Do We Need Nature?

I don't go to funerals. I avoid them, not because I am rude in disposition, I just feel awkward in these situations. I rarely know what to say to the bereaving family, anything I say would sound trite, no matter how sincere the feeling behind those quivering words. Yet I found myself at a funeral here in Golders Green, London. She wasn't related to me, she wasn't a close friend and yet I felt compelled to go. I simply had to pay my last respects. Maybe I am just growing up and better able to convey my condolences. No, that isn't very convincing, my attendance was impulsive; I guess these situations are usually bereft of long term planning.

At some stage in our relatively short lives, we will be exposed to the passing of someone we know. That's a morbid thought, the prospect of attending the funeral of someone who has made an impression in my life, in some shape or form. This is unfortunately a proven science; we will all have to face our death at sometime. Religion, for many, is a way of life that eases the burden of their own death.

This young lady, whom I had known for sometime, had died of cancer. She left behind a husband and young toddler. What was poignant about her death was the dignity with which she coped with her illness and made her final exit. Maybe this was why I needed to be at Golders Green Crematorium on that balmy Thursday afternoon. In her dying moments she asked her husband to undress her, she wished to depart in the same way she arrived 32 years earlier, naked. This was her return to nature. She was not averse to medical intervention, she would have willingly returned to her full life if her cancer had been cured. Unfortunately, medical intervention failed her, rather than being consumed by self-pity and fear she accepted her fate as determined by Mother Nature. It is the graciousness with which she prepared for her imminent departure that drew me to her, albeit a little late in life.

Death through illness brings the survival of the fittest theory to mind. These old Darwinian theories explained how early man survived and how the stronger genes thrived through generations, this law being similarly applied to the animal kingdom. We are fortunate enough to have access to medicine for certain illnesses, furthermore it is apparent that for some, the treatment they receive cures their illness, unfortunately for others, nature prevails over a potential cure and it is in these cases that the Darwinian theories of survival are discernible.

Today, with the advent of medical science, we are able to prevent numerous premature deaths; we are even able to assist childless couples to have big families. It is clear to see that the opportunities available to us in all aspects of life, including medical science, technology and travel have evolved over the centauries, providing more freedom to individuals. The freedoms and opportunities man has created are all a direct consequence of the way he has used intelligence. It is mans intelligence that has made him the most superior living being on the planet and has thereby enabled him to create a society where these opportunities and freedoms are abounded.

The nature nurture debate on intelligence, among other human traits, has kept psychologists busy for a while now. There is no definitive answer on whether intelligence is acquired through appropriate nurturing or whether it is something that we are born with. A sensible medium is that it is something we are all born with and fostering it can help to create the geniuses among us. If we are prepared to accept that intelligence is first and foremost born out of nature it our perceptions about the opportunities created through mans intelligence can be more positive.

In future generations, it may be a real possibility that cancer will not cause such anguish to families. Gene therapy could be another way that man sidesteps nature thereby helping to prolong life through the cure of cancer and other such diseases. At the moment the possibility of this is a long way off, as of the estimated 100,000 types of genes carried by human beings, scientists understand the workings of very few, thus rendering gene therapy in it's early stages. Despite the infancy of this amazing medical operation, controversy surrounds the ethics of a procedure that allows man to divert the course of nature.

It is entirely understandable that concepts such as gene therapy arouse fears about the creation of “designer babies”. Worse still, it instils worries about a return to the early 1900's when there was a surge in the Eugenics movement, which purported the sterilisation of those, that were mentally ill, suffered from epilepsy or alcoholism in an attempt to prevent these illnesses from affecting future generations. Perhaps a thorough understanding of the types of gene therapy that are currently under trial will add credibility to its usage. In short, existing gene therapy trials do not target reproductive cells hence they do not affect future generations in any way whatsoever.