How's your relationship?
As Pat Parelli says “Horses are nature in its finest form.” They teach us our dependence on each other in this earth bound herd we live in, and they teach us how to build sound relationships with each other. If you are in doubt about the world being built on relationships, consider Charles Darwin.
Charles Darwin had it wrong, but not in the way you might think. We commonly understand that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on the evolution of species resulting from natural selection and driven by “survival of the fittest.” To the common mind, the theory of the “survival of the fittest” suggests a kind of in-dependent struggle to cope with a hostile environment and to survive at the expense of other less fit individuals. Only those who claw their way to the top of the evolutionary ladder on the backs of those less fit will ultimately survive.
This kind of world view based on “winners” and “losers” has dominated the way human beings see the dynamics of their existence for most of recorded history. Society coined the term “cultural Darwinism” as a way of expressing the in-dependent “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” approach to life that describes a world where we are on our own and must struggle to free ourselves from dependence on anything that might keep us from winning in the game of life. The most cursory look at American suburban life shows us a large groups of people who are attempting to do just that, striving to be as independent and self sufficient as possible.
Perhaps Charles Darwin himself was simply applying this common world view to his theory of evolution without conscious thought. After all, “survival of the fittest” is a plausible and seemingly fitting way to describe evolution when you are used to seeing the world in these terms.
Survival of the fittest seems to have a place in the scheme of things. However, there is a more fundamental universal principle that precedes survival of the fittest and makes survival possible. This is the principle of relationships. Without relationships, nothing survives. At the higher levels of creation, living organisms depend on entirely on relationships with the environment, the food chain, and in some cases with each other for their very survival. Without atmosphere to breathe, sunlight to transform, and soil to grow in, plant life would not exist. Without food to eat, air to breathe, and energy to warm, animals would just be an imaginary glimmer in the eye of God. At the highest levels of evolution, living organisms depend on each other for their existence. The flowers and the bees have a dependent relationship along with many other species. Dependence finds its ultimate expression in modern human society. I am writing this at 35,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico traveling at 500 miles per hour on my way to visit my 95 year old father who lives in a “total care” facility in New Hampshire. Without a vast array of dependent relationships between this plane and the environment it flies in, and the relationships between the innumerable people who have worked to build and fly this plane, I would not be up here. Without the complex relationships between health care professionals and people providing living assistance to my father, he would probably no longer be alive.
With the advent of the theory of Quantum Mechanics, scientists are beginning to understand that relationships are fundamental to the functioning of our universe at the most microcosmic level. Quantum particles are subatomic particles which relate to each other mysteriously. Although quantum particles have never been visually observed and are unlikely to be, they seem to influence each other in ongoing ways that we don’t understand. When one quantum particle encounters another, the two particles seem to gain a permanent relationship that stays with them no matter how much distance subsequently separates them. In theory, after a chance encounter of two quantum particles, the two particles will perennially influence each other. If one particle spins right, the other will respond with a spin right. If the other spins left, they will both spin left. When you stop and think about a universe made up of a seemingly infinite number of sub-atomic quantum particles all with complex interrelationships and all responding to each other, the universe no longer seems like such a cold, empty, and meaningless place.
However, before we swallow what we call scientific “fact” without question, let’s put it in perspective. “Fact” is a hard word which leaves little room for interpretation and adjustment. The most thoughtful scientists talk in terms of theories, not facts. Science like any other discipline is a way of seeing things. Like many disciplines, science has some very useful ways of seeing things. Science illuminates our world by enhancing our ability to reflect on and manage our existence in meaningful ways. The disciplines of science illuminate life as do history, language, theology, and many other human endeavors. To isolate science and refer to its holdings as “facts” invests humanity with definitive powers of observation and interpretation that we do not have. Science provides more “illumination” than facts.
Quantum mechanics has lead us beyond quantum particles to String theory. String theory suggests that matter and energy may not be as distinct from each other as we may have thought. String theory introduces the notion that matter is made up of “strings” which are no more than energy vibrating at a particular frequency. Like strings on a guitar, different vibrations create different notes or chords. This suggests that in some senses a piece of wood is not a piece of wood and a rock is not a rock. At the subatomic level, both are forms of energy that are “vibrating” at a predictable and reliable rate.
So, if the universe at the micro level is made up of energy vibrating in a grand symphony of frequencies that produce quantum particles which develop eternal relationships, we live in a pretty amazing place. And yet, historically human beings have gone about their lives oblivious to the nature of their universe. To an even greater extent, we have worked tirelessly to assert our in-dependence and self-sufficiency from our universe when in reality we live lives of complete dependence on environment and interrelationships for our existence. In society we talk about a successful executive as a “self made man” when in reality there is no such thing. The achievements of every human being result from relationships with the environment and other human beings. Without food, air, energy, parents, teachers, coworkers, and support services, we cannot exist and we cannot achieve.
For most of human history, we have been able to solve problems in isolation from each other one at a time. To some extent we have also been able to ignore each other, and in extreme cases move away from each other when we don’t get along. Solving problems has been a relatively straight forward process of (1) define the problem, (2) determine the best solution, and (3) set about implementing the solution. If we needed to grow food in locations with insufficient rainfall, we damned the rivers and started irrigating. If we needed energy, we pumped oil out of the ground. If we needed lumber, we cut down the nearest forest. If we didn’t like our neighbors, we moved away. Human needs and desires have been met through endless technological innovation and endless consumption of resources. All of this activity has been undertaken with little attention to the interrelated nature of our existence. The very concept of “freedom” as western society sees it is based on the notion that we should be left alone to do as we please. In fact, it could be said that our obsessive preoccupation with freedom and in-dependence contradicts the very underpinnings and intentions of our universe which increasingly appears to be based on dependence and relationships.
We have already entered a time when we can no longer afford to ignore or take casually environmental, cultural and personal relationships. The time is upon us to recognize that we can’t irrigate land indefinitely without polluting it with salt, we can’t burn fossil fuels without effecting global warming, we can’t cut down trees endlessly without upsetting the carbon/oxygen balance in the atmosphere, and we are quickly running out of places to run to. We can no longer expect to solve problems in isolation from each other. Everything we do is about relationships and our mishandling of those relationships is coming back to haunt us.
The major challenges that face us have not changed much over the centuries. They are energy, water, food, conflict, the economy, poverty, shelter, and health care. Our recent poor handling of these challenges has added global warming, environmental pollution and population growth to the list.
It may seem as if our prospects for the future are pretty dim. However, they are only dim if we continue to try to solve these problems in isolation from each other. The solution lies in changing our world view from “survival of the fittest”, in-dependence, and self sufficiency to a view that recognizes that the entire universe is held together by relationships. As we learn to better appreciate and desire those relationships, the solutions to our problems will emerge over time.
Take energy for instance. The problem with energy is that to be really useful it must be concentrated. Concentration of energy takes lots of time and is pretty inefficient. Fossil fuels for instance, took millions of years to come into existence and took much more energy from the sun in various forms over time than the fossil fuels will ever produce. In addition, fossil fuels are hydrocarbons which have side effects of air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions leading to global warming.
Some isolated solutions which ignore relationships have been suggested to solve the energy problem. For instance, ethanol and bio-diesel are touted as part of the solution for getting us off dependence on oil. They are being touted as a “renewable” resource that can be regenerated indefinitely. Yet, this idea ignores the fact that any solution based on growing crops puts a further strain on depleting aquifers, further uses farm land that is already pushed to the limit to create our food supply, and forces the continued ruination of irrigated land through increased salt content.
The ultimate solution to energy must take all relationships into account. The energy source of the future must not only be renewable, it must be kind to the environment, it must be abundant and it must be available in sufficient quantities and concentrations to be useful. Because the creation and concentration of energy is an inherently inefficient process, it seems likely that the creation process will need to be decentralized. Ultimately all energy on earth came from or comes from the sun. We do not have the technology to concentrate and store the energy of the sun in centralized locations. Solar cells and wind farms take up a lot of real estate. To solve this problem, generation will need to be decentralized.
Hydrogen has been offered as the ideal fuel, because when the energy in hydrogen is released the only by product is water. However, as with all forms of energy, creating hydrogen through electrolysis requires that more energy be put in than the resulting energy produced. By creating hydrogen in decentralized solar electrolysis hydrogen generators, we can solve this problem. Decentralized generators will have sufficient access to free solar energy to “waste” it on the creation and concentration of hydrogen. In each back yard so to speak, each family could create hydrogen from their water supply for their own needs and perhaps some extra for sale, which brings us to the subject of water.
The world’s supply of fresh water is in crisis. There are places in China where water is in such short supply that farmers are being forced to pump their septic tanks onto their fields for irrigation. Many have said that the wars of the future will be fought not over energy, but over water. Live for a short time in a southwestern U.S. city and you will appreciate the truth of this statement.
Just as with energy, the problem with water is not supply, it is concentration and quality. There is more than enough water in the world’s oceans to provide our water needs for the foreseeable future. However, that water is not of sufficient quality for drinking, washing, cooking, irrigating, and the other routine water uses. It is also not in the right place for most of the world to access it. It is the concentrations of fresh water that are being depleted.
The most likely solution to the water crisis is desalination of ocean water and piping it to where it is needed. Both of these processes take energy, which brings us back to energy. There is a relationship between energy and water. The solution again seems to point to decentralized production of fresh water from solar energy translated through wind or photo-voltaic processes.
Whether the problem is energy, water, food, shelter, poverty, or anything else, technology must play a major role in the solution. As a world, we have passed the point where we can return to subsistence living, or the “simple life.” Each person cannot produce his own food in the back yard, build his own shelter by making mud bricks, and produce his own energy by cutting down the forests. There are too many people in the world, not enough space, and not a large enough environment for a return to subsistence living. We must rely on ever advancing technology to provide better and more efficient solutions that don’t require as much space, don’t pollute the atmosphere, provide sufficient quantities of stuff, etc.
The urgency to solve world problems is being driven by population growth. Population control is not a popular subject with western governments. The right to raise a family is considered sacrosanct in western society. However, increasing population is the driving force which increases resource depletion at an ever increasing rate. It seems likely that technology will not evolve fast enough to overcome the environmental pressure created by ever increasing population. Population control acknowledges relationships by limiting the pressure to find solutions to world problems.
Fortunately we live in a “designer” universe. Modern scientific thinking has progressed well beyond the simple Newtonian view of the physical world many of us were taught in high school. Most scientists seem to fall in one of two camps when it comes to describing “why” the universe is the way it is. Many seem to agree that the universe is too complex and based on too many carefully interwoven relationships to have come about by chance. These scientists subscribe to the theory that the universe has a “designer” who set up the complex relationships that make it work. The other theory subscribed to by some scientists is that there are an infinite number of parallel universes with an infinite number of complex relationships, and we just happen to be in this one that worked. In the absence of any real evidence that there are more universes out there, I side with those in the first group.
Because we live in a “designer” universe, we can rely on things going forward in a orderly manner, and to some extent in ways that we can discern and influence. The more we understand the “grand design” the more we will be able to perceive the relationships that make our world work and the more we will be able to find integrated solutions that respect the relationships.
Relationships start at the Quantum level and extend right on up through the atomic level, and the molecular level to the level of living organisms and right in to personal relationships and the interrelationships in society. The struggles between independence and dependence govern human society. Ultimately we are all dependent on each other and on the grand design in the universe for our existence, but we push and pull against that dependence. As individuals, we try to free ourselves from interdependence and in a never ending vain attempt to become self sufficient. In the Christian church we call this sin. In society we wrangle over economic and social issues that sometimes lead us to the ultimate attempt to be self sufficient which we call war.
In the Church we are no less vulnerable to the struggle between independence and dependence. We argue and alienate ourselves over this issue and that issue, when we should be exploring our dependence on each other and on God in an effort to embrace the dependence and enhance our relationships.
The time is fast approaching when we will be less and less able to assert our in-dependence from each other. Either we will learn to focus on the relationships which make our world possible, or we will suffer the consequences. As the industrialized nations, we have the time, resources, and responsibility to lead the third world into a future of dependent relationships. We are all in this together. Much of the third world is simply trying to survive any way they can. They don’t have the luxury of taking relationships into account. If we simply try to solve our problems in isolation from the third world, the third world will drag us into environmental oblivion right along with them, even if we are busy doing things right.
