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kpete

(72,897 posts)
3. The Earth is a Sentient Living Organism
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 11:51 AM
Jan 2015


“Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. The photographs show the dry, pounded surface of the moon in the foreground, dry as an old bone. Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming, membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos. If you could look long enough, you would see the swirling of the great drifts of white cloud, covering and uncovering the half-hidden masses of land. If you had been looking for a very long, geologic time, you could have seen the continents themselves in motion, drifting apart on their crustal plates, held afloat by the fire beneath. It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun.”

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/05/earth-sentient-living-organism.html
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~few/lewisthomas/membrane.html

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0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

I'm not sure you can say that about asian carp... snooper2 Jan 2015 #1
Or crapping on a good post. Octafish Jan 2015 #28
traditions are sacred! snooper2 Jan 2015 #31
*all* forms of life? plants? bacteria? viruses? fungi? unblock Jan 2015 #2
The Earth is a Sentient Living Organism kpete Jan 2015 #3
+1 Zorra Jan 2015 #17
thank you for that beautiful image niyad Jan 2015 #30
from NASA kpete Jan 2015 #34
Sentient? Alive? I don't think so. aikoaiko Jan 2015 #25
No, the Earth is a drifting hunk of rock... SidDithers Jan 2015 #48
I see no evidence that the earth as a whole is sentient Shivering Jemmy Jan 2015 #51
Rats and cockroaches are not on my sacred list. hobbit709 Jan 2015 #4
Neither are spiders, stinging insects (except honeybees), poisonous snakes, huge snakes, Art_from_Ark Jan 2015 #61
I agree with everything, but one point. MoonRiver Jan 2015 #5
I am with you MoonRiver kpete Jan 2015 #9
This: chervilant Jan 2015 #6
Well said! MoonRiver Jan 2015 #7
Thanks so much! chervilant Jan 2015 #19
Me too! MoonRiver Jan 2015 #23
I agree as well, but with a sad and ironic twist GliderGuider Jan 2015 #43
Finding alternative forms of protein chervilant Jan 2015 #47
If it was just protein replacement I'd have been OK GliderGuider Jan 2015 #50
Have you read Ann Louise Gittleman? chervilant Jan 2015 #59
I agree with this, and for reasons of kindness, but in addition, if another argument is needed, ellenrr Jan 2015 #54
Its an interesting argument el_bryanto Jan 2015 #8
"All forms of life are sacred?" Archae Jan 2015 #10
I have no problem with your chicken sandwich kpete Jan 2015 #16
+1. We are part of nature, not above it. Adrahil Jan 2015 #67
And plants? jeff47 Jan 2015 #11
I think the article clearly referred to "sentient beings." MoonRiver Jan 2015 #12
And sentience is.....? jeff47 Jan 2015 #18
Typical meat eater rationalizations. MoonRiver Jan 2015 #24
Keep telling yourself that. That way you can ignore the questions. jeff47 Jan 2015 #38
Interesting tangent, chervilant Jan 2015 #29
And ripping apart creatures while they're alive isn't exactly "humane" jeff47 Jan 2015 #39
Most of the veggies I grow chervilant Jan 2015 #44
You chew your food. jeff47 Jan 2015 #46
OMG!! chervilant Jan 2015 #58
Yep. jeff47 Jan 2015 #64
Sentient being a word created and defined by human beings The2ndWheel Jan 2015 #22
Have you ever had a relationship with a cow, pig or chicken? MoonRiver Jan 2015 #26
Which is fine The2ndWheel Jan 2015 #32
Thank you for being reasonable. It's rare in these type of discussions. MoonRiver Jan 2015 #56
How about the eyes of a potato? n/t benz380 Jan 2015 #33
How is your inability to relate to a cabbage any different jeff47 Jan 2015 #41
I don't really know what my husband or children are experiencing. MoonRiver Jan 2015 #55
Then what was your point of bringing up cows, pigs and chickens? (nt) jeff47 Jan 2015 #65
Because I have interactions with them similar to what I have with my pets. MoonRiver Jan 2015 #68
lines and boundaries kpete Jan 2015 #37
It would be easy if there was moral fact The2ndWheel Jan 2015 #13
George Carlin on the sanctity of life. iandhr Jan 2015 #14
+1000 "save the crabs". lumberjack_jeff Jan 2015 #45
An inconvenient truth for many. Zorra Jan 2015 #15
Zorra kpete Jan 2015 #20
My dear kpete... Zorra Jan 2015 #21
I hope you know that there are DUers chervilant Jan 2015 #35
My dear chervilant, Zorra Jan 2015 #49
Chris Hedges is, of course, correct. Octafish Jan 2015 #27
Nature, and especially human nature, is messy. hunter Jan 2015 #36
I have killed animals--deer, game birds, fish-- Jackpine Radical Jan 2015 #40
loved this kpete Jan 2015 #42
re informational perspective...I've killed for biological information HereSince1628 Jan 2015 #62
Well, except for mosquitoes. Fuck them. NuclearDem Jan 2015 #52
Not to mention any critter whose name ends in "tick." Jackpine Radical Jan 2015 #63
William Kunstler had become an advocate for the animals before he died. nt ellenrr Jan 2015 #53
Tell that to the ants I sprayed in my garage this morning. Throd Jan 2015 #57
There goes BioFuel, along with enslaving corn and wheat. One_Life_To_Give Jan 2015 #60
I'll take mine medium-rare, please! Adrahil Jan 2015 #66
River of Time seveneyes Jan 2015 #69
Unless they are a Democratic voter for over 30 years... NightOwwl Jan 2015 #70
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