What does ecological niche imply about our significance in eternity?
Part I of II
If niches are a fundamental relationship between the physical aspect of the universe and the living portions of the universe, then wouldn’t niches be fundamental relationships between the physical aspect of the universe and the abstract aspect called ‘awareness’ within which universes exist?
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Niches in the physical universe all seem to be temporary.
It is most likely that our genus and species, Homo sapiens, are temporary also.
However, we have what seems to be a special type of awareness.
We seem to be the only living species on earth capable of contemplating a ‘place’ without time, a place called ‘eternity.’
But we not only contemplate such an existence, we contemplate how our actions might affect our eternal existence.
In short, we have mentally developed a niche for ourselves outside temporary existence that we observe located within the physical universe.
The amazing thing about such a development is that this creates a niche tied to eternity and we then become an integral part of that niche.