we have the most potential...
in buddhism humanity is the only level of existence that you can affect your karma on.... that means we can either be good or we can be bad.
good humans are shepherds of the earth.
bad humans are parasites...
you choose your side as an individual, you are only responsible for your own actions in the end.
Very well said, my friend.
My sadness is that there are too few Shepherds and too many parasites.
Humans are the Top of the Food Chain, I'll give ya that. The problem with people is, they tend to not have reverence for the OTHER living beings we're supposed to SHARE the planet with. Humans need more room? Well then, fuck you Coyotes, bears, wolves....and any other creature who needs wooded land to survive. Y'all gotta die, because hey! We HUMANS need your space."
Yes, humans, of all animals have Free Choice. And just look what we've done with it.
We COULD have adopted the Native American way when we came here and took THEIR land. The Indians respected the Mother, the animals, the water and the land. They took little, replaced what they did take and knew they didnt "own" the land---it owned them.
So does Mother earth OWN us--not the other way around.
We're likte the shitty Renters every landlord hates---we move in and immediately start trashing the place. "Lookit them stupid Injuns! They walk in and shoot ONE buffalo with an arrow! Fuck that....let's ride in on horses and shoot em ALL!" Hundreds of thousands of dead buffalo littered the plains--a lifetime of food wiped out for sport.
Maybe the Free Will thing was our big mistake. No other animal takes more than it needs.
We alone are the Wasters and we waste every gift we've been given.
Yes, we do have "potential" We could evolve into a state of consciousness the Native Americans and Australian Aborigines alread had attained for centuries before they saw their first white man. We could suddenly GET IT that this is the only planet we've got and gee, maybe it's not a bad idea to take care of it.
But I dont see it happenning.
We have plenty of intelligence, but not enough Wisdom. We have plenty of science to explain life but not nearly enough reverence FOR Life.
Big on arrogance and short on humility. Big on ME and MINE and not too keen on Us and Ours. Still, we do have that potential to wake up. That may be the saddest part. That we could....but probably wont.
CW