There is a one-liner that states that there are two types of people in the world, those who divide people into two types and those who don’t. But there is no joking about the world’s ecosystem today. When it comes to our natural environment, we can indeed observe two types of approaches to managing it. On one hand, we see inspiring examples of respect for our earthy home, and on the other, we can find examples where such efforts are insufficient or lacking.

There is both good news and bad news for our natural environment today. Two types of opposing human activity can be found simultaneously at work in different countries: conservation and protection of the earth and the life on it, versus harmful exploitation at any cost. Which type will prevail?

Some say our present fragile world environment is close to a tipping point. To put it into perspective, we could ask ourselves the following questions:

1. How long did it take for the forces of nature to develop our planet from its primordial uninhabited state into a beautiful garden of plenty?
2. How long did it take humans to annihilate many of its living species, burn, deforest, contaminate, and pollute many parts of it?
3. How long do the experts say we have left before it becomes uninhabitable?
4. Is this normal? Was this meant to be?
5. Is it, as some scientists say, already too late to do anything about it?
6. What can each individual do to help change the situation?

Many of us have seen the breathtaking pictures from space of our blue planet floating like a jewel in the heavens. However, in many regions, up close, the picture is very different. An increasing proportion of humanity choose to live in a way that some scientists believe may soon render planet earth unsuitable for human life as we know it. In geological time, our human epoch is just a blink of an eye, but one in which we have become the greatest threat to plant and animal life on the planet, and therefore a threat to our own future survival. “O man, what hast thou wrought?”

It is natural or even beneficial for certain species to become extinct over time and for new ones to replace them. But the rate of extinction reported by naturalists during the last few decades is cause for alarm. The number of our fellow human passengers on the planet grows while the beings that comprise the ecosystem, the complex chain of life that supports us, are disappearing, believed to be a result of our modern way of life.

It is as if more and more of humanity today are living in a sealed technological box. The walls of this box are continually reinforced and maintained, at great expense, to isolate us from the natural environment, a world that can be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous, but a world that gave strength to our species. The healthy survival of the natural world offers the only hope for the future of all living things, including the human species.

Man, however, is unique among living species because he is a creature of flesh and blood imbued with a non-material animating spirit which originated as an unconscious spirit-spark in much higher place, a place to which each one has the potential to return after awakening to maturity here below.

The Author of the Grail Message explains that every individual has free will, the power of free decision, but no one is free to avoid the consequences of their free choices. We inevitably reap what we sow, many times over, as was clearly and beautifully expressed two thousand years ago by Jesus. The Grail Message reminds us that the Law of Sowing and Reaping, also called the Law of Returns, is universal and unavoidable. We can be happy when we have done something good to protect the environment for the benefit of all, but we should not complain when the consequences of our harmful choices eventually fall back upon the originators, as they surely will in all cases.

On earth, human beings remain physically dependent upon the ecosystem for survival. Paradoxically, it is the free choices of humanity that threaten its own future survival. The more artificial technology we bring to bear against the world around us, the more we cut ourselves off from our life-giving roots. More than this, we are dumping unsustainable amounts of toxic waste out of our technological box. For its own self-defence, nature seems to be trying to correct our errors by fighting back, using its only weapons, the so-called natural disasters.

But is any of this is within our individual power to change? After all, we can only really control our own self. But in the final analysis, not only are we able to change, we are told by scientists that it is an absolute necessity to do so. We still have the choice, but a time may come where the decision to change may be made for us, because, as the scientists have repeatedly told us, the forces of nature could take matters into their own hands to put things right again and heal the planet.

Many wealthy or influential individuals wish to leave some permanent mark upon the physical world, as a personal memorial or legacy to inspire the respect or gratitude of future generations. One can show genuine and sincere care towards future generations through a legacy that would not only benefit the lives of others but at the same time leave behind no physical traces in the environment at all!  We have indeed left an enduring legacy upon the face of the blue jewel planet but, up until now, it is not a legacy that would incur the gratitude of those who will come after us. Humanity in general has not only plundered and made ugly many parts of our temporary home and threatened many of the plant and animal species in it, we leave new diseases, new poisons, and permanent genetic damage in many of its remaining living things.

Wherever you live, arrival of spring and summer brings the unfolding and renewal of life. This provides the urge to examine and adjust the individual beliefs and desires that govern how we live and impact our planet. It is a time to reflect upon what we call nature, to respect our nurturing environment, learn from it, cooperate with it, and to take hold of the opportunity to help the forces of nature to develop beauty around us.

Take care…

Paul Bertram

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