[P]ersons of tomorrow, though fully alive as individuals, are also at home in their relationships. Capacities such as loyalty, partnership, friendship, altruism, empathy, solidarity, support, nurturance and followership, are necessary ingredients for thriving in the 21st century.*
(Maureen O’Hara and Graham Leicester)

The fittest are those who fit into their local environment most harmoniously, naturally and fully. The subtitle [to On the Origin of Species] could have been Survival of the Most Harmonious.**
(Brian McLaren)

I had not realised that when Charles Darwin replaced his term natural selection with Alfred Russel Wallace’s suggestion of survival of the fittest they had meant how the fittest species are those best fitting in with their environment.

The human species now must choose whether it fits in with its changing environment. Maureen O’Hara and Graham Leicester’s characteristics of twenty first century people helpfully guide us and Brian McLaren names the following characteristics out from survival of the fittest necessary if we are to both survive and thrive as a species:

survival of the best adapted (as opposed to those those who deny reality?)
survival of the most adaptable (as opposed to those who refuse to change their habits?)
survival of the most attractive (as opposed to rewarding unattractive behaviours?)
survival of the most diverse (as opposed to homogenous societies and cultures?)
survival of the best organised (as opposed to a lack of appreciation for and curation of complexity?)
survival of the most cooperative (as opposed to those who are out for themselves?).

These survival means connect us with the rest of natural world, arguably the most meaningful thing we’ll ever do.

(*From Maureen O’Hara and Graham Leicester’s Dancing at the Edge.)
(**From Brian McLaren’s God Unbound.)