions of modern humans during our short existence here (approximately 300,000 years on the 4.5 billion year old Planet Earth) have driven at least 900 known species to extinction, and scientists believe that thousands more likely went unrecorded. Given this, it's easy to argue that human choices and actions are destroying the breadth of Life's biodiversity and altering its innate, intricate balance in harmful ways, more than any other species.

It’s also easy to see that humans play a large role in determining whether Life on Earth flourishes or collapses. To some people, driving a single species to extinction through our actions might seem trivial weighed against whatever benefit they aspire to achieve through the actions, yet it is a form of genocide. Without that species our sacred garden is diminished, something is thrown out of balance (even if we can't immediately see it as such), and life on Earth will never be as diverse as it was when that species was still in it. To me, that is not trivial and in fact can be called human-driven species genocide. Driving 900 (and counting) species to extinction through our activities is nothing less than elective human-driven species genocide and in my view can be considered criminal behavior.

I share this to raise awareness, to inspire right action, and to facilitate a course correction in our human ways. We are co-beneficiaries of this sacred Earth garden, not its sole heirs. As such we are obliged and obligated to behave in ways that uphold the essential sovereignty, balance and harmony of Life we share it with.

Through our choices, each one of us contributes to the world we experience and to the one we pass on to future generations. We can't know how much time we have here, but we can decide what to do with the time we have. What do we want to share? What imprints do we want to leave behind? What impact do we want to have? What movements can we embark on now to uphold the sacredness and diversity of this sacred Life we enjoy here on Planet Earth?

These aren’t hard questions, but they are imperative ones that every human should answer for themselves. One day we will all be dead and a new generation will be living here. Our actions today become our parting sentiment to them tomorrow. What do you want those sentiments be?