the sanctity of life

If humanity is to mature into the next necessary chapter of its evolutionary journey, it firstly must recognise the sanctity of life. Not just my life, or my family, or my race or my nation, but of all life. And not just even of human life, but of every living species. All life is sacred. All life is One.

At the end of the day, it is how we define life that marks the transition point. For millennia, humanity has erroneously defined the self from a microscopic and myopic viewpoint. A spiritually and emotionally mature species fully grasps and appreciates the interconnectedness of all life. It is this web that is important.

Science is just beginning to fathom this oneness of the planetary system within which we live and have our being. We are just beginning to perceive the delicacy of this wholistic ecosystem – the noosphere, as we witness how our destructive behaviour is eroding its integrity.

To wantonly take a life, any life, is the mark of spiritual and emotional immaturity and ignorance for it is a misperception and a misunderstanding of what life truly is: the presence of God. When Christ said treat thy neighbour as thyself, he was not speaking metaphorically but literally. Your neighbour is yourself.

We are one species. We are the collective body of humanity just as any single human body is the collective of umpteen billions of living cells working together harmoniously and holistically to keep us alive. Each one of us is a cell in that body of humanity. To take the life of one of those cells is to injure the whole. To denigrate the sanctity of life. To demonstrate one’s immaturity and ignorance.

Our human biology is a marvel of engineering and architecture. There are so many moving parts. So many different organs. So many various cells. No two cells are identical or alike. Each one has a designated function and role to play in our personal health and wellbeing.

So too, each human being, each and every human life is necessary and precious for the collective wellbeing of the race, for if one life is not sacred then none are. To take another’s life is to injure the self.

We need to urgently transcend this myopic point of view of selfishness and egocentricity. No man is an island. None of us can exist totally in isolation. Longevity, health and wellbeing are firmly rooted in human connectedness- being an integral part of the human community. Playing your part; being of service; honouring others and thus honouring the self. To injure another is to injure the self. To take from another is to diminish the self.

We need to get over killing! It is barbaric and primitive. We need to move on.