man
& nature
We are
part of the nature. So, should I say, "man of the
nature"?
Well,
our civilization, at least the now dominant western civilization,
didn't evolve along that motto - for the most part of the last ten
or so thousand years we were defeating the nature. Ten or so
thousand years, from the invention of agriculture and metallurgy
to be more precise, we were treating nature as resources only.
"Defeating the nature", that is the expression I learned
in the grammar school and encountered many times afterwards. It
was a slogan of the Industrial Revolution. Even as recently as in
1984, I heard the expression from a university podium (!), during
a Ph.D. thesis defense in the field of pharmacology (!!).
Now,
wait a minute, isn't that normal, don't all species treat their
environment as resources? Yes, all species but we have to be
reminded that something went wrong with evolution of the
"Third Chimpanzee" – and the result is "we".
We, the species who believe in their dominance on Earth, the
species blinded by the advances in their technology, the species
ignoring the fact that they are just one of the species temporary
on Earth, more temporary than many other species and Earth itself.
Then again, maybe we are not ignoring the fact, maybe our life
philosophy is "let it go while it goes" because we are
aware of the fact. I don't think so – never underestimate the
power of ignorance.
Of
course, there always were people close to the nature. I mean,
being part of Nature by their conscience and their actions. Not
those who research the nature to exploit it, not those who write
and paint on nature just to make living. Thanks to them we have
city parks and national parks, natural reserves and restricted
industrial development. However, it is the mind of average western
man (and all others who mimic him) which has to be remolded into
Nature. How? Many small steps, encouraging the people to get close
to Nature. For instance, people and animals are supposed to be
together, they spent quite a long time evolving together, but now
people are cut off from animals unless they have a dog or a cat. I
live in a privileged location – the photo on the right is
from my backyard. And most people have close natural parks and
undeveloped land but they seldom go there. Again, I live in a
privileged location – the rollover photo is from the forest
just across the street.