Consciousness

In the beginning there was Consciousness.

Consciousness was thinking,

“I wish I had something to do besides just think.”

Shortly thereafter there was a Big Bang.  Time, Energy and Matter instantaneously took center stage.  That was 14.5 billion years ago.”

Tweedy

Tweedy began demonstrating a few aerial acrobatics she had been practicing to impress the Doctor.

“Go on, Get!” admonished Harriett.  “The Doctor and I are having a serious conversation.”

In a feigned gesture of teen age psych-trauma, Tweedy took off and circled the platform three times.

The doctor smiled at her bogus indignation.  She flew incredibly high, into the blue, until she was just a speck.

He wondered if he would ever see her again.

Slowly, the Doctor returned his attention to Harriett, trying to look interested.

“The Big Bang? Repeated the Doctor. “Oh, I like The Big Bang! Astrophysics; my favorite subject.”

“Sarcasm?” questioned our Bird.

Nonetheless, politely she continued.  “We are not talking about The Big Bang now.”

“We are talking about Nature.”

“Doctor”, she paused. “When I refer to ‘Nature’, I am only referring to the Geology and Wildlife on planet earth.  OK?”

“OK,” agreed the Doctor absently.

He was still watching Tweedy as she flew east.

Nature

“After the Big Bang Nature was born,” explained Harriett.

“Nature was not sure of its role. For 10.9 billion years Nature hung around other parts of the universe, doing who knows what. With the formation of earth, Nature turned its attention to the pretty blue planet. When life on earth began 3.6 billion years ago, it became even more interested.”

“What you and I consider “animals” showed up a mere 600 million years ago. We (birds) came along much, much later. Homo sapiens did not show up until 2.5 million years ago.

“Nature sometimes acts erratically. For instance, 66 million years ago a meteor crashed into earth, resulted in the mass extinction of most plant and animal species on the planet, including all non-avian dinosaurs.”

“Consciousness said nothing. There have been other periodic mass extinctions, that I will not mention. I do not want you to think Nature is evil. I am just giving an example of what Nature can do with impunity. Nature just does not care.”

Mother Nature

Mother Nature is the personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature.

It was in Ancient Greece where Nature was first recognized as being female.

The first god of Ancient Greece was actually a goddess.

Gaia – The Goddess of Earth.

Gaia

Gaia created herself out of primordial chaos, and from her fertile womb all life sprang.

As Mother Nature, she personifies the entire ecosystem of Planet Earth.  She is life giving, to all life on this planet. Mother Nature is always working to achieve and maintain harmony, wholeness and balance within the environment. Mother Nature heals, nurtures and supports all life, and ultimately all life depends on Her.

Since that time Nature has been referred to as Mother Nature.

For a long time Mother Nature thought she was in charge of the natural environment; rocks, forest, beaches, and all life.

But things are different now and Mother Nature is annoyed and getting angry.

Humanity’s intervention; splitting atoms, gene slicing, genetic engineering, global warming, nuclear war, runaway physics experiments, runaway nanotechnology, unfriendly machine super-intelligence, and more have got Mother Nature into a tizzy. Lately she has been down right “pissed off!”

The bottom line:

Beware of Mother Nature. Be prepared for the unexpected: Hurricanes, typhoons, tidal waves, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, global warming, earth quakes, volcanoes, unleashed radioactivity, thermonuclear explosions, asteroids, Ebola viruses, drought, pestilence, human nature and the yet unimaginable.

Nature does not care. Mother Nature does not give a hoot about you.  You had better be prepared for whatever impulsive, whimsical caprice she may have.

It is Consciousness that cares.