Renaud Russeil: Journalist in Environment and Health (France)

Abstract

Life means connections, relationships in four different forms : human, animal, vegetable and mineral. Nature reveals to us that the frame for each form of life is a cycle. The end of each cycle coincides with the beginning of a new cycle. Today, the relationships between human life and other forms of life are broken. To break a relationship in this context means to break a cycle of life, it is an expression of violence opposing the very nature of Life.

If the whole universe also passes through cycles, one after the other, the end of each cycle is a period to prepare the next cycle. But to recycle the universe and all other cycles it contains, there is the need to restore the original relationship that was broken. By so doing, all other relationships, all other cycles of Life will be restored : the relationship with the self will restore the relationship between the creator principle and the creation.

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Originally, the word ‘environment’ does not refer to politics, renewable energies, climate change or even sustainability. It has to do with relationships, connections and feelings, the affective side of life. We learnt at school that the world is made of four kingdoms : human, animal, vegetable and mineral. Everything in the universe is a form of life which belongs to one of these kingdoms. Being alive, these four kingdoms are connected through different forms of energy. This is not philosophy or ideas, these are facts and feelings we share. Feelings have to do with the essence of life, Being – that is, energy, connection, relationship.

A connected world

The most common forms of connections are physical ; we perceive them through our five senses : (touch, sight, taste, hearing and smell) skin, eyes, tongue, ears, nose. There are also physical connections which are more subtle. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered them: electromagnetic waves, forms of energy, connections we do not perceive consciously through our human organs (mobile phones, Wifi, but also waves from the earth, the sun and the universe, etc.). There are people who know how to use or handle these energies ; it can be through the body or through the environment (Acupuncture, Shamanism, water diviners, Fengshui, etc.). We are amazed by those who catch or consciously feel these invisible energies. Why are they able to connect when we cannot? It is also probable that animals, vegetables and minerals communicate; they connect or relate naturally using these waves. This could explain why most animal species feel in advance a natural calamity to come, so that they run or fly away, or they bury themselves deep into the ground to escape.

There is also an energy or connection which is non-physical. It is expressed only through our feelings, our intuitions, clairvoyance in some cases. Many among us have experienced this in one way or another. Our feelings drive our life, our actions; they input the quality of our relationship with everything around us ; they influence our vision, our attitude, our behaviour and our actions.

Seeing the condition of life today, it seems that human beings have damaged or broken many connections. Our behaviour towards other humans and nature, that is, animals, vegetables, minerals, illustrates this.

Cycles within cycles

The notion of broken connections or relationships is linked to another aspect, by which any form of life abides in the universe: cycles. Cycles are the unique framework by which any manifestation of life is organised; from the infinitely small to the infinitely great. For example, atoms are constituted of a nucleus with electrons rotating around. In the same way, galaxies rotate within infinite space. In between two infinities, the earth rotates around the sun and rotates on itself. A rotation of the earth around the sun gives birth to seasons, whereas a rotation on itself causes day and night. Cycles are the measure of lifetimes.

We perceive these cycles at three levels: through our senses, through our understanding and through our feelings. Now, if we observe a life cycle, we see that its framework comprises four phases. A day is divided into morning, afternoon, evening and night. A year is divided into Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Usually, when we name the four seasons or the four parts of a day, we start with Spring or morning – we would not start with another season or another moment of the day. The beginning is naturally connected to the sense of newness, when everything works smoothly, easily. Any object also passes through four phases: clothes, buildings, shoes, cars, are new at first, then they are in good condition, then a little bit old, until they become so old that we need to change them, to renew them, to recycle them. The same principle applies to our bodies: we start as new born babies, we have a lot of energy, then we are young, mature and finally we end up old and weak. People who believe in rebirth will claim that we then change our body, we reincarnate, because there is also a cycle of life at this level.
With this understanding, we can perceive that there must exist a huge cycle capable of containing all other smaller cycles. We may call it the ‘cycle of the universe’, or the ‘cycle of matter’ , the ‘cycle of Life’. Logically, this huge cycle also passes through four phases, just like any other cycle : it has its own Spring when it is at the beginning, when all forms of Life are new (humans, animals, vegetables, minerals). It has its Summer, followed by Fall when things become older, until the end of its own Winter is reached. At that point, the cycle of the universe fulfils its aim. In other words, time is close for a new cycle to start.

In this way, the whole universe passes through cycles from new to old in a game of Russian dolls, smaller cycles being integrated within bigger cycles. And we know the law which makes the process grow old: entropy operates from the infinitely small to the infinitely great. The entropy of a cycle of Life is a process of three combined factors : 1) everything has to go from new to old, 2) relationships are broken, 3) violence grows. We know these things from our personal experience. When problems occur within the family or with friends, broken relationships generate suffering; feelings of un-righteousness, violence inside – broken dreams. It seems as though life will never be the same again. We shall forgive, reconstruct, but a part of our trust will be lost because we cannot recycle everything on our own. The many forms of conflict and violence these days are testimony to many broken relationships.

How to describe the relationship between humans and animals? I remember a web page where we could see a baby with a rabbit and an apple. The caption said : ‘Give an apple and a rabbit to a child; if the child plays with the apple and eats the rabbit, call me immediately !’ Broken relationships, broken cycles of life, violence.

How do humans treat plants, vegetables? We know about deforestation. We also know about pesticides, hybrids and GMO… broken relationships, broken cycles of life, violence.

How do humans treat minerals ? Water, air, earth, fossil fuels, the (petro)chemical industry, processed food… broken relationships, broken cycles of life, violence.

Every time we break a cycle of life, whether between humans, with animals, plants or minerals, the same result occurs: pollution, we cannot recycle everything on our own, sustainability is weakened challenged. This is true violence, which finally penetrates our feelings.

The law of entropy operates smoothly at the beginning of a cycle. But as time goes by, the world passes from Spring to Winter, cycles, connections and relationships are broken one after the other. Entropy is the law of time and the infinite cycle of the universe also has to reach its breaking point, it has to be completely recycled so that a brand new cycle starts, again and again.

Because an old dying cycle is followed by a new born cycle, we understand that something must be under preparation, something contrary to appearances. There must exist something or someone who does not take part in the process from the inside, something or someone who is beyond entropy, who does not break cycles, who is non-violent, who is energy, relationship, connection, feeling. Something or someone who will help us to restore our energy of life, our broken connections and relationships with all other forms of life, by restoring the one original broken relationship: the relationship with the self. Being. Preparations necessarily have to take place before the many cycles of life, including the cycle of the universe, are finally broken. Such is the rule of the game which we are witnessing today through the ecological dilemma, amongst other issues.

The relationship with the self can be re-established when the relationship between the creator principle and the creation is re-established. This is the connection from beyond that can erase all forms of violence from the inner self, so that peace can return to the universe.

Filed in: Purpose