Just as the human body is a whole in which damage to any part is shared by the whole; our World is a functioning unit where damage to any part is shared by the whole. Recently the whole world has been damaged by the coronavirus. If we can find anything positive coming out of this global pandemic where we have shared fear and loss, I hope it brings a greater awareness of our One World.
Only recently has humanity become aware of the reality of our world as a singular unit—it has always been treated as if it were made up of separate parts. The first time the curvature of the planet was observed was in 1935 when an explorer balloon observed the earth’s spherical horizon. In 1946 the first pictures of the curvature appeared. The most famous picture of all time was taken in a rocket traveling to the moon on December 7, 1972—the stunning picture of one tiny Blue Marble drifting in the vastness of space; one single whole unit on which everything we have ever known resides. We have come to revere that picture; but have we yet understood its’ meaning? This is one world, one singular complete unit, sustained by the delicately balanced interaction of its many parts—and humanity is one of those parts.
For thousands of years of human history, the earth’s complexity and vital interactions were not realized or understood, so its wholeness was separated into pieces. Those generations can be excused, they didn’t know.
Looking to the long past we see a slow gathering of groups of people from tribes to villages to cities, until the groups became Nations which laid claim to land areas and fought wars to hold or expand their ‘piece’. National Resources, earth’s gift to humanity, were claimed and privatized for profit by states, special groups and corporations or occasional individuals. The air and waterways were polluted in the name of progress as industrialization swept the globe. Species were carelessly extinguished for profit and pleasure—all because of a ‘piecemeal’ focus while failing to recognize the earth’s reliance on its interdependent functioning.
In the half century since that photo of our ‘blue planet’ appeared, we should have become cognizant of our world’s wholeness and awakened to the realization of its delicate balance and that we—humanity is part of it. We should all be seriously taking steps to mend the sundering, not withdrawing from peace and climate accords!
It will take generations to end the warring, and learn to share the planet and its’ resources, but it has been given to This generation that it begins to move in that direction. We may look at the acrimoniousness in today’s world and say ‘it’s not possible’—but look back some 80 years and see the bitter fighting between Germany and Japan against Great Britain and America in WWII and realize they are now all allies.
My point of writing this is that the coronavirus is awakening us the reality of One World. We will get through the suffering, with painful losses to be sure, but I pray it awakens us to the only way we can save ourselves from ourselves—by seeing our wholeness.