:: There are different ways to value life. If a tree died vs. someone I know, of course I would be much more affected by the person's death than the trees, but at the same time I know that despite the human egoes protests, the person was not likely to be any more valuable to the earth than the tree.In this you clearly place the value of earth over man and certainly
over God who gave the earth to man for his use. This is idolotry. But
the scriptures say "What does it profit a man to gain the whole earth
and lose his soul?" The verse, in context has a specific intent but I'd
like to ask you what value the earth has to you if you don't believe in
my God? If there are no eternal ramifications to your selfishness why
not indulge yourself in anything you can conceive of? What value has
the earth to such a temporary thing a you?
:: It would only be my own emotions telling me otherwise, not necassarily reality. As a human I only have my own limited perception to rely on in such matters, which is dictated by ego. But if a person could seperate themself from their ego they may come to see themself as the trees equal, just another form of life. In this way one may see that whether it be the life of an enemy in war, a carrot, a cow, an unborn fetus or a loved one it is still life, and perhaps one could then come to think of the death of each of these forms of life differently than they would when controlled by ego.
You can't actually do this, of course. You can only give lip service to
it. Draw the line between life forms in terms of due emotional
investment or die with the burden of the billions killed by you each
and every day.
Stuart Gort
