‘And how is this related to addictions?’ Margaret asked. ‘I’m sorry, but you can’t just go off on a rant like that without giving me a direct answer to my question.’
Dr Ogilvy smiled and folded her hands together.
‘Patience please; I’m getting to my point. Tell me, what happens when it is absolutely ingrained into a person’s psyche that they are superior beings, superior to the extent that they in fact consider themselves godlike in comparison to every other life form with which they share this earth? When they are indoctrinated from birth to believe that their reason for existence itself is to dominate, to revel in their perceived superiority, and to perpetuate a dogma that sees the rest of all life – and the ecosystems of the planet – as mere resources to be plundered, torn up and converted into products, products to be traded in a system that requires constant and essentially infinite expansion to continue to exist? Tell me, how does the human animal behave within the framework of such a paradigm?’
Margaret scratched at her chin and swallowed slowly before replying.
‘I-, well … I suppose that, um, the human “animal”, as you seem to enjoy calling us, would behave, as, I don’t know, a conqueror? Coloniser?’
‘Worse than that,’ Dr Ogilvy said dryly. ‘As a virus, Dr Green, a virus. A virus addicted to the act of consumption.Consuming endlessly, voraciously – this is the core addiction that catalyses and fuels all others.’
The General began to speak again, jumping in before Dr Ogilvy could continue. Dusting off the front of his uniform with his elegant ebony fingers, despite its state of spotlessness, he stood up and strolled with measured grace over to the end of the Moon Chamber, where a large window was located. This crystal-wrought portal provided a panoramic view of both the horizon-stretched expanse of the jungle and the deep, star-spattered sky that crowned it.
‘Out there, there is balance,’ he said, sweeping an arm out in the direction of the jungle. ‘Do you understand the term? Can you comprehend what true balance is?’
‘I—’
The General was quick to silence her.
‘No, I’m afraid that you do not understand, and, furthermore, that you cannot, despite whatever pretensions to the contrary your addiction-riddled mind may entertain. Not yet, at least. You see, out there in the unconquered wilds, there is a perfect balance. It fluctuates continually and is never static, and while the waxing of some will temporarily cause the waning of others and vice versa, no one species dominates at the expense of thousands or even millions of others. That vast rainforest you’re looking at, it has been there for millions of years, existing in this perpetual state of ebbing and flowing balance. And I’m not just talking about a mere five or ten million years – which itself is an eternity in comparison to the mere two hundred thousand years that homo sapiens sapiens has been around – no, this rainforest has been here for over a hundred million years.
The life forms who call it home have all been there for countless aeons as well, from the greatest of the large mammals down to the tiniest insects. Their populations fluctuate over the millennia, their numbers rise or dwindle alternately, but always they survive, they go on, they exist in relative harmony with their surroundings. The fact that the forest is still there, as it has been for countless millennia, and that those organisms still thrive in populations great or small, is testament to this fact. That, that right there is balance.’
Margaret nodded and masticated on this information. When the General and Dr Ogilvy put forth their views in such a manner it was difficult to argue with them. Out there, beyond the reach of mankind, there was indeed an ancient symmetry at work, and a greater communal symbiosis than she could even begin to wrap her head around. She wondered, at that moment, why she had never thought of it in such terms. After all, back home she and Ting lived by an old-growth forest. That too was a primeval system of balance like this one, yet she had never considered it to be anything more than mere background scenery – something pretty to look at while making idle conversation and sipping on a glass of dry red on the porch.
‘Balance is something that started crumbling when human beings harnessed fire and tools, and then when they became even more greedy, and hunted many species to extinction with these newfound tools. This wanton destruction began to accelerate at an alarming rate when they started implementing their first systems of agriculture ten thousand years ago,’ the General continued. ‘Observe the behaviour of the great apes who are the closest “animal” relatives of the human primate. Bonobos are biologically like you humans, but their nature is not as close to yours as that of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees, who are closest to humans genetically, live in small groups of around fifty individuals. And, like humans, they too seem to have a predisposition toward violence and domination. There are strict hierarchies within the group, with an alpha male – a chief, or even king, if you will – who governs the rest, sometimes by mere violence and intimidation, but often more by cooperation and political alliances. Does that sound familiar to you? Like men, chimpanzees appear to have a need to make war on other groups of chimpanzees who are external to their group, and sometimes even members of their own bands. And again, like the human primate, they sometimes go as far as engaging in what we may call genocidal behaviour … yet beyond all this violence, they still manage to live in a semblance of harmony with their surroundings. They
