by Kathy J. Chen
Like all other stories of disease, disaster, and suffering, this one is no different. And like every one of those stories, this one begins with the sickness of separation. Seeing someone, something outside of their comfort group as “other.” Forgetting that when man hurts another, he hurts himself.
It is a culmination of the egocentricity and greed of man, his disregard for the sentience of the other kingdoms with whom he shares this Earth. For far too long, he has plundered the Earth’s arteries for oil, her lungs for wood, her nervous system for ore, defiled her body with waste, killed and tortured her children in the Animal Kingdom for food and sport.
A hungry beast, he wants too much. More and more, it seems no amount could satiate his appetite. Imbalanced for far too long, what followed was inevitable; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This cycle had to come to an end.
The inflection point marked in central China ignited a chain reaction after eating one of the animals in the kingdom. He fell ill. And like a domino, more and more fall. Because of his original sickness, the sickness of separation, he is a destructive force towards the Earth and her animal children. And now, his very being is a weapon towards his fellow man.
It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Seeded by his original sickness, he is finally isolated. Originally an ideological separation, now a physical one. Yet, this was not only a prophecy but also the remedy—not only for himself, but also for the whole of mankind. To heal, he must isolate. To heal, he must decrease activity. To heal, he must unplug from the external world and tend to his inner world. That this is not only for his own good, but also for the good of all others.
If man isolates, many aspects of Mother Earth begin to heal: The air becomes more pure, the water more clear, her children in the Animal Kingdom emerging to roam unharmed. The pressure that he puts on her lifts and her vibrancy shines brighter than before. Beauty and balance, not through effort but by leaving it be.
Throughout the whole of man’s relationship with Nature, she has never promised him anything other than her own nature—that she operates in cycles of creation, maintenance, and destruction as the fundamental balancing agents that all of creation is governed by. So as he hurts, we all hurt. And as he heals, we all heal. And as he loves all, he loves himself.
Kathy Chen is currently a graduate student with the Executive Coaching and Organizational Consulting program. She is also a teacher of Vedic Meditation, having studied with masters from a 5,000-year old lineage at an ashram in the Himalayas of northern India. When she has free time in between assignments, you can find her volunteering at Goats of Anarchy, an animal sanctuary based in New Jersey specializing in special needs goats. Prior to enrolling at NYU for her Master’s, Kathy worked in the marketing and advertising industry for almost a decade. She has a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Finance from Boston University.