Our Downfall: Self-Obsession With Humanity

Peter McClard
5 min readFeb 28, 2023

We are so full of ourselves as a species, it’s rather disgusting and unseemly. We are certain of our superiority and Dominion over all life on Earth and we act as though we are the only inhabitants that matter. WE AREN’T. In fact, every single species of plant and animal can claim the exact same ancient heritage on the exact same Tree of Life where we are but another branch. If we are to survive, we NEED to care more about the Tree, and less about the Branch. We need to be more humble and connected to our Roots.

Yes, we are different. We are audacious, technological and have fancy languages and mathematical skills. We clothe and house ourselves differently and make incredible things of all sorts. Yet we are NOT separate from the Web of Life. We rely on oxygen made by plants, the pollination of bees, the pest control of birds and spiders, the decomposition of fungi and worms and MUCH more. But this article isn’t about us, it’s about all the OTHERS who we share the Planet with, the other Inhabitants who have earned their place through EONS of struggle and sublime interdependency well beyond the simple workings of a Swiss watch. The exact same Eons that made us, made all of them too, including the billions of species that have gone extinct, the dead branches.

As we know, if enough branches of a tree die, the whole tree dies. But I don’t want to…

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Peter McClard

As a creative type, entrepreneur and philosopher, I write on many topics and try to offer solutions to, or useful insights into common problems.