The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

earth becomes a hell of carnage and destruction. But it is unavoidablethat the weak should be sacrificed so that the strong may live. That thestrong win and survive and the weak die out is a rule of nature. After thepassage of millions of years, the creatures now living on the earth havebeen victorious in the struggle for life. You could say that the survival ofthe fittest is a providence of nature.”Said a second youth, “That’s how it appears to the winners, anyway.The way I see it, this world is one of co-existence and mutual benefit. Atthe foot of the grain in this field, clover, and so many varieties of grassesand weeds are living mutually beneficial lives. Ivy winds around thetrees; moss and lichen live attached to the tree’s trunk and branches.Ferns spread beneath the forest canopy. Birds and frogs, plants, insects,small animals, bacteria, fungi -all creatures perform essential roles andbenefit from one another’s existence.”A third spoke, “The earth is a world of the strong consuming theweak, and also one of co-existence. The stronger creatures take no morefood than necessary; though they attack other creatures, the overallbalance of nature is maintained. The providence of nature is an ironcladrule, preserving peace and order upon the earth.”Three people and three points of view. I met all three opinions with aflat denial.The world itself never asks whether it is based upon a principle ofcompetition or of cooperation. When seen from the relative perspectiveof the human intellect, there are those who are strong and there are thosewho are weak, there is large and there is small.Now there is no one who doubts that this relative outlook exists, butif we were to suppose that the relativity of human perception ismistaken-for173