BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 31 TO LABOR DAY, 2018) — One of The Ol’ Professor’s favorite essays to use in Comp I classes was “Warfare in the Forest is Not Wanton” by Brooks Atkinson. In it, the author describes the fury and ferocity of nature in the woodland, almost all of which humans entirely miss because it takes place out of sight or too slowly (as we measure time) to be noticed. We are too easily distracted by our own selfish pursuits, even if they are the benign kind of “communing with nature” or finding in the woods our spirituality, a la Henry David Thoreau or John Muir. Unseen beneath and on top of this human-imposed veneer is a fight for survival.

With trees, for example, the battles extend over decades, centuries even, as different varieties fight for nutrition and sunlight. The campaigns will be waged silently slowly, with the artillery mute to human hearing and movement of the kind that would make the hour hand of a clock seem rapid as roots, trunks, branches, and leaves stake their claim to life. The same goes on with plants and animals. Even the microbes know that the fight is still on.

Today we sat outside a coffeehouse, tossing pieces of a chocolate muffin to birds and pigeons. The pecking order quickly sorted itself as the Dominant P hogged the best pieces and shooed the others away. THE PLANET nonetheless made sure the little guys got theirs, assured that Dom P had no evil in him. His motives were as innocent as a the ribbon on  little girl’s doll or on my Underwood typewriter.

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Atkinson conveys in the essay and in its title the crucial fact that while nature engages in an endless struggle for survival, the battles are “not wanton,” that is, malice, hatred, jealousy, envy, avarice don’t propel them. These emotions belong to humans, who act as if we occupy a large mental hospital. How else do we explain the madness of what we have done, do, keep doing, and will do to ourselves? People in groups share the most contagious disease ever known, that of self-interested greed. Saints, holy men and women, philosophers, artists, and thinkers have since the dawn of consciousness and self-awareness offered remedies for utopia, either on  grand (Hobbes, Skinner) or interpersonal (Jesus, Buddha) scale. All ultimately fail.

Organized religion may be the most pernicious type of grouping, with its self-professed claim on “truth.” To advertise that you have The Answer has been since time began an irresistible draw to countless gullible people. Inevitably, though, religion reduces to a set of arbitrary rules propagated by a select few, usually men, to control people. Believers end up as we all do, alone — as it should be — to face our mortality.

From this we can draw the lesson of intent. Survival is the purest and most resolute form of intent possible, one that all life shares. All of nature and life except human beings show perpetuate intent. They act without ulterior motive or selfish plotting and can therefore be considered sacred, if THE PLANET may use a loaded word.  Humans have (d)evolved beyond pure intent, with self-awareness having become the culprit (what the Catholic Church calls Original Sin). Here, survival moves from contentment and self-containment into the abstract realm of intellect.

While we possess the means and ability to fashion a paradisal life for ourselves, self-conscious impulse takes a nasty turn, evil even. We humans will deliberately inflict needless pain, conflict, and suffering on ourselves, always in disguise as “the other.” You are a “this.” I am a “that.” You must therefore be less than me, not worthy, subpar, the enemy. Our divisions permeate into invisible borders, barriers, fences, sects, factions, tribes, states, nations, and all the other delimiters of hostility that divide rather than unite us. We clearly can’t handle our self-awareness. It’s rather like putting the computing power of a smart phone in the hands of a nine-year-old. Perhaps over time we will grow into the capacity of our brains and minds, but we are far from that time if it is ever to arrive at all.

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A mathematician developed an algorithm and software to study human origins, ancestry, genetics, DNA, and the works of progeny. He came up with the startling yet mundane fact that any one person on the face of the earth can be no further removed in blood relations from any other human being on earth than a 50th cousin. The same study also found that every time you inhale, you take in at least three hydrogen atoms that have already been inhaled by everyone who has ever lived — Jesus, Adolph Hitler, Julius Caesar, Sid Caesar, Jerry Mathers, Roger Kahn, Genghis Kahn. If they lived on the earth at any time in any era, you are taking them in. We ARE all one.

Consequently, we cannot and should not forgive ourselves for what we do to each other. There is no need. Such forgiveness, same as the hatred that causes its need, is wanton, too. We are a species are beyond forgiveness because there is nothing to forgive that is self-imposed. Those who can wake up to the truth can never go back to sleep, for they have found a dreamless salvation.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

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When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, tell him to pull up his pants” — Sir Tiberius Fruitjuice.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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