In the previous blog, I focused on the dichotomy created by Plato, Aristotle and St. Augustine, as well as how this dichotomy led to the Divine Right of Kings. Another term that is useful when discussing such dichotomies is Dualism. Dualism has a way of working for us and against us at the same time.
Humans often end up splitting along the lines of a duality. What are some of the major dualities that have gotten in our way throughout the course of human history? Religion or science? Man or woman? Natural or man-made? Emotions or reason? Conservative or Liberal? Idealism or Realism? A dualistic world view often imagines that reality is split into equal halves, and just as often, the halves are antagonistic polar opposites.
Plato and Aristotle planted the seeds of the dualities between science and religion, for example. St. Augustine fertilized this dichotomy when he created the separation between the City of Man and the City of God. This often meant that if a person loved to experience the joys that came with being alive on Earth, he was choosing the City of Man over the City of God. As a result, many people felt it was sinful to enjoy living on Earth because it might mean not being allowed to enjoy the City of God later on.
Consider this: The word "matter" has its roots in the Latin word for "mother," which is "mater." The word "material" also comes from this ancient root. There was a time in human history that "matter" or "material" meant "from the mother" to people who used these words. We no longer see this connection to Mother Earth when we use her resources for our benefit because, mentally, we have separated ourselves from nature. We see ourselves as being better than the natural world because we are human beings. In contrast, some etymologies for the word "human" report that our name for our species initially meant we were of or from the Earth ('humus').
The Greeks likely had much to do with this separation from Earth when they declared "man is the measure of all things." This declaration helped many generations afterward to think of Earth as essentially meaningless until some human came along and gave it meaning.
Mankind, after that, felt a kind of unlimited power when it came to using the Earth however they wanted to, and, as I mentioned in the last blog, power without limits usually leads to tyranny. There are many dictators being overthrown today because of the tyrannical power they have exerted over their people. I wonder how long it will take for the rest of nature to finally overthrow the tyrants called humans.
Ever notice the duality we have created between "natural" and "man made"? This dichotomy is interesting because mankind is from nature, arising from the Earth, just like every other living thing, plant, animal, micro-organism, etc. We spring from Earth and then we begin to dig down into its soil, pulling up resources. Next, we start to make guesses about how these natural materials are put together, all the way to the sub-atomic level. Once we start to understand the rudimentary building blocks of nature, we begin to experiment with ways we can manipulate them for our benefit. When all is said and done, we develop metals, plastics, paper products, atomic energy, and more. Then, we take the next step and combine these "materials" into inventions: cars, buildings, computers, phones, jets, satellite dishes, etc. These "man-made" products all come from the Mother.
One of the coolest ideas I ever heard from Native American cultures was the Seventh Generation rule. This rule stated that, when the council elders sat down to make a decision for their society, they had to take into account how that decision would likely impact the seventh generation after them - their great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren. For us, that would take us back to the 18th Century. For these people, the idea was that they must take into account, not just how the decision will add comfort to their lives today, how it will make life easier for them now, but also what impacts the decision will have on their descendants. It is important to note that they did not evolve as a society under the influence of a meme like "man is the measure of all things."
I may be wrong, but it seems like we now make decisions that bring profits today, feeding the creature we call Economy. Then, later, when we do not know where to put the nuclear waste or how to account for all of the carbon dioxide in the air or what to do with all of the plastic bottles we have created, we try to deal with the impacts caused by those decisions.
With great power comes great responsibility (Thank you, Ben Parker). We, because of our advanced intellect, have been given great power to manipulate the stuff of Earth, but just because we can does mean we always should, at least not without carefully studying the long-term impacts of our decisions. Is it not sadly humorous to think about how adults often chastise young people for not being forward-thinking enough, not planning for their futures, when, indeed, it seems these youths are simply living according the ancient world view that "man is the measure of all things"? To an individual, this becomes, "I am the measure of all things." Anthropocentrism leads very easily, almost seamlessly, into egocentrism. Anthropocentrism puts mankind above all else, and egocentrism put Me above all else.
But what about the Mater?
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