Xenophilic
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Xenophilic
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I believe that as living beings, we should value, honour, respect and love life and all living beings.
Life is capable of adapting to new and changing environments, as manifested especially by genes which evolve over the course of successive generations of living beings and memes which evolve even within the lifespan of individual living beings.
I believe that we should value, honour and respect this adaptability because it assists the survival both of individuals and of life in general. This means we should also value, honour and respect diversity, the cross-fertilisation of differing genes and memes, and the unusual and different wherever we find it.
This does not mean that all forms of life, all living individuals or all ideas are equal, or that we should uncritically accept them irrespective of how they affect us. However it does mean that we should respect the right to exist of all forms of life, all individuals and all ideas, no matter how unusual or different. It is often the most unusual and radically different from which we can learn the most, and which can be of importance especially in situations of radical change.
We should prefer and value more highly those living beings and ideas which successfully coexist, cooperate, work together in harmony or even symbiosis, and demonstrate flexibility and adaptability. However while we should seek to resist the spread of life forms and ideas (including those within religions, cultures and political systems) which dominate, monopolise, disrupt, and demonstrate rigidity and uniformity, we should not seek to eliminate them entirely or fail to value or respect them, for they are also part of the diversity of life and are sometimes the most successful and life-preserving approach in specific circumstances.
Copyright © 2004 July 18 Andrew Pam