I cannot cease thinking about the unstable 'basilica' that represents the epicentre of our modern life. This basilica is my translation of a virtual representation of the Tower of Babel. In the past, a basilica was an antique building round at one end and had two rows of columns supporting the roof. The biblical account about the Tower of Babel tells all. It teaches essential lessons about unity and the sin of egotistical pursuits, how divinity intervenes and frailty follows with a divisive hand in human affairs.  

Humankind has abandoned its natural origins and adopted an alien-like and reckless behaviour, leaving a trail of debris and destruction in its wake. Within our wisdom, we have deviated from the all-encompassing evolutionary state of stability. 

Constant interference with natural determinants for the outcome of life on this planet has resulted in gross overpopulation. As tragic as it may seem to many, we are as indifferent as a butterfly might be to the destiny of its offspring. While thousands of us may flock to a rave or gather at a football stadium seeking the good things in life, we deny the threat of non-compliance with the natural biological treadmill.

The recent pandemic has highlighted the fragility of our bizarre alien occupation of this planet. Focussing on the weakening superstructure that we have constructed, it is now threatening to bring everything else down with it.

Within hours, we can relocate and settle anywhere on the surface of the planet. Natural evolution would take millennia to prepare us for the journey. Genetic modification of ourselves, our food and a lack of proper nutrition modifies our natural harmony with the millennia-old evolutionary process. 

It is profits, praise and pleasure that constitutes the driving force. 

While it may seem wise to confront the virus, try to control it and find blame for its origin, we, the aliens, are no less responsible. Global just-in-time management and the dependence on electronic complexity amplifies the overall fragility.

 Having lived long enough, 85 years, to have observed the growing African population in South Africa, the evolution of the Apartheid movement does not confuse me. 

Living in Durban, it was somewhat unusual to encounter an African in the main street in my youth. Even up to 1950, when I was 15 years old, nothing much had changed; it was not the result of Apartheid; there was a sparse population of African people. 

The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand in 1886 attracted Britains attention, and the Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902 followed. It was an expensive war for Britain. It cost 200 million pounds and the loss of more than 22,000 men, including an excess of 15,000 black South Africans. 

The discovery of gold attracted many thousands of people searching for riches. They were of many races and nationalities. In the 1930s, the ruling government separated Blacks from Whites and settled the Black population in an area known as 'cordon sanitaire'  in Johannesburg. The decision gave birth to the irreversible segregation of the races. Following that, the Nationalist government published the first Apartheid law in 1949.

The growth of the Black population as it is today defies imagination. As unskilled as I am, I fail to see how any government could have foreseen or tutored the burgeoning population. Apart from all else, two vastly different ethnic groups with differing objectives needed direction. 

The Nationalist government was undoubtedly aware of global opinion regarding Apartheid, but the solution was not that easy. To throw the switch or not to throw it, either way, it invited chaos.

In my opinion, it was a brilliant idea to present Mr Mandela with the choice. All anticipated the direction he would choose; consequently, the country has been wallowing in the dark ever since. It pleased the world, and it proclaimed Mr Mandela a martyr while many of the whites who had the necessary skills or ancestral roots sought new horizons.

 I have been around long enough to be aware of the growing density of the population in South Africa. While it has been a relentless increase, it is slow and steady, leading to unanticipated tensions. I was born and lived in South Africa for 63years before leaving to live in the UK, where I have been for further 22 years.

My father was a detective in the South African Police until 1950. He took early retirement when the Nationalist Government came to power and expanded the mission of the SAP. He joined a local authority and peacefully relocated thousands of black people from the Cato Manor slums surrounding Durban to organised housing estates.

I spent much of my early years with my father as he investigated crimes in remote areas. I am sure it was not his intention to expose me to any danger. Still, there were times when unintended situations arose. Consequently, I saw it all, the fierce and the fighting, the dead and the living.

My father was an exceptional Zulu linguist; often, the Zulus themselves could not tell that he was not one of them. In 1949, an intense racial conflict arose in Durban. I happened to be with him during an incident; thousands of chanting Africans surrounded us with Indian owned busses burning in the background. With me at his side, he fearlessly stood and confronted the mob; they listened and dispersed. Within my earliest memories, we went to isolated areas that are now heavily populated. At the time, even the police used horses to perform their tasks in the absence of roads.

As I see it, the present (July 2021) looting and mayhem is nothing more than a relief of built-up tension. I have seen a consistent increase in the African population from the sparse numbers in my early years to today. It is unnatural for humans to be living in such conditions, denied food, freedom and jobs. 

 Having written about the objective of my presence on this planet, I cannot help wonder when and why my ancestors abandoned the forest. They ceased dwelling in trees for some reason and resorted to hunting for a source of protein-rich red meat.

It is unlikely that they made a collective decision to change; it was probably a climatic change and a possible receding of the forest. Nevertheless, by today's standards, the shift in habitat was exceedingly slow; they had ample time to adapt to the changing climate.

By abandoning the forest glades, exposure to the intense African sun gradually enabled them to withstand its ferocity. They were small in stature and by far the slowest of all savannah dwelling denizens. As my mother said, it needs a 'must' to acquire improved reasoning skills, tools, and language.

While change is inevitable, homo sapiens, enabled by expanding mental skills, have contrived to mismanage the planet's dynamic environment. We seek extraterrestrials, but they are none other than ourselves consuming and trashing as we go as though we are just visitors with no conscience. 

Remarkable that billionaire Richard Branson and crew have recently returned from space. He completed a daring pleasure flight into space in his new spaceship that his company has been developing for 17 years.

No conscience, millions of people are starving, and between one and two billion are malnourished in the UK, USA and elsewhere. It is not unlikely that COVID has been waiting for an opportunity to unfold.

Climate change is so rapid now that creatures essential for food production cannot adapt; thus, shortages are inevitable. The elite might surmise that their pennies may transmute to food, but that is a hopeless fantasy.

Disproportional bonuses, salaries and wages swell the money supply devaluing the currency. Money will have no value; food shortages will become the norm and inflate prices.

 On thinking of my sojourn on this planet, I cannot help but examine my presence's objective. 

The very fact that I live or have lived on this planet for as many years as  I have underscores the truth that my origin lies beyond time as we know it. 

It is not difficult to determine my unique and repetitive timeline that has been sustained throughout the ages. By strictly observing my matriline lineage or sequence of mothers throughout the ages, it would be possible to delve back as far as records might allow and even further. All mothers must have had mothers. 

We are of common origin; the composition of all living matter on this planet shares a similar chemical configuration. Life must have been fierce and competitive, only enduring when opportunistic circumstances prevailed. 

I am nevertheless an inseparable part of the intended purpose of life on this planet and the anticipated evolution of living organisms. Without a doubt, my progenitor's initial inhabitance was within some sanctified primaeval pond, possibly around  4.5 billion years ago.

Despite all that has gone by, life on this planet has seldom been so fragile. It has been said that if you are not living on the edge, you are wasting space. That, however, may well be the best location. Within is an insecure and crumbling basilica, once a proud symbol of human achievement. Its plinth declaring accomplishment stands proudly. There is a limit to pedestal growth.

The biblical account of the Tower of Babel tells it all. It teaches readers essential lessons about unity and the sin of pride, how divinity intervenes with a divisive hand in human affairs. 

Our insatiable pursuit of status, wealth and profits is a delusion leading us nowhere and to oblivion. 

I had a new cornea grafted to my right eye on 2 June 2021. The procedure was performed at the Salisbury Hospital eye clinic. It appears to have been a great success. 

I have not had any discomfort, and my sight improves daily. Apart from having to insert many drops every four hours and a dreadful appearance, all is well.

Similar to my career in a pharmaceutical wholesale warehouse, I have an INTJ personality quirk that prompts me to discern and question so much more than I find in the worldly news. I could write endlessly, but I expect my ramblings will be no more interesting than the news itself. 

A top BBC news story, Joe and Jill Biden, announce the death of their dog, Champ. 'The President pays emotional tribute after their 'sweet good boy' dies aged 13. He died peacefully at home, and he will undoubtedly go to heaven'. 

I fail to imagine what that has to do with anyone outside Biden's family. Since Biden holds that customary manner of obligation, what about all the aborted babies who have no choice in their destiny. He should be racked with despair, and by the way, where is heaven? Do they all get there?

 So many of our human species are fascinated by the possibility of an alien presence on our planet. Our scientists are constantly seeking intelligent life on other planets. The possibility of something being a replica of an earthly human on another planet and even on this planet is highly unlikely.

To find the equivalent of an alien, we must seek no further than ourselves, homo sapiens, the wise human. We have occupied this planet for about 200,000 years—a bipedal primate with a large brain, able to communicate and make sophisticated tools.

We forget that our presence's initial intention was to be an integral part of cosmology.  The whole point of the cosmos is to serve; everything in nature is here for one reason and is interdependent.

In 2007 the House of Commons Environmental Audit recommended that the UK Government conduct a full ecosystem assessment. The intention was to enable the identification and development of effective policy for the benefits provided by ecosystems and contribute to making human life both possible and worth living. The whole point of the system is to serve humans.

As aliens, we have plundered and raped this planet to the degree that we are blatantly causing self-destruction, not unlike a disease, bacteria or virus causing the death of its host. We are dredging the sea bed to feed our pets and the countless millions of people. Thousands of years of agriculture have drained the soil of essential nutrients.

Believing we know better, we modify our habits and indirectly deny ourselves adequate nutrition, including exposure to the sun. Relocation to unfamiliar regions of the planet causes unintended or unexpected consequences to our health while we drain the planet of resources we cannot replace.

It is just a matter of time before the planet becomes uninhabitable, and even that is not too far off.