The Curse of Man

A recent discussion with a friend about various topics surrounding the faults of man such as materialism, narcissism, selfishness, etc has made me want to write this blog.

I'm not going to bother being grammatically correct here because tonight is not the time I have the effort to bother doing so, so if some of this does not make complete sense I apologise in advance. I will merely be typing what comes to mind.

I remember watching the first season of True Detective and like many others was blown away by Matthew McConaughey's character Rust Cohle and his total nihilistic attitude towards life. It has been one that I have had for a while, believing that humans are the ultimate parasite on this planet and while we think we are advancing as a species we are merely creating our ultimate demise, and the best thing to do for the remaining species and the environment, as well as the planet, is to simply become extinct, something that should have already happened but due to our extreme desperation to live forever we have surpassed our expiry date.

Which raises the question; throughout evolution did we really become too self-aware or is self-awareness a good thing that can drive people to become a better species?

Our consciousness causes many people a myriad of problems such as sentience, arrogance and self entitlement among many others. We as a species have evolved into selfish beings that focus solely on ourselves with little to no care for others, whether human or not. We destroy everything around us and plough through natural resources like we have an infinite amount, and that the Earth will continuously replenish what has been taken.

I quote Rust Cohle here; "Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself - we are creatures that should not exist by natural law..." We act in ways that go against the natural order such as constant destruction of the environment and creating military weapons to drop on other countries, killing millions. There is no other species on Earth that causes as much death and disease as we do yet somehow humans have the belief that we are the superior and most intelligent species when true intelligence and superior consciousness comes from knowing how to co-exist with nature, something we are rapidly moving away from, if we ever truly had that mindset.

Technology can largely be to blame as it has created a world of narcissism where people only care about themselves and believing the world revolves around them, and that no matter the harm and destruction they cause, as long as it benefits them the ramifications are irrelevant. Such as littering (not having to carry waste around and dumping it because someone else is paid to clean it up) and constantly consuming products sold in plastic wrapping without realising plastic never breaks down and has huge negative impacts on the environment and other species. Humans seriously lack empathy and compassion which proves yet again why we are not even remotely close to being considered an intelligent species, let alone a superior one. And then the mindset of there even being a superior species is absurd and laughable. Having the mindset of 'superior species' automatically spells trouble as it negates the important 'eco' mindset of living in harmony with the other species on this planet, equality not just between humans but between nature and other animals. That is when we can truly be at peace and evolve as a species to a higher level of consciousness and develop real intelligence.

The education system is also largely to blame as it teaches children from a young age what to think as opposed to how to think, stripping them of their imagination and empathy. Telling them what society considers as right and wrong, instead of allowing them to apply common sense. I believe questioning is far more important than answering, and philosophy is something that should be taught in every school. It is about asking questions, regardless of whether than question provides an answer or not, as it allows free thought that a vast majority of adults lose once they have been molded into a unquestioning drone that follows everyone else blindly believing the system is working.

Also another great fault is killing and consuming animals and animal products. First of all we need to realise that humans are in fact animals, yet it is considered morbid and wrong to kill another human and consume them, yet it is completely acceptable to butcher an animal that has no wish to die and consume it. Why should there be any difference? It's like people being outraged over the Chinese Yulin Dog Meat Festival (and rightfully so!) but yet having a steak for dinner that night. The killing of domesticated animals that we keep as pets is considered wrong because they are animals we are told is acceptable to love from a young age but there is no empathy or compassion towards cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, sheep, etc. We are also the only species that continues to drink milk once we past infancy and we accept the idea of drinking milk from a cow as completely normal, but we don't drink our own mother's milk at 25 years old now do we? Because that's wrong, so we support the slaughtering of another species to continue consuming something we have no need to consume, because we are force fed incorrect information by the system telling us that it is the only reliable source of calcium, which is incorrect. There are many other high sources of calcium other than milk yet people blindly follow what society considers the norm, once again unable to think for themselves because they have been taught what to think.