Life is Good
Whether or not we can recognize the goodness of life rests on two very different perspectives. On one hand, we can have an isolated outlook, separated from nature, observing what unfolds around us as chaotic.
On the other hand, we might understand our place in nature, and recognize the part disorganization plays in sustaining life.
What might appear as unstable energy or chaos is how life explores a better way.
The human journey is really no different from all that happens in the natural world. We can observe life prodding and changing us through interactions that lead to growth and wellness.
The sun is one of the best examples of how abundance flows throughout the earth. With each sunrise, trillions of little solar cells across the earth and oceans will open their little green panels toward the light.
They convert the sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into chemical energy in the form of organic compounds, releasing oxygen as a byproduct. Photosynthesis traps solar energy within these living organisms and converts it into food.
From the smallest lifeforms to the largest animals, all find nourishment.
Through reorganization, disorder, energy transfers and chemical reactions, life supports abundance. Similarly, through conflict, or the disorganization of our beliefs, we too, are supported in our growth.
Perfect World
Over billions of years, tectonic shifting pushed mountains up from the seafloor. The shape of the earth seems to have been designed to ensure balance across the earth.
From these mountains today, the water needed throughout the year is conserved as snow. Different altitudes and landscapes will also play a role in how air masses move across the earth.
Warm air rises in the tropics, creating areas of low pressure, while cooler air sinks at higher latitudes, creating areas of high pressure. This sets up global atmospheric circulation patterns that help transport hot and cold air masses from one end of the earth to the other.
The sun also warms the Earth's oceans, driving oceanic circulation. Surface currents distribute heat from the equator towards higher latitudes, while deep ocean currents transport changing temperatures over long distances. This movement helps regulate Earth's climate by redistributing heat and maintaining the optimal temperature for life.
Solar energy absorbed by the Earth's surface and atmosphere drives weather systems, such as convection currents, cloud formation, and precipitation. These processes play a role in redistributing heat and moisture around the globe.
The heating and cooling of the earth over billions of years, carved the perfect terrestrial tapestry to sustain life.
Nothing is Wrong
Sometimes it may seem that nature makes mistakes, but it knows what it is doing.
Cyanobacteria are one of the first lifeforms to utilize photosynthesis, which released the oxygen molecule from water. Yet, when oxygen began to proliferate, many existing anaerobic bacteria became extinct.
The trade-off was that more complex lifeforms began to emerge.
Bacteria reproduce through a form of asexual reproduction, where a parent cell uses cellular fission to create genetically identical offspring. It would take sexual reproduction to unleash diversity among living organisms.
Since the environment is continuously changing, sexual reproduction, or the recombination of parental genes created an adaptive feature to help life thrive.
For billions of years, nature has been perfecting all of its processes in this way.
You Are Unique
We showed up seconds ago on a geologic timescale. You are a recombination of different DNA, meaning you are one of its newest and most unique creations, even among your siblings.
There will never be anyone quite like you and only you know what it means to be fearlessly yourself.
Life brings opposites together to achieve balance. Understanding how it moves allows us to embrace challenges and have faith that everything is unfolding for a reason. We see this in clashing molecules, or in the weather systems that promote optimal conditions for life.
Knowing we are swept up into its pursuit of a better way allows us to be the guest - not the host, which moves us beyond judgement or expectations.
Chaos and Change
Chaos and entropy are similar. Energy comes from the sun in the form of relatively organized and concentrated electromagnetic radiation. As this energy interacts with the Earth's atmosphere, surface, and various processes, it undergoes energy transfers and chemical reactions that result in a more disordered and diffuse form of energy.
Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system. Life uses disorder as a way of exploring possibilities for something better. It can resemble chaos, but this transformation of energy is how life supports innovations.
We are self-organizing systems, like all other organisms, processing energy and transforming it into something else.
In reality, the human journey is no different from all other aspects of nature. Life continues to make us stronger in a myriad of ways, and supports us in finding a better way to thrive.
Is Life Good?
Whether or not we can recognize life’s benevolence depends on how we see ourselves within its tapestry.
Ideas like ‘life is good’ or ‘life is ‘getting better’ may seem subjective or idealistic. However, evolution drives advantages that lead to better outcomes. Our body is healing itself with no conscious effort on our part. Diversity leads to greater possibilities.
How can that be bad?