Homo Sapiens Sapiens?,
Just how smart are we or maybe the question should be what are we doing with the abilities that we have as sentient beings who are supposedly far more advanced than cells, amoeba, plants, and animals? Our scientific name as a species is homo sapiens sapiens. But are we living up to the title and the distinction?
We have the capacity to see ourselves in the mirror of our own self-awareness.
We are the so-called species that is sapient (wise). So, what’s up with all the greed, competition, killing, and inhumane life style? Worse yet we are DOUBLY sapient (sapiens sapiens) which carries with it even more responsibility to the universe, not just our favorite sports team or neighborhood. In other words we are conscious of our consciousness. Consciousness derives from the root ‘con-scire’ which basically means ‘that with which we know’.
So what’s gone wrong here?
As we end year 2009 (it looks like we will make it) there are wars everywhere. So what’s new you ask? What’s new is that we have the capability to destroy the planet. We have the ability to poison the oceans and the land to where we’ll never recover. We’re now more than SIX BILLION strong, or should I say weak? The resources that we each require means we need more and more of the resources of this planet and unless we make some major sociological and philosophical changes, it’s not going to work out very good.
And, we don’t have long to dilly-dally around with changing our attitudes and life style.
As you plan your 2010 calendar, make room for some deeper contemplative space. Set aside some time to step off the treadmill of DOING and dig into some deeper BEING because in order to change the world, we’re going to have to start with INDIVIDUAL changes- that would be YOU!
And me, of course.
