(Originally published January 1, 2009)
We wake up to a new year today and wonder at its possibilities.Well, actually, 2009 is just a number we assign to a space of 365 days, based on a calendar created ages ago to commemorate a life which only spanned 33 years. It's all pretty arbitrary when you think about it.
The earth and its inhabitants have been around far longer than the average human brain can comprehend. In the grand scheme of things, we humans are pretty tiny and ineffectual. Sure, we can build huge monuments and hold back the flow of water through dams and dykes. We can invent things which help us control our environment as much as possible in order to make our existance simpler and easier. But when a tsunami or a hurricane strikes, when ice and snow destroys our electrical supply and our means of communication, when illness takes huge groups of humanity and snuffs out their lives, we must put aside our arrogance and accept our place in the Big Picture.
We as a species have struggled and climbed to the top of the food chain on this planet, often while wiping out other living populations as we ascended. Yet we must understand that even our powerful domination can be usurped, and that we, too, may be eliminated eventually as the panorama of life in the universe unfolds.Life continues, season after season, whether Wall Street rises or falls, whether you upgrade your posessions or not, whether you achieve the position you feel you deserve or remain where you have always been. We are temporary and small in the web of the universe, but it is nonethless exciting to be part of it all.
Let's try to make this next 365 day period one in which we seek to connect with life around us and to see the beauty and fragility in all of it. It is a miracle that we are here at all, and an even greater miracle that we have persevered to become an intelligent and active force for change on Earth.
Use your position wisely and compassionately this year. Spend time learning about people and places you are not familiar with already. Share your time and resources to promote a better life for all creatures around you. Plant something and watch it grow as the weeks and months pass you by. Love without expecting anything in return. Laugh every day.
Happy New Year, my friends.
We wake up to a new year today and wonder at its possibilities.Well, actually, 2009 is just a number we assign to a space of 365 days, based on a calendar created ages ago to commemorate a life which only spanned 33 years. It's all pretty arbitrary when you think about it.
The earth and its inhabitants have been around far longer than the average human brain can comprehend. In the grand scheme of things, we humans are pretty tiny and ineffectual. Sure, we can build huge monuments and hold back the flow of water through dams and dykes. We can invent things which help us control our environment as much as possible in order to make our existance simpler and easier. But when a tsunami or a hurricane strikes, when ice and snow destroys our electrical supply and our means of communication, when illness takes huge groups of humanity and snuffs out their lives, we must put aside our arrogance and accept our place in the Big Picture.
We as a species have struggled and climbed to the top of the food chain on this planet, often while wiping out other living populations as we ascended. Yet we must understand that even our powerful domination can be usurped, and that we, too, may be eliminated eventually as the panorama of life in the universe unfolds.Life continues, season after season, whether Wall Street rises or falls, whether you upgrade your posessions or not, whether you achieve the position you feel you deserve or remain where you have always been. We are temporary and small in the web of the universe, but it is nonethless exciting to be part of it all.
Let's try to make this next 365 day period one in which we seek to connect with life around us and to see the beauty and fragility in all of it. It is a miracle that we are here at all, and an even greater miracle that we have persevered to become an intelligent and active force for change on Earth.
Use your position wisely and compassionately this year. Spend time learning about people and places you are not familiar with already. Share your time and resources to promote a better life for all creatures around you. Plant something and watch it grow as the weeks and months pass you by. Love without expecting anything in return. Laugh every day.
Happy New Year, my friends.
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