PERCENTAGES

Lately we've been looking at natural paradigms that can provide us with guidance and inspiration in our lives. Here's another:

Over 60% of human genes are basically the same as those found in fruit flies. About 90% of human genes correlate at some level to those of mice. Each human even carries genetic information that could give us a tail, like that of the ancestor we have in common with mice, if those genes weren't "switched off." About 98% of human genes also are found in Chimpanzees. The genes of an Australian Aborigine and a blond Norwegian are at least 99.9% identical.

Our genes are collections of information detailing how to put us living things together. Seeing how throughout the history of Life on Earth this single library of genetic information has been diligently enlarged, reproduced, edited, refined and proliferated -- even as 99.99% of all species that ever existed went extinct -- one realizes that to the Universal Creative Impulse, nothing is more important in the Earthly context than this evolving library.

At least to me, this means that the evolving library is sacred. As such, I feel reverence for the lives of other creatures also carrying the library, especially those with whom I share the most genes. In fact, I would resist killing and eating a Chimpanzee with at least 98% of the vigor I would resist killing and eating a human, and for the same reasons.

Each of us defines his or her degree of reverence for life by deciding where to draw the line on what other living beings we're willing to kill or have killed for us, so that we can eat them.

Another teaching of the current paradigm arises when we see how Nature works with Her sacred evolving library. She began small and simple but gradually expanded and evolved until something grand has been achieved. The gradual expansion and evolution of any complex system amounts to a blossoming.

Discovering ourselves to be part of the continuing blossoming of the most gorgeous and majestic of all things -- the Universe itself -- we find ourselves being taught by this natural paradigm that we have a place as necessary and secure as each of a blossom's petals.

And we see that we also are beautiful, and as worthy as any blossoming flower.