ሩህ ሚዲያ – Ruh Media

WHY UPHOLDING NATURAL LAWS SO IMPORTANT?

Habtamu Girma, Lecturer at Jigjiga University, Department of Economics.

The World is Not Fair

When I listen to the calls of nature, I hear a scream from all creatures. May be, we feel and hence lend our ears to the human grief only; the suffering of other life is however far from the table of discussions often times. However, unable to speak out their suffering in words doesn’t mean the fauna and flora are passive; a deeper look into the world entails they rather are showing their sufferings in action, calling for a fair world where no life flourishes at the expense of the other; a world which is just not only for humankind, but also for all life; calling for pretty fair allocation of resources in a way that may not affect the health of other living things: big or small, born or unborn, of all the present and future generations.

In Search of a Fair World……

Where is a fair world for all creatues- be it human kind or other lifes, the fauna and flora? Where is that land of universal happiness and prosperity? Where is that part of world in which justice and fairness prevailed? Can we model for a utopia that provides us with ‘yes’ for all these quests; or remains a mere wish? If we can, how dear (cheap) is the cost of securing that dream land? Indeed, these are not mere questons at all; nor do make one with this point ideal. I am optimistic about a utopia, where joy, hope and prosperity in abundance. As our utopia is our common land, everyone shall have a say in the whole process of towards its construction. In this article, I would try to put forward my views on the essence of modelling a utopia where fair and just order prevails; also suggestions on the possible ways & means and preconditions required in pursuit of that dream land is made.

Dreaming for a Utopia

Once again, I would say dreaming for a utopia free of social, economic, political and environmental woes is not mere wish. Indeed, realizing that dream requires to understand two interrelated elements: the first is to understand nature: its rules and working principles, which shall be taken a necessary condition; and the second is one`s readiness to sense life to the fullest, what I preferred to be considered a sufficient condition. The former takes only endowing a deep sense of affection and readiness to lending the required time and energy to make inquiries into nature and its laws. Such a critical look into nature enables to draw a clear depictions of nature: about its purpose, governing rules, and how it works in general. The latter requires lust and determination to practice the dictations of nature and bowing down to its rules, which should be considered as an essential virtue of human being. All in all, a path that takes to our utopia requires us to understand nature; in this regard, two issues are worth remembering: re-defining what life means; and re-statement on civilization.

Nature a Healer!

What is nature all about? If I may to speak about nature is in a single word, I respond ‘nature as a reality’. Nature is a supreme force meant to keeping the healthy workings of the world, where all life fetches fair share from natural peace. The fact that understanding nature and natural order requires an in-depth look into the visible and invisible world begs the fact that humankind, the only animal with a reasoning power, is endowed with an ability to understand nature and hence privileged with all power and wisdom that enables it control its environment, and govern all other life on earth. When human kind is privileged with these powers, it is not without some strings attached, that is readiness to learn on nature and natural order, which I rather to dub as one virtue of human characters.
Through its interrelated and sophisticated rules and principles, nature defines and governs the whole aspects of life, of all creatures. The most important governing rules of nature are: ‘extremes are bad’, ‘self-interest is inherent in human nature’, ‘believe in natural justice’ and ‘existence of every creature (species) is for purpose’.
In our drive towards that dream land, where all life can live in harmony, all it takes is to understand nature, and lend our respect to its rules. This in turn takes redefining life. Lets for a while, ask ourselves: What life really mean for us; if we are living life to the fullest. No doubt that there is no a commonly shared answer, and it is highly likely that at least every one of us come up with a unique solutions to these problems. If I am supposed to say mine, I say that ability to breathe in and out do not justify one as alive. I understand living as the ability to sense and respond to our feelings: to be able to smell the fragrant or bad odor; to see not only the bold, also the tiny, even the invisibles. In its breadth and width, Life is to cry when one is supposed to cry; to laugh with what makes one laughter; to shout on what one considered as unfair, to suggest for right when one feel an action is wrong, and ultimately to be a voice for a voiceless. I call upon for a revision on the conventional life-death definition, which considers ability to inhale and exhale of oxygen and carbon dioxide respectively. For me, alive are those who are genuine for their heart beat. In alternative words, living is to show a will to accept the reality; understand nature and its rules. It is only when we are in such state of mind, meaning when are really alive, that we make inquiries on the nature and naturalism, and better understand the rules of nature. People are not the same in their understanding on nature, though they are equally endowed with a tool to do so, a reasoning power. As such, peoples state of living shall be stated in terms of degrees. Considering life and death as a ceiling, we have to define other states of living, depending on the extent of ones intelligence over nature and naturalism, the level of ones courage to live by the rules and principles of nature.
Human`s control over its environment, which we call it civilization, is nothing but understanding nature and abided by natural order. The right parameter to rely on to rank people in terms of intelligence and societies in terms of degree of civilization is the extent of intimacy they developed with nature.
Disrespect to the rules of nature is the mother of all woes, in all departments of life: social, economic, political, and ecological at all levels. So we can cleanse ourselves from all these evils once we get nature right: show the will and courage to live by natural laws.

Upholding Natural Order: Way for Prosperous Life

Social chaos that filled our world would get a cure by understanding the principles of nature. The most important rules of nature that appeals in this respect are: ‘extremes are bad’, and ‘natural justice’. The former calls one to be moderate in his social transactions; while the latter connotes that everyone is rewarded based on his/her effort. By offering incentives and courage to behave in a modest and consistent manner, surrendering oneself to ‘extremes are bad’ balances our intra-personal as well as inter-personal relations. By invoking for ‘tit-for-tat’, and the principle of “do not do anything on others what you yourself dislike to happen on you”, belief in ‘natural justice’ is a force behind shaping human conduct as it helps develop moral and ethical values, which are paramount in curbing social problems like jealousy, malfunctioning & corruption, practices of stealing & robbery, and other social malades.
Designing the proper economic strategy that leads to prosperity has for long been controversial, even today. An economic policy that appreciates the very nature of humankind is something our world starved of. Human being has both cooperative and competitive natures; yet it is natural that the competitive force outweighs the cooperative force, particularly in economic transactions. The proper economic relation is therefore the one which acknowledges and hence appreciate the competitive nature of people. Economic relations built on the premises that deny this essential element deny the prosperity that human kind deserves.
Alternative modals of production relations we know in history: collectivism, slavery, feudalism and socialism failed to work, in a sense of bringing about the welfare of the mass, for their philosphy was divorced from the inherent nature of human kind. By requiring people to be selfless, socialism (communism) underestimated and crushed the competitive force inherent in human nature, and that explains the collapse of socialism. Capitalism survives as a leading economic philosophy, because it acknowledges the most defining natural law in economic transactions, which is self-interest. Built on the notion of self-interest, capitalism may seems to have acknowledged the psychology of human kind. However it is undeniable that the actual working of capitalism often passes the natural limit of self-interest (self-love), a rational selfishness, which I mean is devoid of greed. The whole evils of capitalism arises due to corrupt understanding of individualism.
The political system that respects the dignity of people, the one which promotes the principles of free speech and thought, and which entertains the rule of the majority and defends the rights of minority, is the natural political system. Any deviation from that, or a political philosophy which denies the very nature of people, that is self-love, manifested in the lust for dignity and respect, is the one which shall be condemned for making peace scarcer, and human grief abundant.
Scientists put ecological imbalance as a ‘root cause’ of environmental problems. Yet, we can move one step behind to explore “why environmental crisis?”, and the answer lies in disrespect for natural order: ‘existence of every creature (species) is for purpose’. Upholding this principle connotes that any infliction against a single species is an infliction against all life, which in turn calls for environmental protection and hence ecological balance.
Once we Get nature triumph, once we accept and bow-down to natural laws, once we accept the reality, then we are on the right path to our utopia, where joy, hope and prosperity in abundance in all aspects of life: be it social, economic, political and ecological.