Continuity
Sometimes I get the question "Why do you care? Why are things like people, culture, ideals and nature so important?" To answer that question and to understand it in its proper context, you first need to answer another question: "Who am I, why am I here, and what do I live for?" Too many people today see themselves as lonely islands, living in a vacuum where no one can see or hurt them. They create the illusion of living in this isolated space, because it gives them a sense of self-reassurance that they're completely independent from the world around them.
The truth is that nothing in our world lives isolated from the process that brought it life and is nurturing its continued existence. Our ancient forefathers knew this and came up with a concept known today as "bloodlines." A bloodline is a series of individuals, a genealogical tree, sharing genetic bonds to one another. One individual cannot be separated from its family or tribe, nor can it be successfully defined, without taking into account its genetic context. It's not as radical or conservative as it may sound; without your mother and father, you wouldn't be here today, and without your grandparents, your parents wouldn't have been born.
Ultimately, we're a product of our bloodline as we've inherited their traits and experiences, plus the environment(s) that the tribe grew up and developed in. When we die, our physical body becomes compost and nurtures the ecosystem, so that it can give birth to other organic forms, such as trees, plants and animals.  "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust;" in our world, nothing is neither created nor destroyed. The energy is simply transforming and shaping new life out of the old. This is a clever system that nature has provided us with, that we easily can transfer into a simple metaphor; there is life, there is death, and both are important to sustain life as a whole.
When we understand this simple metaphor, we also begin to understand the question of who we are, why we're here, and what we're living for. We are a product of something we cannot change nor isolate ourselves from. There's really no higher meaning that can explain why this system works like it does, but in order to live, we need something to believe in and hold on to. Not necessarily a god, but maybe something more simple and practical. For most people, simply being alive and having the wonderful opportunity to be a part of this system, is enough reason to keep on living.
To return to our initial question: "Why do you care?" I care, because without my forefathers, I wouldn't be sitting here today and writing this down. I care, because without my culture, I would not have been the person I am today. I care, because without ideals, I have nothing to live for, and a life without meaning is just that - meaningless. I care about this mystical, organic process, because it's the origin and the underlying mechanism that creates all of what we experience; trees, stars, love and art.
Modern people feel insecure towards this realization, as it means they are not the centres of the universe and that their feelings, opinions and ideas - not even their mere existence - really has any significance from a larger perspective. In 80 years or so, we'll all be dead and the people we brought to life will be the next generation to experience the things we did. Herein lies the key, the only realistic self-reassurance that we as modern individuals must recognize in order to move on: we haven't created our own life or the things we see around us, we're just living on borrowed time and thus it makes sense to offer that same experience to our coming generations, like the previous ones did for us. That's the least we can do, and when thinking about it, something beautiful and honourable that we ought to dedicate our lives to.
by Alex Birch
July 9, 2007
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