Cancer is dumb. We all know that cancer happens when a group of cells begin to grow out of control and spread throughout the host (body). Most cells replicate and grow but the body “puts on the brakes” so that individual cells play only their part and eventually die. But here’s the problem: These cancer cells interfere with and will eventually kill the host. And then they will die. They never learned how to live in harmony for the long term survival of the body. Their own hunger, or greed, or whatever, planted the seeds of their own demise.

So here’s my question: Are we humans a cancer on the planet and will we eventually destroy the planet and ourselves? And if so, can we do anything to stop the process and live more in harmony?

Finding the origins of our human ancestors is incredibly difficult and I’ll attempt to set some guidelines. It’s generally agreed that the age of the world is about 4.5 billions years. We think the first life forms began around 3.7 billion years ago and single cell creatures eventually evolved into plants and then animals. Primates began to evolve and most scientists place our modern human origins around 300,000 years ago. These earliest ancestors gained the ability to think, reason, adapt, use tools, and eventually change the environment.

And eventually we began to lose control of what we could do. The tail began to wag the dog. Today we are the only species that can easily survive on all seven continents. For a long time this didn’t really affect the health of the planet because the changes were gradual, our numbers were small enough and the earth could adapt to us.

We learned how to start fires early on but nobody thought anything about air pollution until the industrial revolution when we ramped up burning of fossil fuels. Diseases kept average life expectancy under 40 years until the 20th Century and the discovery of antibiotics and advances in water hygiene nearly doubled average life expectancy in the next hundred years. World population increased from 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 8 billion today.

In many ways these discoveries have shown our progress. The smallpox vaccine was first discovered in 1796 and in 1980 smallpox was declared eradicated. Since then we’ve made strides against polio, measles and hundreds of other illnesses that used to terrify us. In 1928 we discovered antibiotics and infections like Hansen’s disease (leprosy), pneumonia, and others became curable. Advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy gave us tools to battle cancer.

But have these advances begun to sow the seeds of our own demise? Have we become too good at preserving life at the expense of our planet? Simply put are we in danger of killing our host and eventually ourselves?

A similar theory was put forward in 1798 by a man named Thomas Malthus, but that’s not what I’m talking about. He predicted increased human population would outdistance our ability to provide food and this would lead to famine. And despite the real existence of poverty it’s a matter of distribution, not supply. We have a enough food, we just don’t spread it evenly.

Climate change is real despite it becoming a hot (!) political topic and we hear voices that don’t want to think about this and choose to call it a hoax. But our ability to deny this gets more and more difficult. So what do we do?

Good question. I don’t think anyone seriously thinks we should stop using antibiotics or clean water. Nobody wants to return to high infant mortality and the unexpected death of otherwise healthy people. But we do have the ability to make some decisions on the scale of reproduction. I don’t think this is a role for governments and China’s “one child” policy shows the downside of these decisions that come from the top. But it needs to be done.

I also think we need to have a discussion about our own life expectancy. I’ve come to this conclusion after decades of work with hospice but I don’t believe our bodies were made to live into the next century. We may live longer in retirement but I suspect a 60 year old body is just as frail now as it was 100 years ago. In other words we’re living longer but we’re living sicker longer.

We cure some types of disease but not others, and those other diseases “wait for us.” If we can cure colon cancer at 60 and give the person another 20 years what happens at 80 when he develops dementia? And were those 20 years times of great joy and ability or years of constant medical attention, joint replacement and disability? Can a 60 year old decide that it’s time to close the curtain without being seen as suicidal?

I know these suggestions are a heavy lift and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about spiritual pain and the role of spirituality in our story. An individual cancer cell may advocate for his own existence but at some point needs to see his place the the world around him.