One of the main reasons the world faces a global environmental crisis is the belief that we human beings are somehow separate from the natural world in which we live, and that we can therefore alter its physical, chemical and biological systems without these alterations having any effect on humanity.

Sustaining Life challenges this widely held misconception by demonstrating definitively, with the best and most current scientific information available, that human health depends, to a larger extent that we might imagine, on the health of other species and on the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems.

 We need them to survive, but they don’t need us at all.

This fundamental truth however, is largely lost to many of us. Rather, we humans generally act as if we were totally independent of Nature, as if we could do without most of its creatures and the life-giving services they provide, as if the natural world were designed to be an infinite source of products and services for our use alone and an infinite sink for our wastes.

Death is a natural event for all living things. It comes to everyone.  Death can arrive at anytime and puts an end to our body, but it does not destroy our soul.

The presence of Supreme Intelligence directing creation may not be demonstrable to the physical sense perceptions or to a mind firmly grounded in the mechanistic theory.  Yet it is not a scientific “fact” that God does not exist, nor is it a “fact” that miracles are frauds.  These are opinions held be certain groups, but while opinions may be very intriguing to those who hold them, they demonstrate nothing; they neither prove nor disprove anything.

Opinion is the antipode of wisdom.

There are many ways by which a person can deprive themselves of nature’s benevolence.

They may disobey the rules of health because of ignorance, which is unfortunate but not reprehensible. They may be the victim of superstition, which causes him to cling to false doctrines or suffer from the popular prejudices of the medical profession.  They may lack the courage to face emergencies. For example, delaying having ailments diagnosed because we fear the verdict.  Or they may also be under a pressure of conditions which impel them to sacrifice their own well-being in the service of something or someone which he regards as greater or more important than himself.

There is no man alive actually qualified to disprove the existence of God. There are two philosophies of medicine: the primitive or superstitious, and the modern or rational.  Here is a very broad, unqualified statement.  And, the inference is unavoidable.

Previous to the Renaissance, there was nothing but superstition; subsequent to the Renaissance, nothing but rationality! The word soul has no meaning in the biological systems of today.

While most will probably grant (for lack of knowledge) that “primitive” is synonymous with “superstitious,” we are living too uncomfortable to be quite certain that “modern” is a synonym for “rational.”

The Universal medicine is wisdom, the only cure for ignorance which is the Universal disease.

It seems like a grave mistake to implant in the minds of the present generation such an attitude of utter superiority over the past and complete self-sufficiency towards the present.

Under such conditions there is no future; and where there is no future, there is no reason for life. Our very lives depend on addressing this challenge with all our creativity and will, so that we do not deprive future generations of the opportunity to benefit from Nature’s wealth.

Having evolved as part of the Web of Life we remain emeshed within it.  We do not float above the biosphere in some higher spiritual or techno-specific plane.  Life swarms around us, and even in us.

For many reasons, not least our own well-being, we need to take better care of the rest of Life.

Live and Learn. We All Do.

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