Nature’s Balance and Humanity's Role

There is design behind everything in this world. Looking at life and the systems it has been set up on, there are levels of organization. Using tools like microscopes we can explore things down to a molecular level. Starting with subatomic particles we can observe layers of life that cannot operate without the layer before. The atoms that create molecules to make cells that contribute to tissues which ultimately make up organisms all have their place and we find order in the cycle of life. It is clear to see how every layer works as an outline for something larger. Each organism interacts continuously with its environment, which includes other organisms as well as nonliving factors. For example, the root of a tree absorbs water and minerals from the soil. The leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air. Solar energy absorbed by chlorophyll drives photosynthesis, which converts water and carbon dioxide to sugar and oxygen. The tree releases oxygen to the air, and its roots help form soil by breaking up rocks. Both organism and environment are affected by the interactions between them. The tree also interacts with other life, including soil microorganisms associated with its roots and animals that eat its leaves and fruit. It is amazing how everything on Earth is connected and plays a role to contribute into something greater and whole. Although it is unclear on what has established this design, it is obvious that life is an intricately detailed plan.

A great example of how we find a delicate design in nature is the life cycle of a blood fluke. The mature fluke lives in the blood vessels of the human intestine. The female fluke fits into a groove running in length of the larger male’s body. Once the blood fluke reproduces sexually in the human host, the fertilized eggs exit from the host through defecation. The eggs develop in water into ciliated larvae. These larvae infect snails, the intermediate hosts. Then, through asexual reproduction within a snail results in another type of motile larva, which escapes from the snail host. The larvae penetrate the skin and blood vessels of humans working in irrigated fields. Through the small percent chance that these flukes will find a snail to continue their life cycle is low, but life always finds a way. We find many cases such as this that show a delicate design and also a unified interconnection between everything.

It is amazing to witness the perfection in how everything falls together to create life. After realizing that organisms are co-dependant on their surroundings and environment to live in optimum state of mind, we begin to see how everything is important to the survival of everything else. It is an important feeling to know that we are depended on as well. It is not difficult to understand that everything has a purpose, understanding that purpose takes a life time of experience and thought. When trying to decide our role in life, the belief of a higher, supreme being must be considered. It is a possibility that our survival may be important for the survival of the Supreme Being. When a lifetime is observed as a whole, it forms a circle, from birth to death. This circle of life is an energy source. If a large amount of these forms of energy were placed together, like there is on Earth, it could create a substantial amount of life. There is a possibility that humanity as a whole contributes to the Supreme Being’s existence. As we live inside it, we are given life and have become animated. We live in the divine breath. This could potentially be a type of mutualism. As we provide energy, the Supreme Being gives us life. In this sense, we are the cells that create our place in God’s heart.

Cells are life’s fundamental unit of structure and function. The cell has a special place as the lowest level of organization that can perform all activities required for life. For example, the ability of cells to divide to form new cells is the basis for all reproduction and for the growth and repair of multicellular organisms. Our every movement and thought is based on the activities of muscle cells and nerve cells. Even a global process such as the recycling of carbon, a chemical element essential to life, is the cumulative product of cellular activities, including the photosynthesis that occurs in the chloroplasts of leaf cells. In multicellular organisms, there is a division of labor among specialized cells. A human body consists of trillions of microscopic cells of many different kinds, including muscle cells and nerve cells, which are organized into the various specialized tissues.

While we function as the cells of God, all other life on Earth, and all life in the universe could be cells as well. There is harmony in the universe when realizing that all life contributes to create something supreme and eternal. Perhaps the different species serve as different functional units. When considering life as a population of cells working for a greater good and goal, we can see the balance of nature not as having evil, but as having regulators that must maintain a balance. Although it is difficult to see the harmonious flow of things, when considering that the system must be regulated, sometimes unpleasant events must occur. For example, cells sometimes go through a process of apoptosis. Apoptosis is the changes that occur within a cell as it undergoes programmed cell death, which is brought about by signals that trigger the activation of a cascade of suicide proteins in the cell destined to die. Mammalian cells make life or death decisions by somehow integrating the signals they receive, both death signals and life signals such as growth factors. A built in cell suicide mechanism is essential to development in all animals. It is essential for normal development of the nervous system, and normal morphogenesis of hands and feet in humans. In humans, the failure of appropriate apoptosis can result in webbed fingers and toes. The main control center of cells, the DNA, has specific codes that let a cell know when their time is up. It is not an unhealthy act; it is life being regulated for the benefit of the entire system.

The cycle of life and the flow of nature appears to have an underlying balance. Natural occurrences like hurricanes and volcanoes maintain a healthy balance of the population. Disease can also be thought of as population control. Animals and plants co-exist and do not attempt to disrupt the balance of nature. With the ability to process data and rationalize, as we humans have evolved to do, could perhaps disorder the natural balance. Out of fear of our demise, we have begun to consider ways to reverse the aging process, prevent natural death, and alter our bodies to evolve more rapidly. Although we have population control factors that this world was unfamiliar to before humanity dominated Earth. Humans have created new diseases in laboratories, introduced war, extremely destructive weapons, and pollution. There is no doubt that humanity is self destructive and abusive. Earth has not felt the complete wrath we have created. One theory is that people and their souls were created out of an imbalance. The Supreme Being functions basically rotating on an axis, as one side lifts, the other falls. This balance is good and evil. If the equilibrium were to go offset, then an empty space where no good or evil occupy it would be created. The space would fill with energy, energy to prevent a black hole. Perhaps humanity was created out of this energy. If we were created out of an imbalance of harmony, we could never be perfect. This would explain the unfilled space we have inside our minds, as we all strive for a feeling of satisfaction that is unattainable. This would motivate us throughout our whole life, but never allow us to feel complete. In our transcendental death, we could merge back into a balance and find wholeness and harmony.

If humanity’s self destructive disposition was not part of the balance of nature we could be compared to cancerous cells of the body. Basically a cancer cell is a cell that has gone out of whack. Mutations that alter the genes that affect cell growth and division in somatic cells can lead to cancer. There are many factors that can result in cancer, such as environmental influences and some viruses. Certain proteins contribute to cell signaling pathways, with cancer cells, the protein’s function goes wrong. There is hope in some cases of cancer, but it spreads quickly and sometimes is not found until irreparable damage has been accumulated. The destruction humanity has caused this planet spread very fast, and could potentially be harming the greater system we are part of. Human’s abuse of the world has been compared to rapidly spreading virus. If this is so, we would ultimately be destroyed to prevent further damage.
Fate and pre-determinism is a belief that would allow humanity’s self destructive nature to be harmonious with the system. If everything has been created for a specific reason, then the objectionable traits we exhibit could also have purpose. Without the experience of destruction and injury, perhaps we could never live to our full potential. The lack of understanding consequence would impair our ability to know right and to farther evolve. The undesirable qualities we hold today may be a primitive thought process that we will overcome. We have the ability to self analyze as well as apply common sense and good nature to everything we do. Unfortunately life becomes overwhelming and our behavior becomes destructive unwillingly. It is difficult to understand a bigger plan that we are involved in simply because we are going through the process. If one could step outside of life and their self, perhaps it would be clear that there is no wrong or bad, and that everything is ultimately good. The concept that everything will result in something promising and positive might be easier seen once we transcend. With that thought, there is peace of mind waiting for us all, and with patience and faith we can live securely and confidently.