Illustration to put in perspective a timeless question:
Are there too many of us on Earth?
Faced with the climatic, geopolitical, economic, and societal challenges humanity must confront, what is our share of responsibility when we choose to bring into the world a new generation that will have to accept and face these issues?
Is the desire to have children an act of selfishness? Or is it, at least in part, guided by nature itself — those same natural forces that gave birth to life? Could there be a physical or chemical impulse meant to counterbalance the devastation of pollution, war, racism, and famine through the emergence of a generation that is more sensitive, empathetic, and conscious — capable of slowing down, or even reversing, the damage we have caused?
Or will this generation seek to escape the responsibilities we have left behind — like the dream of fleeing to other planets once Earth becomes uninhabitable? Will it feel crushed by the selfishness of its parents, despite the love they gave it?
This reflection brings to mind a quote from Rust Cohle, a character in True Detective, Season 1: True Detective, saison 1 :
“I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware; nature created an aspect of itself that is separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, a secretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody’s nobody.
I think the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, and walk hand in hand into extinction; one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.”
And yet, as a very dear friend reminded me with her contagious enthusiasm, this illustration can also be interpreted quite differently.
It may represent a connection to the inner child, a path to reconnect and purify ourselves while accessing a higher consciousness. Through this connection, we may elevate ourselves and reveal our truest selves.