17 APRIL 2023 WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE DO

I have just finished reading the final book in Peter Wohlleben’s trilogy, The Secret Wisdom of Nature. This has brought to mind the famous words by the often quoted, Jesus, from the Christian bible. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Human beings have allowed their egos free reign. This has resulted in utter chaos and has left our planet in a sad and despicable condition – and an uncertain future.

There is so much that we do not know, about the ground beneath our feet and about the ocean depths. There are species that we have yet to discover and they ALL play an important role in Nature’s perfect balance. Still, we go about our lives oblivious to the damage we cause; and even when that damage is pointed out to us, we continue doing what we have done. We have made the economy the god of our present day world, to the detriment of those other lives we depend on. Many of those lives are rarely seen. Some avoid humans altogether. (Can you blame them?) Some are nocturnal. Some are too small for our eyes to notice or they are hidden beneath the soil. Others are insects, which most people lump into one category that they do not like; and they exterminate them. They do not realize how vitally important invertebrates are to the interconnectedness of all life. Many of them are decomposers – and we need decomposers.

We continue to deceive ourselves, and each other, into believing that we are “managing” our forests or “culling” our wildlife. We erroneously choose to protect one species over another. We continue to roll over and disc vast areas of earth with heavy machinery, compacting the soil and destroying the millions of organisms that live within it. We have “controlled” burns; irreverent of the life that exists within those ecosystems.

Will we ever let go of our desire to manipulate the world around us? Can we ever concede to the higher wisdom of Mother Nature herself? Instead of fighting the natural world, can we learn to live in harmony and balance? Can we admit that we do not know what we are doing?