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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's monthly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
Thirty Four: The Indifference of Nature
Stand
back and look at the universe as a whole. What do you see? On the
best scientific hypothesis now available, the universe is made up
of matter and energy, and is, on the micro level, quite chaotic.
Chance rules. There is no intention behind the universe, no mind
that has willed things for the best. The laws of nature are contingent
upon the universe being what it is, and it might, metaphysically
speaking, have been quite different. In vain do we look for Providence
in the workings of nature. Earthquakes, mud slides, microbes, carnivores,
floods and accidents make things worse for human beings pure and
simple. They deliver undeniable blows to our plans, families and
lives. What good is there in these things? None, to my reckoning.
Equally,
we might ask what evil there is in these things. The natural disasters
that strike us down are not always our responsibility. The tree
that falls on a pedestrian intends no harm. It simply obeys the
law of gravity. The SARS virus is just trying to make a living and
will spread where it can for its own survival. The tornado gives
no thought to the destruction it causes, for it is we who see destruction
in the clouds.
In
geological time, there has been a parade of species marching through
the pages of Natural History. They come into being and go out of
being with alarming rapidity, though some life forms find a shape
so stable that they remain essentially unchanged for millions of
year. The Trilobites are a good example, but they, too, eventually
went the way of the Giant Sloth, whose term on earth was much shorter.
Nature does not care about itself, needs to take no care for itself,
and is supremely indifferent to all that happens within it.
Nature
wishes us no harm, nor any benefit, either. The vaunted "dominant
species on earth" is just another species in the parade, and
will have its run. Only time can say whether this species will last
as long as the Trilobites or the Giant Sloth. As long as we are
able, we will strive to endure, to exist, and to propagate our species.
I am sure we will go down fighting. Yet it is our fight, and we
fight it for ourselves and our species. Nature, being indifferent
to us, will not deign to fight. It is no good complaining about
this. There simply are no hidden silver linings in disasters. We,
too, are part of nature and will run the course, just as we shall
all continue to live until our bodies give out on us. This is not
good, not bad, but simply the way it is for mortals, no matter how
long their lives may be. Our job is to make things better for ourselves
and for others while we live. Nature will take care of the rest,
without a care of its own.
.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated mid July 2003
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