Our notion of Good and Bad may have to change.
Have you ever heard of Toxoplasma gondii? Humans, cats, and mice share a common parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and this parasite faces a challenge. The T. gondii in mice must infect a cat before it can reproduce.
To make cat and mouse collaborate goes against nature. The bacteria have a solution: they make the mouse attracted to the cat's smell. You might think this is a dirty trick, but it works. The result, of course, is that the cat eats the mouse, and the bacteria can reproduce. The tiny bacteria are in control. The poor mouse is marching to her death, not even aware of what is going to happen to her. We, humans, would consider the death of the mouse as “bad”. It is even the worst thing that could happen to it!
Mother Nature might see things differently. Her aim is that each species can find its place in the world. She sacrifices some mice to make room for Toxoplasma gondii. If, someday, the mice become an endangered species, cats will go hungry. Mother Nature, in her endless wisdom, will protect the mice and restore balance among the cat, the mouse, and T. gondii. For Toxoplasma gondii, this is a lifesaver. For the cat, it's an easy meal. We can't blame the mice for having mixed feelings about the whole thing.
Toxoplasma gondii can also be found in humans. (“Toxoplasma infection is classically associated with the frequency of schizophrenia, suicide attempts or “road rage”). How can we be sure that the main reason Homo sapiens survived for 300,000 years is not that nature maintained a balance between us and our environment? We may have been the cause of the death of innocent animals, and some humans may have been sacrificed for the survival of some animal species.
We may have to reconsider what we call Good and Bad.
Some questions come remain?
- How does T. gondii know that it needs a cat to reproduce?
- What do bacteria know about smell?
- How can tiny bacteria identify what a cat is?
- Can Toxoplasma gondii think?
- And the main one: Who decides what happens on planet Earth?
Nature also keeps a balance between animals and plants.
The African koudous eat acacias. During a drought, they consume acacias to the point that the trees might not survive. Mother Nature’s solution is to make the acacias produce more tannin than the koudous’ liver can process. The plant kills the animal. The decision does not come from the acacias or their awareness of the koudous’ liver limits. There must be a mastermind somewhere in the immaterial world controlling everything.
This is way above our heads.
Could human lives also be governed by something beyond our imagination? Our ideas of good and evil may not always apply.
The “Bad” can help us understand the “Good”.
When you break a cookie into pieces, you see the pieces and the connections between them. We focus on the pieces because they have a shape, color, and taste. They belong to our physical world. This is familiar territory. We overlook the links between the pieces.
Let’s see what happens when the human species divides into smaller groups. Each group fights for what it believes is its own survival. They forget that they all belong to the same species.
The “bad” happens when we focus on individual parts and ignore the connections between them. A country might start a war with another country. A religion might fight another religion. They forget what unites them because it would require a higher level of awareness.
How does science fit into the picture?
Science starts with analysis. It breaks down the world into small parts. However, science often overlooks the connections that extend beyond the physical realm. You can’t rely on science alone; it must be linked to some form of consciousness. Just look at all the killing machines science has produced. Scientific thinking needs to be guided by non-physical feelings. “Science without consciousness is the ruin of the soul” said Rabelais.
This indicates that our understanding of “Good and Bad” should come from a higher state of consciousness. At that level, we all share the same world. We are connected through our souls and have moved beyond the isolation of our bodies.
At a lower level of consciousness, we lose the general view and can only see the many separate pieces. We sink back down to the material world.
Instead of looking for “Good” and “Bad” outside us,
We might need to search within ourselves
for a higher level of consciousness.
10-Good and Bad
QUESTION6.com
We,The People, are not happy
The two seeds
Our concept of “Life” could use some improvements: Do you think the sun could be alive? Is it too hot? What is the maximum temperature that life could endure? How can we look at the sky and see it as a graveyard? Could the solar system, the Milky Way, and billions of other galaxies also be considered “alive”.
We were told that humans will dominate the universe with their intellect. That could make the Martians smile politely when they see that we can’t even control our own viruses inside our own bodies.
A Martian may ask: “What is a tree? I take two tiny seeds. They are identical. If I plant one in the ground, a tree will grow. If I break the other seed into pieces and plant them, nothing will grow.”
What distinguishes a tree from no tree? It doesn't originate from atoms. They are the same in the seed and in the fragments. Only the spacing between the molecules differs. Could the tree be concealed in the so-called ‘empty’ space between the molecules? If we can't find an explanation in the physical world, should we explore the non-material world?
Let’s put the seeds back in their context.
We look at the seed like we would look at a picture from a film. We assume that our two seeds can be separated from their cycle. We assume that time does not matter.
We may need to reconsider how we view nature. In the past, the atoms making the seed were following their own cycles. The seed represents one step in a long process. It took thousands of trees, producing millions of seeds over millions of years, to create those two seeds. What matters is what happened before and what will happen afterward. The connection between the atoms of the seed results from the journey each atom has taken to be there together, at the same place, at the same time. Breaking the seed disrupts a highly organized choreography that no human brain could have orchestrated.
What happens when we eat a seed? Why doesn’t a tiny tree start growing in your stomach? The only explanation is that your digestive system breaks down the seed and recycles its atoms. The process begins in your mouth. You isolate the atoms and insert them into a different cycle. Your body is made from recycled vegetables! We start by breaking the cycles that create a plant and recycle the remains. Think of the compost in a corner of the garden. That’s the idea. Our body recycles what is dead. We are killers!
This applies to everything around us. Before a man made the first chair, he must have had the idea of a chair. Then he broke the cycle of the atoms of some trees and implemented his idea into the material world. Different ideas of chairs evolved into various chairs. As we moved from chairs to more elaborate creations, we developed the use of mathematics. Our thinking got separated from the material world. Another door was opened to human thinking. Could we use mathematics to unite science with religion? Please keep us informed if you ever find out. We want to know.
Martians and human bodies result from deviations in the cycles of atoms. Some atoms come from the Earth. Some may come from other planets.
Imagine that someday humans can (maybe with some help from the Martians) control the cycles of atoms. They could create objects made of any material they choose by inserting a little deviation in the cycles of atoms. After use, they only need to let the atoms return to the cycles of their choice. That may seem completely crazy. This is what our grandparents said about going to the moon.
Imagine being deaf and watching people dance. Wouldn’t you think they are crazy?
The human condition is even more puzzling. We are not aware of the music we are dancing to. If you find this hard to believe, examine a seed and explain how it can connect matter and time to grow into a tree.