Artistic Footprint

Every day we are faced with the promise of a doomsday. Polar bears are turning cannibalistic, oceans are rising, the arctic will soon be a fairy tale. But I want to shatter that idea. Launch it into space with all the other primetime fear driven fallacies, never to be heard or spoken of again.

“stop giving me problems – give me solutions”

Constantly dwelling on this innevitable apocalypse does nothing but sell products that we do not need, and only drives that train further into the ground, firmly rooted and weeding out the garden of a real opportunity. We don’t hear enough of the good things that are going on. The inventions, organisations, and people out there who have devoted their whole lives to make the world better. This one’s for you.

The way I see it, we have two options – do nothing and continue on this plight and consume ourselves in famine, war, greed, and toxic environments. OR, we would do something about it. Even if climate change is a total hoax, the amazing accomplishments in the quest for sustainability would be monumental. But do you really have a choice? which would you pick?

More importantly, think of a world where sustainability was reached. Where man, woman, and beast lived harmoniously with the planet. A stasis where the land reciprocated the people. This would be the last hurdle – the largest, hardest, and most important move on the board. Greater than any war against evil, and greater than curing the worst of diseases.

Imagine a world where your home was heated and lit by the sun itself. Where your water was replenished in your basement and back to your tap. Where a grocery store was synonymous to your backyard. Where work was literally a hop, skip, and a jump from your bed. Where you live as a community and the greatest reward for your good deeds was immediately returned with the awesome feeling of meaning and retribution.

And making it happen is so so easy. You don’t even need to lift a finger. In the back of everyone’s mind is a thought of “what can I do? I’m just one person in this big world.” But that’s exactly why you’re so important!!! you personally have the ability to get the ball rolling and pull your friends along for the adventure. All you have to do is develop that little voice in the back of your brain from the dwelling cynic into the responsible optimist that understands where your decisions take you. “I don’t want to buy that because I don’t think it’s good for my environment” “I’m going to ride my bike today” “I’m going to eat sustainable produce as opposed to those expensive and unhealthy chicken wings” “I want to go for a hike to get in touch with the Earth and understand its fragile beauty” “I want to take a break from work to realise that there’s a real planet out there that’s more important than me”

Thats right the Earth is more important than me or you. It’s survival is the true necessity. The Earth doesn’t care who lives on it, if any. It doesn’t care if it’s an iceball or a utopia. It doesn’t care if it resembles Venus or Saturn. It doesn’t even know the difference. It’s big enough to take care of itself. The World we live on is just our perception of what we make the Earth to be, and if we just appreciate the true value of it, that it is bigger than your comfortable life, we will naturally evolve a way of life that reciprocates that appreciation.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe we are more animal than we’d like to admit? instead of being eaten by predators, we die in car crashes. Famine is still a huge killer just like that endless battle for every other species on the planet. We follow almost identical tactics in finding mates, and we are not the only beings to mate for life. Love, hatred, satisfaction, self-protection, and family values are universal instincts. Have you ever watched a primate use tools and just be completely blown away by our similarities? Are you aware that fish can fly? Or how about the fact that all embryos pass through every stage of evolution its family tree visited? The whole concept that this Eden was made for us must be abolished. We can halt this selfish right, or the coming apocalypse will be our own.

The best way to start the process is to escape the norm. You spend almost your entire life in air-conditioned, warm, disinfected, innoculated lives. From the car to the office to the bedroom to sandals resort vacation. Your home should be larger than this constant image of 4 walls and a roof. Where do you find the time to reflect on your home? When was the last time you pondered which direction North was? When was the last time you saw a wild animal? Have you ever truly been lost?

If you’ve never spent time appreciating your planet, how could you possibly care to protect it? Do you know any people who like the outdoors? If you do, latch on to them on their next excursion. If you don’t, go somewhere and take your friends with you. And I don’t mean camper-van with a big boat across the country, stopping at your favourite fast food restaurants. I mean take the necessities and disappear. That’s the real adventure.

Just fucking love this place and realize that it’s here. It’s the only place you’ve got. You’ll be healthier, happier, stronger, and you’ll have some awesome stories to tell and spread the new appreciation you have for your true home, Earth.

http://www.ted.com/talks/alex_steffen_sees_a_sustainable_future.html

I am not here to press you into changing your views. In fact I welcome your challenges. This is just what it’s like for me.

Why do we have religion in the first place? Could it be because humans fear what they do not know and at the peak of our belittlement, fabricate answers? Could it be that we believe the Earth was made for us, and the only explanation was the prophecy of some huge example of ourselves had built it for us? What’s happening now, is that the world isn’t so big anymore. We can fly around it, rocket above it, and our endlessly footnoted studies bring a true understanding of our home. We realise now that we are not the only species to reside here. So I believe it’s only natural for me to completely abolish my inherited lack of interest in religion, and create my own personalized view of life.

When I was a kid, I never really knew the difference between religions, nor that I even was religious. I just knew that there was someone to answer to for my actions on some sort of judgement day, which I later realised was a paradox because… well how could I be responsible for my actions, if everything was just fate anyways? That was my first smidgen of speculation. Naturally I started asking more questions, which were simply answered by atheism, which of course sounds like a religion in itself, but literally means “lack of” (a) “religion” (theism). Suddenly the thought of a man in the sky, who is abhorrently jealous and resembles more of a kid with a magnifying glass, seemed illogical. They say you feel an emptiness inside of you if you don’t have a God, and it needs to be filled as if it were an organ in the body. I do believe that’s right. The ominous thought that this is your one chance at life. There’s nothing else. When you’re gone its like you were never here. All that effort, pain, beauty, accomplishment, experience… was nothing. That is the hole for me. But in its stead, I was given a new set of eyes to view the world. I could think for myself. I could ask my own questions and find the answers. I immediately understood that we are not more important than any other species, that we are responsible for our actions, and the footprint on our home is growing.

I am told that Atheists have no morals, and live selfishly by the seat of our pants. But I can tell you that morals do not come from tablets or mystical consequences. If I make mistakes, I don’t wait until I die to be boiled in oil for all eternity. I deal with my consequences immediately after the fact. I am mature and responsible enough to predict the results of my actions. And as for selfishness – everyone must be selfish in order to survive, and that has nothing to do with religion. You have needs and you will do what is necessary to get them, including being nice and altruistic. The real selflessness comes from crossing the risk-benefit line for of love and heroism.

The funny thing is that religion in itself is usually pretty peaceful and nice. Its a powerful way to turn a population into a civilization. The problem is that a majority of these people have misconstrued creativity into a fear tactic, swelling with jealousy, hatred, and violence. Different definitions of life are not consoling their contrasting beliefs, they’re mashing the scripted inconsistencies with genocide, war, and suffering. These two highs and lows simply create an unacceptable and immature catch-22. You listen to the instructions from god to be faithful and peaceful, and you will prosper. But at the same time, the extremists of these beliefs concentrate on the fine print detailing those who violate their totalitarian book. People who have never even heard of this ancient storybook are enemies waiting to be slaughtered or assimilated. That to me is illogical as well. To me these things are not worth the ten commandments or spiritual stability.

Here’s what is logical to me: Humans have 5 senses that we know of, with which to interact with planet Earth. Our natural tendency to ponder has led us to ask the right questions and attempt to answer them, to satisfy all of these senses. Anything we can’t explain, we put in the “to-do” box. But those we are able to define using a unanimous system of hypothesis, observations, and conclusion, are considered Proven. But the greatest thing about discovery is that every person on the planet has the right to disprove it. You think the Earth is flat? give me enough fact and proof, and I’ll believe you, because that is logical. There is no ancient storybook that must be followed to the T. Your controversial results won’t slap you on the wrist or burn you at the stake. Even if you’re entirely wrong, your attempt will be embraced and you will have likely found the answer to a question not yet asked. The Achilles-heel of the scientific resolve is that it cannot disprove god. If you turned the question “is there a god” into a scientific analysis, it wouldn’t get past the hypothesis. There are no studies to carry out or a rock we could overturn, and this is only an example of our unrelenting resolve for truth.

I think life is far too complicated for one answer to define it. I think there are many many options, and that they all tie in to the truth. We just don’t see wide enough or live long enough to put all the pieces together, and this concept of a man in the sky was invented by us to satisfy our craving for an answer to the meaning of life.

But life is not always so logical and systematic to me. Spirituality is not defined by faith, you can still be spiritual towards your surroundings. Understanding that I am one small collection of atoms and cells on a giant rock in a giant vacuum doesn’t scare me or overwhelm me. I often sit back and stare at the stars and wonder about all the questions that haven’t been asked, and what their answers might bring us. I gain an appreciation for the curiosity of the human mind and it’s true power. I understand the use of a substance for inspiration, as it gives us an alternate reality, an outside the box playing field.

There is a difference between not giving a fuck and being Atheist. Being atheist is awareness and loneliness. We understand that when you die, so does our memory. We Atheists are so rare and far between that we cannot discuss with these fears with each other. The religious are lucky enough to have synagogues and churches to have mass, confess, seek advice and sanctuary. Atheists naturally must look at the world as though they are almost completely alone. The world is less than 3% Atheist, and 11% couldn’t-give-a-shit-less. Is that number growing or falling? are the concepts of Atheism inherently detrimental to our existence? Are we likely to go extinct? What I am trying to do here is make my friends aware that we exist, to accept and congratulate my fellow evolutionists, to tie Atheism in with unified sustainability, to call people out of their care-free lives of “I don’t know” and increase our numbers, and most importantly, to host constructive and peaceful gatherings to make our mark and show the world that we mean no harm. The beauty of Atheism is that we could not involve ourselves in a war on religion. Religious wars are too caught up in old vengeance and hatred. Atheists have no vengeance and have no ancient roots of godly assassination. We accept diversity because it is logically necessary to be different. I truly believe that Religious extremists would be left scratching their heads if they were asked why they would want us vanquished. They might say that they were carrying out god’s will, but I only ask of them… Let your god smite me himself. Your brutality would make no example.

I find religion is something merely bound between two hardcovers, and is so introverted that it leaves a bad taste. It assumes that humans need a higher deity to make or break us, to tell us what to do, and tell us what is right, like we are those ants marching in one direction. It makes us pretend to be good, as if we’re fooling this all-powerful father in order to admit us into a world of lavishing comfort and endless fertility. A selfish hope of a second chance at life because our first one wasn’t good enough.

I am tired with people living life as if none of this matters. From sunup to sunup they live in the bliss of ignorance and don’t see the horrible things we do to eachother in the name of a god. At the same time I envy their bliss. For me I live a life of logical worry. We cannot survive if we govern ourselves with such primitive selfish tales, and it haunts me to the brink of awkward preparedness. Religion has infected the very roots of our trades and the power of our politics, all in the name of a falsified being, the wrong answer to our questions.