May 5, 2023

     Captain Paul Watson’s Newsletter from the Church of Biocentrism

In 1543, less than 500 years ago, Nicolaus Copernicus got into some serious trouble with the Catholic Church when he simply pointed out his quite accurate observation that the Earth went around the Sun.   It’s hard to understand today just how much of a shock this was to the anthropocentric worldview that once held that we were the center of the known universe.   With this revelation the “Copernican Principle” came into being, the first understanding that human beings are not special.The biocentric viewpoint is more accepting because even though we reside on an insignificant planet orbiting a rather undistinguished star we understand that there is one constant in the universe that we can identify with, and that is life.   When we accept the diversity and interdependence of life on our own planet, we can understand the diversity of life and interdependence of life throughout our own galaxy and beyond. We are not only part of the biosphere of our own planet, but we are also part of the universal web of life. Since Copernicus’s time, our knowledge has expanded so that today we know that our planet not only circles the sun, but it is merely one small rock circling around a common star in a universe of billions of galaxies composed of trillions of stars. Even in our own Galaxy we are situated on an outer spiral arm fifty-million light years from the center. A galaxy so large it takes 250 million years for our sun to make just one revolution.   This knowledge should have put to rest the idea that humanity is the “crown of creation” and that all that there is, was created specifically for us, despite the absolute fact that our presence on this small but beautiful planet has been spectacularly brief compared to when life first emerged here a billion years or so ago.The concept of infinity is something that our finite minds cannot fully grasp within a universe or multiverse that has no beginning and no end.   This can be depressingly hard to accept for the anthropocentric mind and stirs deep fears of insignificance. Of course, some people will say there is no proof of life outside of our own planet, but that is an extreme view that defies logic, reason, and mathematics. Only an earthbound, biased, and anthropocentric mind can hold the position that life is confined to the little rock that is our home planet. We don’t need to see or greet extraterrestrial life forms to understand that life absolutely must exist in abundance within the unimaginable vastness of infinity.   This understanding is our acceptance of humility just as our acceptance that all life on our planet is interdependent, and we humans are not the most superior, most important, or even the most intelligent life form on Earth.   We may be the most adept at making tools with our eye to hand coordination skills, but all life forms are intelligent relevant to their position within an eco-system. The Cetacean brain is larger and more complex but has no need for making tools. A better definition of intelligence is the ability to live harmoniously within an eco-system without being destructive of both biodiversity and the interdependence of species. Insects and microbes may seem insignificant to some of us, but we humans could not exist in a world without insects and microbes. Their existence is essential for our own existence which makes insects and microbes very significant indeed.   Our own significance is relevant to our own evolution. Can we evolve from being a short-sighted and destructive species constantly at war with nature and with each other to being a species that is considerate and compassionate towards both nature and each other.   As a species we historically pick and choose what is significant. This usually manifests itself in such irrational behavior like war, racism, and patriarchy. Biocentrism negates racism and patriarchy and views war as a form of collective mass psychosis.   All these anthropocentric concepts are tirelessly justified and rationalized but there can be no denial that war is murder justified by politics, religion, territoriality, and greed. It is a daunting task to promote biocentrism in a social world of anthropocentric dominance, but it is a philosophy that promotes a world view without war and conflict.The most uplifting fact about biocentrism is the knowledge of, and the emotional attachment to the idea of belonging, of being a part of something very magnificent – the universal web of life.   The major organized religions are built on an anthropocentric foundation. They all view humans as apart from and superior to all other species and they all have hierarchical patriarchal structures. To encourage supporters, these religions have rituals and practices, rules and laws, superstitions and mysticisms involving obedience, conformity, and fictional fantasies about an afterlife. Biocentrism adheres to the laws of nature, especially the basic laws of ecology i.e., diversity, interdependence, and the limits on finite resources.   Interdependence is not limited to between species but also to us. Humans are interdependent on each other, and the strength of any society is determined by diversity of thought, expression, and culture.   Just as we must live harmoniously with nature, we must live harmoniously with each other. If we are to survive, the very idea of war must be eliminated, it must become unacceptable and viewed for what it is – the most deviant form of human insanity.This summer the Church of Biocentrism will be part of the effort to protect and defend endangered fin whales in the waters between Iceland and Greenland. Murder is murder and cannot be justified by religious beliefs, politics, nationalism, resources, or territoriality.  War is an insidious mental illness, a form of collective mass psychosis that has slain hundreds of millions of people since the dawn of civilization. To survive we must evolve away from warfare. The trillions of dollars spent on military power worldwide could instead be used to eliminate poverty, famine, disease, and ignorance. If resources were directed towards a world of peace and prosperity for all, there would be no excuse for war. War does nothing to benefit life. Most wars lead to more wars. The solution is to voluntarily end the conflict. This may be unrealistic from the anthropocentric viewpoint, but it makes rational sense from the biocentric viewpoint.    Conflict can be resolved without physical violence. My approach to conservation for the last fifty years has been a strategy that I call “aggressive non-violence.” This means intervention against wrongs without causing harm to life.   This is why after 50 years of interventions to defend and protect life in the sea, I have never caused a death or an injury to any person. At the same time, I have helped to save the lives of countless living things from invertebrates in the sea to the great whales.