Sometimes, its difficult for me to sit here and read all these well intentioned posts without grimacing. I think the folks that make up this community are some of the most caring people I have ever run across in my life and want to do their part in saving the earth. However, as a native american, a person who was raised to be in total sync with the natural order, Im forced to see things in a much larger picture. Thats further exarcebated by the fact that i can sense and sometimes even see the threads that bind all things in the universe as a segment of the totality of creation, a curious side effect of my death experience.
Now no one has a greater affinity for wildlife than I. Afterall, my entire cultural outlook is based on a harmonious coexistence with the creatures we share our world with. I mean, I came up with the idea of converting this nation’s most notorious waste dump into a living thriving wildlife refuge. But as we look to save those species on the brink of extinction, it is absolutely imperative that we understand that extinction is a natural process of the earth as well as an essential part of the evolution of all creatures. As such, we must allow the natural process to take place and work to save only those creatures that face extinction as a direct result of man's interference. In saving a creature that is not affected that way, we can very well be blocking the natural order of the genesis of that order of animal and thats just as harmful as in those cases where we have directly been responsible for the demise of a species, such as with the Blue whale. Our efforts, must be a balanced one, taking the whole picture into account….otherwise we are only working towards our human sensitivities and not necessarily the needs of the earth.
Likewise, a lot of you were talking about cleansing the body. Nothing wrong with that except that many of you spoke about drinking a LOT of water to clean out the system. Now I kind of kidded about it at the time, and felt guilty afterwards. Not because I made a joke of it, but because I know something that I didn’t share with you at the time. Raise your hand if you knew that drinking too much water can actually kill you. I’ve known this for 30 years, since my days as an EMT when I would run across such cases. Drinking water at every opportunity can cause serious problems, such as hyponatraemia or water intoxication. As the water content of the blood increases, the salt content is diluted. Consequently the amount of salt available to body tissues decreases, which can lead to problems with brain, heart and muscle function and can ultimately lead to death. In fact, the 8x8 rule of water consumption is actually being questioned these days as it makes no compensation for the fact that we take in water with everything we eat as well. Our bodies tell us when we need water. Its called thirst. We would be better served listening to it.
Now, this is rather rare. But Im trying to make a point that what we think we are doing to help ourselves can actually have an adverse effect because we fail to see the bigger picture and that bigger picture is NOT always easy to see. However, a true stewardship of the earth and our own bodies requires that we step back and examine the consequences of everything we do, even those things we believe are for the better. All too often, its not really all its cut out to be. Activism and alternative practice are great in a progressive society…but only so long as it, despite our best intentions, does not contribute to the greater harm.
Balance.
You are all great people with great hearts and Im proud to know each and every one of you and Im not trying to discourage any of you in any way. Rather Im trying to point out that todays answer can easily become tomorrows nightmare if we aren’t vigilant in keeping things at the most objective level possible. In fact, our very lives and the ability of the earth to maintain a viable ecosystem could very well depend on it.
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