More Than Mold

In the bottom drawer of my refrigerator I sometimes find an orange that has been ignored for what appears to be a very long time.  At some point during this orange’s life in the dark drawer, a few mold spores found their way onto its surface.  The spores then harvested nourishment from the orange and began grow and multiply.  The mold continued to consume the nutrients that the orange provided and continually procreated until it eventually covered the entire surface of the orange.  A good time later, the orange was depleted of useful nutrients, leaving the dried, fuzzy, disgusting and useless green ball that I later discovered.

I can’t help but to compare ourselves to that mold.  At some point in the life of the planet Earth, we humans found our way onto its surface.  We then harvested the life giving nutrients of the Earth and began to grow and multiply.  Like mold, we behave as if our “orange” will never run out of nutrients because the surface seems infinite in comparison to our tiny selves, so we continue to harvest, grow, and multiply.  To me it seems inevitable that someday far into the future, mankind may experience the same fate as the mold.

In his book “How We Believe”, Michael Shermer identifies the reasons why most of us believe in God.   From numerous surveys, Shermer identifies two primary and distinct reasons; (1) without God we would have no moral values; and (2) without God we would have no purpose.  The first of these two reasons is arguable because moral values are life promoting values.  Mold has life promoting values – that is to say that the mold is not likely to do things which are destructive to their own success as a life form, therefore the mold’s ability to coexist and not destroy one another simply allows it to survive as a species.  Hence, our morals do not make us any better than mold.  The second reason we believe in God is a need for purpose, which is far more complex.  If our sole purpose as ordained by God is to “be fruitful and multiply” we are once again no better than mold.  So what is it that gives us greater purpose?  Perhaps we should take a harder look at the orange, and at that commandment.

Notice Genesis 1:31 -“God saw all that he had made, and said This Is Good.”  Why then would he want us to systematically sap the Earth of energy and nutrients, ultimately destroying the Earth as the mold did to the orange?  Now take a look at Genesis 31:28 –“Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth…”   Replenish?  Why haven’t we heard more about this word?  Is the care and replenishment of the Earth our higher purpose? 

Imagine a mold that has the ability to take stock of the nutrients in the orange and is able to create ways to grow, reuse, and increase those nutrients.  Moreover, imagine a mold that has the ability to recycle waste and place it back into the orange for future generations.  It would certainly increase the livability of the mold on that particular orange.  More importantly, it would be a  truly unique species of mold!  If we truly believe we are better than mold, we must work together to increase our sustainability on this planet.  We must create renewable resources that enable each of us to tap less from the planet.  We must stress the importance of energy efficiency and a light footprint.  We must find ways to grow and multiply while furthering resources for our descendants.  In the long run, perhaps this will be the only thing that makes us truly more than mold. 

Tony F.  2013