The Web of Life and its Hidden Connections

Fritjof Capra, an Austrian Scientist who now lives in the USA and is a founding director of the Centre for Ecoliteracy in California, has written a number of fascinating books on the implications of science. Five of them are international bestsellers: The Tao of Physics; The Turning Point; The Web of Life; Uncommon Wisdom and The Hidden Connections. In addition to his research in physics and systems theory, Capra has been engaged in a systematic examination of the philosophical and social implications of contemporary science for the past 30 years. I will pick a few of his many fascinating insights for your consideration.

First insight: our world is a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Capra sees everything as forming a complex web of life. He recognises the intrinsic value of all living beings and views humans as just one particular strand in the web of life. This view he calls deep ecological awareness, and he sees it as not just scientific but also spiritual in nature. When our consciousness of the universe of which we are a part gives us a sense of belongingness, of connectedness to the cosmos as a whole, this ecological awareness is spiritual in its deepest essence. The experience of the many mystics of various religious traditions, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu or Taoist, is of a living universe which parallels the paradigms of modern science. Capra describes his own experience like this: I was sitting by the ocean watching the waves roll in and feeling the rhythm of my own breathing when I suddenly became aware of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance. As a physicist, I knew that the sand, rocks, air and water around me were made of vibrating molecules and atoms. I knew that the atmosphere was continually bombarded by showers of cosmic rays. I “saw” cascades of energy coming from outer space and the atoms and particles of my body were participating in a cosmic dance of energy!  

Second insight: no individual organism can exist in isolation. I have over the years had the pleasure of marrying a number of very special couples, and often discuss with the couple the reality that if they think that they are only marrying the person who stands next to them they are mistaken. A marriage connects two social systems and extends both. There is no way that you can avoid new links with your in-laws; they are part of your new ecological reality! But for Capra and his fellow scientists the web of life is even more deep-seated than social networks. He claims that outside an ecological system there can be no life for the individual organism. We are not only dead without our social networks, but we cannot survive as individual organisms without the material reality of our environment, for example, food, air, water, and body chemistry. The individualism on which the Western World bases its thinking and actions is an unscientific myth.  

Third insight: global capitalism and the sustainability of life on our planet are on a collision course!  The global economy is now driven by a complex network of computers and global gamblers in the form of major investment banks, pension funds, and multinationals. And their sole driving value is money – to the exclusion of all other values. This global greed uses every resource available in order to make money, and success is judged only by growth in monetary value. But this whole system is unsustainable. The resources that are consumed in the race for sustained growth are finite. The false wealth created by the system cannot but crumble – as we have witnessed recently in the crash in the financial markets. The insane scramble for money has cost, and is costing us severe damage to the ecology that sustains our life; some scientists predict that unless certain environmental threats are tackled relatively soon, the damage may be irreversible. Fortunately, there are a growing number of influential scientists and economists who are calling for global capitalism to be fundamentally redesigned. And there are a growing number of people around the world who reject an economic system whose logic ignores and devalues their humanity as well as their survival.

Fourth insight: we can live more simply and make our children eco-literate! Whenever we discuss global economics and global degradation of the environment, despondency is a possible outcome. What can little old you and I do about it? Well, Fritjof Capra suggests that living “sustainably” simply means fully recognising that we are an inseparable part of the web of life, of human and non-human communities, and that enhancing the dignity and sustainability of any one of them will enhance all the others. So, supporting our community organisations in Greyton will enhance the well-being of all. Capra also promotes ecology and systems thinking in primary and secondary schools and so contributes to the establishment of a value system based on the richness and complexity of the web of life and not the simplistic and dangerous obsession of making more and more money despite the damaging cost to self, others and the environment.

Enjoy your week, and if you manage a quiet moment, try meditating on how everything and everyone around you are connected. Awareness of the web of life can be a deep spiritual experience in the midst of your mad busyness.