We could look at human history as a series of steps in finding out that we're not as unique and special in the grand scheme of things as we thought.
For instance, it used to be a cherished notion of us human beings that the earth was the center of the universe and that everything else revolved around it. Copernicus demolished that view, and it was a severe blow to our world-view at the time.
Then we thought that we were a unique creation, created in a quite different process than mere animals were. Darwin showed that we had evolved from the same slime as everything else, and indeed, that we and the apes had evolved from a common ancestor.
And any day now we'll find out that our intelligence is not unique in the universe, and that intelligence actually is as common as sands on the beach.
Those are just a few examples of many that could be given. Over the years we humans have had a number of blows to our self-image of being special and unique. We're not as "separate" as we thought.
We've been learning that in another dimension too. At the same time as we've been humbled in the grand scheme of things, our heart has also been growing.
For instance: For centuries some of us thought that some races were superior to others. Most of us have found out now that that isn't true. A bright line of separation has been dimmed considerably.
For centuries some of us thought that men were superior to women. More recently some of us have thought that women are superior to men. But many of us are finding out that neither is true. We're all just human beings; we all want to avoid suffering. Another line of separation slowly dimming.
Another line of separation was the one between straights and gays. Straights were superior to gays, or vice-versa. But of course that's not true either; that line of separation is no more true than any other.
More generally, we're finding out that no one is superior to anyone else. To use a metaphor, all of us are equal in the eyes of the infinite. And that when we see everyone equally, it is the infinite itself that is looking through our eyes.
Washington and Jefferson, those amazing creators of the republic, owned slaves. We could look back at them and wonder how they could have done that, but we dare not—because our own prejudices will be glaringly apparent to others a few centuries from now, the very same prejudices that we're unable to see now.
An example is our treatment of animals. Many of us now think of livestock as simply an economic commodity, something to warehouse at our pleasure and eat when it suits us. I predict that someday that view will be considered as archaic as racism is now.
Another example is our treatment of nature and the planet. Many of us still think of nature as something to be conquered, controlled, tamed for our benefit. That view too will fall by the wayside, and one day will seem as archaic as sexism is now.
It's easy to look back and see the prejudices and blindnesses of our ancestors. But can we see our own? That's more difficult.
Can we see the mental constructions that separate us from anything in existence, whatever it might be? Can we see that all of existence is the same in the eyes of the infinite, that is, in the eyes of the heart?
What is it that we're not willing to honor yet? Is it the chicken on our plate, raised under gruesome conditions for our pleasure? Is it the ecological system, when we haul ourselves around in a two-ton vehicle? Is it the trees, when we clear-cut them?
What separations still exist in our mind? Where is it that we think we're separate from existence? Where do we still act as if we're separate?
Our human heart is growing. Day by day, through incredible ups and sometimes terrible downs, through our whole human journey, we're gradually learning that the only thing that matters is to see through the eyes of the heart. We're gradually learning to become the Heart of the planet.
It's happening. Listen; can we hear it? Look; can we see it?
Despite the ups and downs, can you feel it happening in your own life, in your own heart, just like a flower opening to the sunlight?
—jim sloman, for 6/26/01
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