And behold, it was corrupt/ ruined/ destroyed Day 7

Being “freaks of nature” who by the very conditions of our existence are within nature and by the gift of our reason transcend it, we have tried to solve our existential problem by giving up the Messianic vision of harmony between humankind and nature by conquering nature, by transforming it to our own purposes until the conquest has become more and more equivalent to destruction.
-Erich Fromm

With my first week of blogging coming to an end I’d be at a loss if I didn’t but mention nature. My thoughts today are with our ancient ancestors. I dine on history, the foundation of where we are and who I am. Knowing that specific lives, way too numerous to ever fathom, are responsible for my existence; that if one of those lives had ended before giving birth to my next ancestor I would not be, Wowwy! History astounds me. (Back on track) Speaking of our ancient ancestors and nature, I love reading of all the ways in which people respected, feared, and existed within nature before man began to conquer it. I realize that these nomadic lifestyles of simplicity and basic survival are looked on as primitive and our cultured, advanced society basks in the glow of our progress and superiority. Only step out of that superiority for one moment and ponder, how would our primitive ancestors view our landfills, what would they think about our having caused (and still causing) extinction of so many animal species, of our depleting so many natural resources, of our lack of knowledge concerning the natural world that exists outside of our cities? I don’t think they’d call us primitive, but I’m sure they’d have a few choice words for our advanced existence.

Do you ever think about it? Do you ever think about how we use nature as a resource, it’s simply a thing we can purchase, a thing we can harness, mold, bend, and manipulate into whatever suits our fancies? The planet we live on has become not as it was, a vast world that harbored our bodies and lent us its resources, but a tool for our benefit. The planet earth is now at our mercy.

I delight in visions of old, when people laid their heads to rest and the stars were their ceiling, animals existed alongside them, free, unfettered, and wild, mans transportation was in the energy their own body afforded them, food was simply a thing that nourished the body, survival was at the top of man’s agenda, but the planet hadn’t any worries. People lived to survive. That looks awfully terrifying to most in our advanced societies, but at the same time our dismal future doesn’t look very cushy either.

And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Gen. 6:12