本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛How shall we define life?
If we are to define a cellular existence as the product of birth, this earthly creation must then come full circle and fulfill its mortal fate as an inevitable step in the great journey of nature.
That is, without death, there cannot be life. After all, we on Earth inhabit a finite system of land and resources. Mother Nature knows when a being has outlived its usefulness, and She will surely not hesitate the slightest bit when the time comes to scratch these beings out of the picture.
Why human civilization vilifies death as a black force of repulsive evil is beyond me. Instead, let us view death as an impetus for spiritual and biological regeneration, an opportunity for a population to repair, redouble, and regrow.
Plants will dry up and shrivel as they indeed must, but they leave a trail of nutrients that will serve indispensable for the next generation of creatures inhabiting the land.
Now what lessons can we take from this as living humans, the only moral animals on Earth?
The reality is that we will all be gone one day, so our limited time on Earth must be spent building the seeds of the future. We have a vested interest as a species in not only the inheritance of our fittest genotypes in our progeny, but also in maintaining and regenerating the uniquely human capacity for culture-creation. For culture is what enlightens even the most beastly propensities of our psyches and rids us of the need to reinvent the wheel generation after generation.
Our mortal nature reminds us that we will not be around to bear witness to all the fruits of our labor, so we ought to spend our lives making big bets, and ensuring these bets have the best possible chance of winning. That is essentially what every cellular being, from the most minute bacterium to the most colossal killer whale, regards as its raison d’être. Like a stock market, we try to make our wisest noves for the time being, but leave it up to chance to determine the ultimate fate of things.
Because one day, none of us will be around.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net