by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Humankind's mastery over Nature is a no go and a no no. We must get away from this notion one and for all. The notion that man is supposed to be master of Nature. If we would ever win the “battle” against Nature we will have lost and in fact be lost for all will be lost then.
Nature cannot be subdued and conquered by modern technology and not every problem has a solution in the field of modern technology; not by the one we have today nor by some still to be invented.
Too many people in our modern society and culture think that they can overcome Nature with our modern technology. This is wrong and also very dangerous. It is this kind of attitude that has gotten us to where we are today; with our Planet, our Earth Mother, in peril and many of our non-human cousins dying or having been killed already. In fact we are at the very brink of extinction, extinction of the human race.
Modern man has a serious attitude problem; one of believing that he in in control (and also that G-d has put him in overall charge of the world). Oh dear! This is wrong and a total misconception. But this is the very attitude that is the cause of much of our environmental problems that we are facing today including and especially the global environmental catastrophe that is unfolding.
Modern man is not in control; Mother Nature, the Earth Mother, is and all, would basically, be well if modern man would would not think that he knows best and has to interfere everywhere, be this is the way how Nature controls overpopulation or whatever else.
However, so-called “modern man”, mostly in the developed world but not only there, deems it necessary to interfere with Mother Nature's way of controlling things, and that in many ways.
We see this every time that there is a famine in Sudan or elsewhere, or other such natural events, when the EU send aid in the form of food to feed the hungry. Such famines, however, are Nature's way of telling us that the area cannot support the amount of people.
There is a limit of how many people Mother Earth can support and She shows it well in the way She acts; the only problem is that modern man is unable to read the signs, and also unwilling to do so, and wants to be in control.
Often this is due to the misunderstanding of the biblical message that says that G-d gave man dominion over everything on Earth. The problem is that that in fact doe not mean domination but has the meaning of being a husbandman, a steward, of the riches of the Planet and not a exploiter.
Man, however, decided, and not just man of the Abrahamic Faiths, that he has the right to take everything that the Planet has to offer in riches and goods and damn the rest.
However, there were and still are Cultures and People who have a different understanding of such things, such as the American Indians and Alaska Natives, the Aborigines of Australia and even the old Romani, predominately in the old Romanichal and such. Their understanding is to live together with all living beings on Mother Earth and only take as much as is necessary for life to be comfortable and to make a living.
When the Gypsy in the British Isles, the Romanichal, and the Rom Polska, etc., went to get wood from which to make clothespins, wooden flowers, tent pegs, or what have you, they only took from an area what could be replenished with the next year's growth and would not take more than needed.
Modern man, on the other hand, clear fells a forest and takes everything, leaving nothing for the next years, bar, maybe, newly planted trees, stuck into the ground after the clearing.
There used to be a method of woodland- and forest management called coppicing, which is still being practiced on a small scale here and there, that managed woods in such a manner that everything could regrow sustainably.
While it is true that not all trees lend themselves to that method many do and it is a shame to see such good practices falling by the wayside in the name of big profits and speed of operation.
The same, let us face it, is also true with so many other practices. Where once goods we made relatively local today everything comes from abroad, mostly, and primarily from what we call the Far East, and here now predominately the People's Republic of China.
But, oops, I digressed slightly, yet again.
Modern man must come to understand that he is not the master of the universe and that he cannot, and must not even attempt to, overcome Nature for once he has managed to do that everyone and everything will be lost.
Man must learn to live in harmony with Mother Earth, with Nature, and reconnect with the Web of Life, of which he is an integral part though he may not think it.
© 2010
