The Paradox Of Being A Human

The Question We Now All Need To Ask Ourselves!

At the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex the Most Reverend Michael Curry talked about the Power Of Love being a transformative, redemptive force within the world once people embraced the understanding of what this truly meant, for both themselves and the planet.

I want to bring that Power Of Love into this blog whilst writing about what some of the paradoxes are of being a human in this day and age and what it is to live my own life as a consequence at this moment in time also.

For when the Power Of Love is referred to at a Royal Wedding, as one pundit quite rightly picked up on, there is normally at least one dear aunt amongst the congregation that will inevitably want to start to talk about children and when one son or daughter might appear on the horizon, perhaps with the aspiration that many more will follow on behind, to represent what traditionally one might believe to be a happy, healthy, abundant family.

This has been one of the most fundamental questions one would ask a fellow human being for many generations almost as soon as the confetti has hit the ground. However, perhaps now the question that more pertinently needs to be asked is ‘how many children are you planning on having?’

Today one of the paradoxes of being a human is the fact that in order to continue to exist and sustain ourselves as a species we need to reproduce the next generation. However given the population size we now are at, with no natural predator, if we continue to reproduce without consciousness, we inadvertently bring harm to ourselves and the rest of the planet in our expansion.

When we solely think about our own selves and how many children we desire on having we don’t necessarily think of all the other offspring of the Earth, all the other inhabitants of the planet too, and the balance required for all to be able to survive and thrive in their own habitats.

I would suggest that given a relatively equal split of males to females alive on the planet today within the human population (105 to 100 at birth according to the World Health Organisation) that merely 2 children per woman per lifetime is enough for us to aspire to having in order to keep our population at a more sustainable level. Here the offspring natur-ally replace the parents within one life cycle. This is with the caveat that the mean number of generations alive on the Earth at any one time stays at roughly 3 and doesn't extend to 4 with increased health and life expectancy.

When commenting on any population growth issues I do so from a perspective of being fully aware of the impact my own family has had on society throughout the last century. I'm sure when my grandparents decided to give birth to 9 children 90 years ago they had very little thought as to what impact this would have on the population as a whole if everyone behaved in the same way.

Growing up I was blissfully unaware of how many extra houses would need to be created in order to accommodate my rapidly expanding family, and how much nature would have to be sacrificed as a result. I was somewhat oblivious to the situation when enjoying countless family parties as one of 22 cousins. From just my grandparents alive in 1928 there are now 66 extra people in existence here on Earth purely amongst my own relatives (not including spouses).

Sir David Attenborough, a patron of Population Matters has stated that he has ‘never seen an environmental problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve with fewer people on the planet, or harder, and ultimately impossible, with more.’

I believe if we are to truly embrace the Power Of Love now, we need to do so in a global context and realise what effect we have on the rest of our world with the choices we make, for there is a collective consciousness at work between us all that states whether an action is acceptable or not when truly tuned in and properly aligned to that of all creation. This collective consciousness I believe is now saying to us, ‘Time's up, reign yourselves back in and realign, treasure all around you, flora and fauna alike, whilst considering the amount of children you have, reducing it to two and maybe even one for the benefit of all.’

Any one of any influence and power within our society in my book has to take their own fair share of responsibility to be seen to be having the right amount of children. This is because a large part of society look up to them and model themselves upon them and believe consciously or subconsciously it is OK to follow suit.

The very fact that the groom's brother and sister in law, the Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge, have now just recently given birth to their third child, the Queen and Prince Phillip before them having had four in their own lifetime, David and Victoria Beckham having also had four and other aspirational celebrities like Kim Kardashian having had a similar amount, tends to send a certain message out to the masses. I just wonder if having as many children as you like is giving the right indication to the rest of society as to what is OK to do in our modern day existence?
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My intention here is not to point the finger and bring blame or shame upon anyone  who has chosen to have any more than two children, for what is done is done and we are all culpable as I have previously mentioned. It is just purely to bring awareness of how many children we are having and what effect this has as a consequence on the rest of the planet and our environment around us when we choose to do so. It does however bring a pang of sorrow to my heart whenever I hear of this having occurred due purely to my love for nature.

How many environmental activists I wonder march on Downing Street and the like chaining themselves to the lampposts or sitting prone in Parliament Square with 4 or 5 kids in tow? They complain about the environmental impact of climate change when creating more and more children arguably is the major contributory factor.

If we elect to have more than two children in any one family, at the very least we need to be living a carbon zero lifestyle, being greener than green and endeavouring to live with as little or no human impact upon the Earth as is possible. This is the true Power Of Love that is needed today, the love for the planet itself and all of the other inhabitants that share our world alongside us in order to create the right relationship to it again and bring ourselves back into balance.

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

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