A virus with shoes?

Common misconceptions based on the illusion of separation.

People suck, and that's my contention. I can prove it on a scratch paper and pen. Give me a fucking Etch-a-sketch, I'll do it in three minutes. The proof, the fact, the factotum. I'll show my work, case closed. I'm tired of this backslapping "aren't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are.

Bill Hicks

Rant in E-Minor (1997)

Bill Hicks is one of my favourite comics. Raw, insightful, unafraid to slap his audience in the face with their own ignorance and have them laughing while he did it. I can understand the sentiment he expressed here; I think many of us can.

For any of us that are sensitive to the current state of the world, it may be easy to say that humanity is the source of all that is wrong on this Earth. We are overwhelmed by images of warfare, pollution, ancient rainforests reduced to stubs, oceans filled with plastic. These images create an instinctive reaction: despair, hopelessness, anger and cynicism. The more you love this earth the more painful it is to see these images. It is easy then to hate our fellow man, who appears to care little and does nothing. Many throw their hands up in the air and say, “what can I do?” The problem is too big.

Bill’s perception was so pertinent because we are behaving in the typical way a virus is believed to behave. It feeds off its host until the point it kills the very source that gives it life.

Indigenous people learned through long experience that living sustainably was essential to a successful relationship with nature. Some found out the hard way. Just look at the history of the inhabitants of Rappa Nui (Easter Island). Take too much, destroy your environment, and it will spell the end of your civilization.

Is it too late for us?

No, it's not. This earth is capable of feats of regeneration that would surprise us. Humanity is also capable of incredible resourcefulness in the face of adversity. So where does the hope lie? Well, it's as simple as it is complex. The answer lies within us. I'm not trying to be obtuse, I mean it literally, for we are nature, we are the earth. How can we possibly not be?

Look at our history, our evolutionary pathway. We are so deeply bound in nature. No separation, no division. Then why are we destroying ourselves? We have forgotten who we are. We have learned to see ourselves as separate from the world around us. Our minds are so powerful that if we believe we are separate and if this belief is maintained over generations, then we will create it as our experience. This will become our reality, so strongly ingrained, it will mean that we will see the idea that we are a part of the continuum of nature as ridiculous, or at least so alien it will be impossible to relate to in any meaningful way.

Yet, that intimate connection continues. We may have forgotten our connection to the earth, but the earth has not forgotten its connection to us.

Nature is always speaking to us. It talks to our body through the rhythms and cycles of our physical nature. It sings to our soul through the sounds of the birds in the trees, the waves crashing against the shore, the deep boom of thunder and the drum beat of rain. It offers its poetry to our eyes in the setting of the sun, the twinkle of the stars, the changing colour of autumn leaves, the blooming of a flower. We only need to remember how to feel, listen to and see its message. If we find a quiet space, we can tune into be aware of our body. We can hear its heartbeat, the pulse of life within us.

We are the Earth, and the Earth is us. No other truth exists.

Our behaviour towards the earth is a symptom of our separation consciousness. Once we remember the earth within us, the dream transforms, our perception transforms, our connection becomes present as a reality of our daily experience. Our relationship with the earth becomes renewed. We desire to protect, nurture and celebrate our connection. It is something so sacred, so beautiful. Then paradise on earth becomes a vision we know as attainable, and if we participate in that vision, it becomes inevitable.