Homo Sapiens has been hugely successful as a species. We may have evolved from other animals, but with the development of self-aware consciousness, we’ve transcended the limits of purely biological evolution. Through our unique abilities we’ve created the Anthropocene epoch on earth, full of amazing technological and artistic achievements. But in the process, we’ve brought about a crisis that threatens the planet with serious damage and our own species with extinction.
Materialist science on its own is not able to provide us with an answer to this challenge, since it tells us what we can do, but not what we should do. Religion on its own isn’t the answer, since it too easily asks us to fly in the face of known reality on the grounds of archaic belief systems and all-too-human power structures. And our power structures themselves seem to have led to civilisations and empires that aren’t yet able to provide the answer either, since our history points towards an inevitable pattern of rise and fall. There is a real danger that our combined efforts to avert catastrophe will turn out to be ‘too little, too late’.
From what we now know about the evolving nature of the universe since its origins 13.8 billion years ago, we can discern a pattern of continual development, punctuated by a series of thresholds. Each threshold creates new possibilities and the accelerating development of more complex capabilities. The threshold of human self-aware consciousness has given rise in Homo Sapiens to a species capable of understanding the nature of the universe, our own place within it, and the strengths and weaknesses of our unique nature. We are also the first species with powers of creativity capable of matching or even surpassing those of nature. We are natural born learners. So, if we are to grow into our potential as leaders of a flourishing earth community, we need somehow to learn together to find a new way of living in harmony with each other and with our home planet.
