The Moral Imperatives of our Impending Doom

Is the Earth taking revenge on us?

Is God wrathful?

Is the human race doomed?

In the 21st century, it seems like we are attacked on all sides by diseases, and wars, and natural disasters; by ideological conflicts and economic crises.  Does this spell the end of humanity?  Are we all individually and collectively doomed?

I think this is a legitimate set of concerns.  It makes sense to be worried about questions like these.  It also makes sense to harbor these feelings and have these fears.  I mean look at what we’ve done:

• We’ve expanded the population of humans and their impact on this planet to have negative effects on every level: from disruptions beneath the crust, to extinctions on the surface, and erosion of the very atmosphere that protects us from the void of space.  The Earth has every right to be mad at us.  And, as we heat things up, destroy the natural checks and balances in ecosystems, and spread our own unhygienic practices around ever-closer and ever-growing populations of humans, we’re bound to incubate and proliferate more and more deadly diseases.
• We’ve collectively defied anything and everything that ANYONE’s religious traditions ever valued or warned about.  We’ve violated nature, disgraced ancestors, and ignored prophets. We’ve reveled in every kind of immoral and unethical practice and allowed these to run wild.  We’ve set vainglory, the accumulation of wealth, and pursuit of bodily pleasures at the apex of our ambitions.  Our politicians, business leaders, entertainment celebrities, even religious leaders–all the people we place at the peak of influence and renown–are some of our worst examples.  Any God you believe in must certainly be wrathful with us.
• We’ve turned nation against nation and brother against brother.  We’ve stubbornly pursued the things that are harmful to ourselves and to others.  We’ve perfected the arts of death and destruction.  We’ve turned our hearts to fantasies while failing to care for the hungry and shelterless in our own communities.  Human beings are certainly behaving like a group heading willingly towards our own doom.

So, clearly, human beings are a problem; but what can we do about it?

We cannot stop being people, we cannot stop making more people, we cannot get rid of a bunch of people; for none of those choices is moral.  The only moral choice is to become better at being people. 

We’ve tried all the other options.  Recently.  They have only led to an increase in pain and suffering.  That is not right.  The moral imperative of a human being is to ensure their own survival and that of their species.

• To self-destruct is a crime against all the past humans who have struggled so that you can be here.
• To halt procreation is a crime against all the future humans who are to come.
• To eliminate populations through genocide or eugenics or war is a crime against all the present humans who are to die, to watch their loved ones die, or take part in the killing.

The only choice we have is to improve.  Improve as individuals.  Improve as societies.  Improve as a species.

We must be better at living with ourselves.

We must be better at living with our families.

We must be better at living in our communities.

We must be better at living within our nations.

We must be better at living with those of other nations.

We must be better at living with the earth.

We need to take better care of every sphere of our existence and influence.  We have to do this individually and we have to do this with others and for others.  This is going to look differently to different people, and I’m not claiming to have all the answers here.  I’m just talking about the direction that we are compelled to follow: the only vision that makes any sense.  Come together, try harder, be bigger, do better.