Take care of number one.

The Buddha expounded some two thousand five hundred years ago the importance of being born in this life as a human being, for it is in this form of existence that sentient beings have the greater opportunity to be liberated from this circle of life, death and rebirth, "So in this human form do not waste time." These may not be his exact words but safe to say that this was what he meant. Human beings however are today blind to this warning and most live in the so called pursuit of happiness in the material realm of existence thus neglecting the quest for truth and reality as it truly is. Most of us become so entrapped in our quest for wealth and fame and a other forms of creature comforts that we mostly live like the three blind mice. We become so engrossed in our belief that our existence is purely survival of the fittest that we fail to feel the sorrows of those who are not as fortunate, the downtrodden and the destitute. We are so jaded in our ways that we ignore what happens to the environment around us; yes are led by Greed , Hate and Delusions like cattle to the slaughter house.
Liberation does not happen just because we die or cease to exist, liberation is a lifetime process of awakening moment to moment from the deep sleep that most of us are presently encountering. We are most of us in deep slumber and every now and then we awaken when something out of the ordinary hits us in the head for better or worse. A natural disaster, an economic melt down, a death in the family and so forth, then we are rudely awakened to have a glimpse of reality and realize how fragile we all are. Till this moment in time , while everything is moving along as we pretty much expected, there is food on the table, roof on top of our head and a steady income, we are a satisfied lot. Life boils down to the fulfillment of these simple needs, however there are many who are never satisfied with what is enough and crave for more believing that it is their birthright. When enough is never enough, this is when the trouble with humanity begins and it start with each and everyone of us. We are each and everyone of us a member of humanity and we are personally responsible for the making or breaking up of this world of ours. 
Hence when each and everyone of us make it an effort and practice to discover what is the truth for ourselves,all the unanswered questions that has been plaguing us throughout our lives then we will inevitably help to heal the planet and humanity itself. Then we are broken free from the conditioning that the powers that be has imposed upon us, the conditioning that has led us to become like cattle headed for the slaughter house. This is simply because knowing the truth for yourself  shatters all the delusions that has been created around you and in doing so you will view the plight of mankind and the Planet itself as needing the same kind of regenerating form of healing; a revival of the Human Spirit.. "And the Truth shall set you Free!" And the truth is not out there, it resides within and it is for you to awaken to its presence and manifest it in the lives of others as a collective healing process. 
This life of ours does not belong to you and i alone, it belongs to Humanity, to the Universe, it is answerable to the One and the One only by whatever name you may call  It or Him or Her. It is only by the presence of a higher power that that our collective ego will know restrain, until we have come to be able to act or manifest without a hint of our personal ego being involved, we will serve the highest order and heaven and hell becomes reward and punishment, fear and comfort becomes our daily choices. To know who we are is to be free of our egotistical tendencies, our claim of a birthright over others, our lordship in the scheme of things. This is why the Buddha also expounded that in the end there is really no 'Self', When there is no self, there is none to suffer. For so long as there is a you and an i, we will exist like in a dream, or unconsciousness, we become victims of our own ignorance. We become insensitive to the ties we have with the rest of the Universe and we live to merely take care of who we think we are; taking care of number one.