Being a deeply human being of the Earth

We are unsure who we are or why we are here, and we have been struggling with that question for almost 3000 years. There will be no peace of mind until we get a basic understanding on this matter, so therefore we must strive to move ahead.

Here are six points to consider in order to move closer to an understanding of yourself and your role on Earth:

  1. You obviously have great powers and potential, but you do not use them rightly. The capacity of a human is greatly underestimated and underutilized, and we can say that the task is to find your ecological self which is a wide concept because through that you will be able to understand your role better. This finding of your own ecological self is entirely of your own making. Only you can decide what that will be.
  2. When we become mature we probably can not avoid identifying ourselves with all the other living beings that are here, and find intense empathy with all other living beings. The simplicity, the connectedness and the beauty of it all will strike you as convincing.
  3. We must seek a wider maturity of the self and include nature in a new concept of an ecological self, in the totality of all living beings. The ecological self is a wide and deep self and it is to be found in an environmental setting.
  4. Life is fully realized in ever increased selfrealization, and the fullest possible selfrealisation is extremely deep and broadly based. Selfrealisation is to see the ultimate being or your God face to face and to understand the totality of the cosmos. This also means naturally suppressing your own ego so that your mature self may emerge.
  5. The process of identification with others in the widest sense is hindered if we hinder the selfrealisation of all other creatures, meaning live and let live, meaning seeking the oneness of all life. So selfrealisation for all is the task ahead of us, working on yourself and letting others do likewise.
  6. The challenge of today is to make possible the joyful existence for all. We must not outdo others in competition, but show care for others and embrace the world. What we must try is to have people be inclined to engage in beautiful acts, to seek and find the immense richness of  free natural behaviour and landscapes.

If we can achieve deep personal realism, we can find right behaviour related to ethical environmentalism.

Adapted from Arne Naess Thinking like a mountain, NSP

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