Sharing: Is Our Fear of Death Destroying Our Planet?

Just want to share this post I read through Facebook. Accepting the knowledge of our finite life allows us to live with a different concept of time - one that focuses on each moment. It also helps us to understand (I would use "rediscover") our connection to nature.

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Is Our Fear of Death Destroying the Planet?

There is a reason that despite the overwhelming evidence that our exponential, growth-based economic system is destroying the very foundations of life on the planet that change has still been hard to come by. The reason is not because of human greed. Greed, too, is a symptom. It’s not because of a competitive human nature. Humans are actually soft-wired for empathy. It’s not even due to some global conspiracy to rule the world. People just aren’t that capable. The reason we cannot “wake up” to the unsustainable nature of our way of life may be traced to our awareness of our finite life and the linear concept of time that it creates….

Accepting the knowledge of our finite life allows us to live with a different concept of time – one that focuses on each moment. It also helps us to understand our connection to nature. Like everything else, our bodies are subject to the natural lifecycle of growth, maturation, and decay. The current culture of death denial not only attempts to elevate humans above nature; it actually fuels a system that destroys nature as well. In the attempt to preserve our own life, we may actually destroy it.

What might an economy look like that instead of focusing on securing the future needs for some, it cared about meeting the current needs for all? What would happen if money was designed after nature in a way that it decayed over time? Perhaps instead of chasing the illusive reward of ever more money, we might focus on what is truly most important – things like clean water and nutritious food for our bodies, a healthy environment void of pollution and toxic chemicals, and sustainable ways of living on the planet. An abundant world is possible but only if we take yet another cue from nature by focusing on meeting the present needs of every human, animal, and plant on the planet. We must value life in all of its forms and create modes of living based on the principles of interconnectivity, empathy, and the love of life, allowing it to flourish in all of its diversity and beauty. If we begin to view each moment of our lives as the gift it truly is, we can finally shed this very real fear that holds us back from living our lives in a way that allows us to be present each and every moment. 

http://sustainableman.org/is-our-fear-of-death-destroying-the-planet/

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I guess it really is a matter of choice for us human beings, to realize that this kind of fear does destroy our earth. More than just changing our lifestyle, patronizing eco-friendly products (e.g. using rechargable batteries than non-ones), eating healthy; we need to change our mindset, change our perspective about life and death.