I believe, generally, in evolution. At the same time, I think our perspectives are naive and those that strive to eliminate everything but those mechanisms we have some understanding of are dangerous.

While I would be careful before formally ascribing ‘purpose’ to any form of organism, I would be less concerned about exploring the idea that creatures acquire and fulfill rather astonishing roles throughout their evolutionary development. And they may even evolve toward or into greater intimacy with these roles. So while I am not precisely convinced that nature ‘intended’ to establish a complexly representational intelligence and that we are the result, it does seem clear that nature succeeded in producing one. Why might this happen?

One answer that comes to mind is that we are nature’s living interface to herself, locally. Nature might have crucial uses for an intelligent interface, and thus it might be relatively common for planets like ours to reach (generally) toward producing and supporting one. It is obvious, however, that our world is suffering a grave misfortune. Her interface has forgotten its identity and role, and is tearing the basis of her body and mind apart.

But stop and think for a moment of what such a role implies… nature assembled a creature to live and grow at the crossroads between the collected biocognitive intelligences of Earth, and the next order of intelligence: the planet itself. How did we become so confused that we not only forgot this, but started tearing the conserved web of life apart at its roots?

I believe our species to be uniquely endowed to connect with and unify the myriad transports of anciently evolved and conserved intelligence within nature. Perhaps more provocatively, we are like fish who swim in the vast ocean of terrestrial sentience. Since we cannot see the water, we do not see it vanishing as our species lays waste to the living planet.

I am asking that we begin to take a moment to refresh our memory about our role as a species on Earth and in nature. And I want us to explore together, without stories, without myths, without preconceptions or expectations. Direct, personal contact with the streams of intelligence all around us in the living world. The places. The creatures. The situations. It’s true that the Earth would benefit greatly if we recovered and developed our nobler roles. But more importantly, we might survive our own hubris this way.