A philosophy professor at a Catholic university gives the readers of the Catholic Peace Weekly some thoughts on Symbiosis in the Diagnosis of the Times Column.
Recent life science has revealed that all living things on Earth arose from a single origin, and accordingly, the mechanisms that form those living things also function according to the same principles. Of course, understanding these facts about the origin of life in connection with God's creation is a naturalistic error and should be avoided. However, the task of reflecting on the principles of understanding and respecting life by philosophically interpreting these facts is a separate matter.
It was Lynn Margulis who revealed this scientific fact. According to this theory, called the theory of symbiosis, all life on Earth is not a single life form, but rather a more complex life form by combining various life forms and living together. There are more microorganisms living in our bodies than there are cells, and without them, our bodies would not function properly. In addition to immune and digestive functions, intestinal microorganisms have an impact that cannot be ignored, even on our emotions and intelligence.
Without them, we cannot exist as living things. Moreover, the phenomenon of symbiosis is not simply limited to the inside of an organism but is also a fact that applies to the entire living world. Not only individual life but also all of life, lives "together". It is a very narrow view of the world as a relationship of struggle and competition simply because individual life forms require other life forms to maintain themselves. In that sense, Social Darwinism, which explains evolution as a process in which the strong survive, is clearly wrong.
No life can validly live as life without other living things and without relationships with them. The relationship is never one-sided. Competition and strife are inevitable in the process of our lives, but they are just one aspect of the process of living things to live together. A story illustrates this fact well in the children's fable "Alice in Wonderland" written by Lewis Carroll. Heavy rain poured down on the village where the animals lived, and everyone got soaked. They decided to run to dry their wet bodies and offered a reward for the best runner. After running for a while, they all stopped running for their bodies were dry. Then, while arguing about who should receive the prize, the Dodo Bird says: Since we are all dry, we all win. "Everyone should get an award."
Competition and strife are inevitable in the society where people live. However, all of this is nothing more than the process that occurs in living together and ultimately moving towards a better life. The church systematizes this fact into teachings about the common good. It is clear that the virtue most lacking in our society is an understanding of the common good, and that it is one of the fundamental causes of a culture of disregard for life.
My life cannot exist without the vitality of other living beings. Only when we practice the principle of living together beyond the microscopic competition and struggle and promote the concept of the common good, can the culture of respect for life be properly established. As Christians, are we not the signs that declare and prove that the kingdom of God has already come into this world but we are not able to experience its presence? The task of Christians towards this is clearly to practice the principle of coexistence that respects and preserves life in the modern world. The transition to a culture of life will then be possible.
