Consider the seed. Consider the tiny speck the falls from the tree or flower and finds its new home within the soil. Within weeks you will have a new plant or tree. Is the tree contained within the seed fully formed? Of course not. The seed could not possibly contain all the matter to become a tree. Instead, it pulls that material from the ground. Or, more accurately, it pulls from previous life now broken down into the soil. What the seed does contain, in essence, is the blueprint for the eventual tree or plant. This is no guarantee of the future of the tree or plant. A bird or animal could eat the seed. The soil could become flooded or too arid to support life. But given the right circumstances and some luck, the tree or plant will eventually come into being.
If you accept the prevailing scientific understanding of the origins of our universe, you could use that seed as an analogy for the singularity our universe once was. Billions of years ago, all of the energy that now exists in this universe was contained in a very small space as potential energy. Given how patterns repeat within life, there is no reason to believe that there was not also a blueprint contained therein; a blueprint of what this universe could potentially be. I mentioned earlier how the blueprint of a tree could be affected by outside circumstances. The difference, of course, with our universe is that there are no outside influences because, we assume, there is nothing outside the universe.
And give that we are part of that universe and blueprint, what becomes of free will? When you go to a restaurant is your meal predetermined without even seeing a menu? It certainly feels like we agonize over the choices presented. But could the choices have turned out differently? Are the choices we make random, or based on a collection of our previous experiences? And even if we were to say, “I always get the fish. Tonight, I have the beef,” an argument may still be made that the desire for a change arises inevitably from what we have experiences and how our personality has developed. It could be argued that one inevitable choice leads to another, following that blueprint. You could say that there is free will, but that the free will is predictable based on the complete history of that person.
Much of what is on my mind (and becomes the source for my creativity) has to do with the human effect on the greater whole of this world. It does seem to me that, in a universe and on a planet that maintain a balance and harmony in their structures, we don’t fit in. We seem separate from the natural world. But, in fact, haven’t we pictured ourselves as separate for some time? When we use the word “animal” we typically are not including the human being in that group, even though we sprung from the same source as all animal, mineral, and vegetable. Many people speak of “manifesting” this or that. The idea of manifestation is that mindset can bring about fruition. Self-fulfilling prophecy is another way to view that. If, at some distant point in time, we began to view ourselves as separate, our ability to manipulate our environment to an extreme certainly allowed us to bring that about.
I do believe that a major shift in our consciousness is needed to bring about changes necessary to keep us from destroying ourselves and possibly all life on this rock. I believe that if we begin to truly see ourselves as part of the greater system, we will see that our actions that destroy that system destroy us as well.
So, does a song like Inevitable (below) excuse what we’ve done to the Earth? Is it saying that planetary destruction is inevitable? That’s certainly not my intention. Rather, it’s meant to suggest that, perhaps, we’ve arrived at where we are inevitably. But, truly, the era of the industrial revolution is a blip on the radar of all time. We’re at just one stage of the ongoing development of the universe and of our species. Perhaps, by developing our abilities before developing our wisdom and awareness of who we truly are, we have created the catalyst for our own change of awareness. The caterpillar goes through almost complete destruction before becoming the butterfly. We need shadow to understand light.
The intent, from that perspective, of the song Inevitable has to do with viewing our destructive behavior less through the lens of judgment and more through the lens of struggle bringing about the awareness and drive needed to change. Yes, change is needed, but the change is needed in the fundamental self-view of the human race to make this sustainable. As long as we just address symptoms (racism, environmental destruction, sexism, homophobia, etc.) change will not be sustainable. It needs to happen on a more fundamental and systemic level.
I’d love to year your thoughts on this. But, in the meantime, please take a listen to “Inevitable” below.