Page 23 - ECOlogic Book

According to cosmologist, Brian Swimme, the DNA of the chimp is more than
98% identical to that of the human. While it’s important to celebrate that
link that keeps us alive to the natural world, we must also ask if we are
bound by it. There are differences, some more subtle than others. Swimme
notes that the slight difference between the pre-human primates and the
human is a liberation from tightly bound programs of activity.
Human consciousness”, he says, “doesn’t have an irresistible action plan to
proceed with.”

Thomas Berry reminds us that at the human level, genetic coding mandates
a further trans-cultural coding by which specific human qualities find
expression. This genetic coding, beyond, or perhaps within the physical
DNA, is carried forward through reflection, through education, and through
the choices we make from day to day. While one might wonder if events in
the Persian Gulf are but yet another manifestation of the dark side of our
link to wildness, another action of the dominance/submission pattern found
in our own forbears and in other species, there is a choice – or we devolve
by not choosing.

“The great decisions that are taking place on the planet today are primarily
made on the basis of language,” says Swimme, and he points out to us that,
“now every species, every ecosystem on the planet is within the habitat of
the human.”

Decisions that are being made in the Middle East, and for the biosphere as a
whole, are made through the medium of language, the most distinctively
human trait. One needs only to recall the congressional debates in January
of this year to be reminded of that. We can choose the words we say. We
can choose the fate of the world. We can choose the direction of our
evolution. And while it’s increasingly important that we not lose our
wildness, which dwells in the roots of our identity with other species, we
must likewise not lose our most recently acquired ability to question, to
discuss, to reframe, to see things from a more comprehensive perspective.

I do not know whether or not I smell like a grandmother. I’m afraid to ask.
But I’m glad my son is marrying into a family that knows that grandmothers
smell different; one that still has access to the ancient wisdom of scent. It
reminds me to deepen my own awareness of the airborne communications of
other life forms. It connects me to other species. And I’m glad that I’m a
human, burdensome as this responsibility can sometimes be, for as Arne
Naess once said, “We are much greater, deeper, more generous and capable
of dignity and joy than we think!”
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