Human Society is NOT the true reality!

We so often act as though the world is made for human society. We think OUR news, OUR entertainment industry, OUR corporations, OUR religion and OUR concerns are absolute reality. However, whenever I spend time at a place like Watson Lake, just a few miles from my home, I'm struck by how UNTRUE this actually is! There, thousands of Canada Geese meet and socialize with one another, honking almost continuously, shifting positions between two or three different parties, and all the while seeming to have a great time! In fact, I like to call the lake an "airport," because so many flocks of geese are always taking off and landing.

I wonder why we human beings think the universe revolves around us? I've always been fascinated by the timeline displayed in an exhibit at Denver's Museum of Nature and Science. It reminds us that if we compress all of the Earth's 4.6 billion year history into the space of twelve months, we can gain valuable perspective on just how recent the human enterprise really is. Accordingly, if the Earth forms (or is created) on January 1, then life begins in the oceans on March 20. Amazingly, life doesn't move onto land until November 29. Then, dinosaurs appear on December 10. And humanity does not make its entrance until December 31!

I love the sense of humility that good science can offer, and the insight that an awareness of The Greater Whole can give whenever I am hiking, photographing, journaling and meditating in the Great Outdoors. For it is then that I realize a simple fact: human society - especially modern ego-based Euro-American society - is NOT all there is!

Photo: Canada Geese, Watson Lake, and Bellvue Dome, Bellvue, CO, November 17, 2014