We don’t like seeing things as a whole. As our brains constantly try to classify information according to the distinct aspects of the stimuli we derive from the world around us, we don’t. It needs to differentiate to group up the data. When a similar case happens, it can sift through the archived information to give efficient responses. We aren’t meant to stop and think holistically, nor aren’t designed to understand the complexity of the system we are born to… Degradingly, I have to point out, we are just another species in the Kingdom of Animalia; simple creatures that -maybe- accidentally formed a -relatively- more developed brain than the other species. Jaw-droppingly, we are only one of the 1.2-2 million species walking on earth that just happened to have the chance of becoming the most destructive of all. Scary, right? What is even more frightening is how we position ourselves within this complex system that we may never fully grasp with our tiny brains. In this little text, I’ll try my best to understand why our way of locating ourselves within our homeland is highly problematic by studying our relationship with the planet and how this relationship reflects the relationship we’ve created with the tangible and socially constructed realities. (And how we are the worst neighbours of all time.)
We love identifying ourselves as unique both as individuals of our species and as the species. Yet, do we know what constitutes an individual? What is the most common, or let’s say most adopted, theory of individuation? Why do we think dually upon our existence and the existence of the rest? And how egocentrically bizarre our way of dissenting ourselves from the world by thinking that we are forms containing a smaller cosmos within us is? We individuate ourselves by thinking that our very existence is constituted by particular matter, essence and form. Our way of being an individual rises from the idea that we are, by creation, don’t have any universals -common properties/principles found in all existing things. We all believe that we exist singularly. This discourse is a nominalist way of understanding ourselves. We reject that there is no universal property that all existing beings carry. This is a complete elimination of the idea that we are, in fact, a component and integrated part of nature and is the core fallacy that creates the exploitative lifestyle of human beings. The foundational idea prevails into a subconscious distinction of the self and humanity from the world, me/us, which problematically leads the person and the population to materialize everything around the world, them. The rest comes easy. After constituting the duality of human and subhuman, it is simple to see everything as objects rather than equal parts –if everything around the individual approves of this unspoken idea of superiority. So, thanks to some folks from Ancient Greece, Middle Age, and 17th century Europe, we now feel about ourselves as godly.
And is this way of situating ourselves as superiors to the rest of the world evident in socially constructed systems? You can bet it is. This understanding of ‘me and the rest’ and ‘us and them’ completely broke our natural bond with the creatures we share our planet with and, ideologically, the planet itself. The emphasis put on the human race as the highest stage of evolutionary achievement legitimizes the act of subordinating all other living things while giving it a controversial right of limitless exploitation. The best ideological and systematic example embodying this thought can be capitalism as it innately materializes all beings that may create capital. Capitalism depends upon the integrity of individualism. The commercial structure it promotes relies upon elevated individual freedoms such as acting upon desires -even though it toxically empowers the individual to go for more than needed. The dual understanding of creation and existence of all, therefore, is crucial for its success. Suppose an individual materializes another living entity as its desires get the best. In that case, capitalism can exploit this relationship the individual creates for its sustenance. Yet, I mustn’t antagonize the ideology as ideas only are intact if we give them space; our glorified wildness makes the problem. For instance, let’s think about how we go about agriculture. We think of soil as a lifeless material. At the same time, it is the home for various bacteria, viruses, insects, hyphae, and some mammals, reptiles, and amphibia. We deplete the soil’s nutrient value by monocropping and using pesticides and artificial fertilizers to protect these crops, which we already made prone to diseases by deterring the land’s biodiversity. We plant what we favor as we see the right within ourselves to alter the ground, we use artificial and toxic chemicals to protect the yield we obtain to supply the endless demand that is blind to its impact, we only care about soil’s health when it threatens our desires rather than the wellbeing of the species that call it home… This is also evident in how we construct cities, produce our gadgets and vehicles, use energy and water so thoughtlessly, even in how we purchase a coffee from Starbucks! We are indeed an invasive species.
In our socially constructed reality, we are undoubtedly civilized, modern, developed, and unique. Still, in nature’s reality, we are the only species that lost its control over the innate respect it has for the system and all of its components ferociously. We are all created from the same source. We all come from the exact origin. We all carry the same elements inside us and have incredibly similar ways of functioning… So why not start thinking of ourselves as creatures not existing dually but as one with nature? Why not promote integrity and respect to nature and its min-bugling complexity? Why not situate us humbly to the web rather than classifying everything other than ourselves as subhuman? We don’t have much time left to tackle climate change efficiently. So, we now have to realize that the cloud of greenhouse gasses roaming above us isn’t the main problem. We and the way we think of ourselves is as it fuels all the unsustainable practices we do. Next time you go out, try to see how human-centric everything around you is, and, hopefully, ponder upon how you can fix this system.
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