: 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
In this it places the earth as more valuable than an individual man not in man as a species. My ego perhaps is not so limiting in that I can accept the earth as important for all forms of life, not just my own-which I find to be quite a selfish and egotistical view indeed.
: 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?
Well as for me personally, I am quite at peace to know that 99% of all species ever to live on earth are now extinct. Now what do you think this means for humans? We will be added to the list eventually, as likely as not. After learning more about this planets hisory and the mass extinctions over billions of years caused by natural events, I began to see my own small place in this world and felt my ego seemed rather silly on this much grander scale. My ego is only of value to me. I'm sure the way I think, living in a snug little industrialized nation is vastly different that someone living with such dangers as malaria and wild animals. The western way of viewing life is very narrow in my opinion and very self orriented, which seems rather silly considering we are mere specks in earths history. I find this awe inspiring enough in itself to respect the earth and the fact that it makes my life possible.
: 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
Well actually many people can and do, do this to varied extents. I have found that this has become more and more possible for me over time. The universe does not revolve around me and my desires. There are billions of people with billions more view points and life experiences just as valid as mine. An individuals beliefs can not be conveyed to some one else so I won't bother trying to explain it. But perhaps an example will suffice, a cougar eats an antelope which it kills and does not feel any burden or guilt, but this cougar only kills to feed itself and it's children, not to sell to his friends so he can buy that new sports car he's had his eye on. When this cougar eventually dies it's body will in part be eaten by other animals and insects and in part decompose to enrich the earth which in turn , etc etc In this way it is living in harmony with earth and other life. Humans lived on earth in a similar exchange for thousands of years. I am sure they could again.
None.
