THE DEEP MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF MAN’S REBELLION TOWARDS NATURE
It is worth recalling how and why a small section of the Earth’s inhabitants in Europe were able to embark on a quest for a global domination. What gave the Europeans the power, authority, and legitimacy to dominate the world? Somewhere in history, as recorded in the Bible, the natural order was tilted as human consciousness shifted in a fundamental way. This shift occurred fundamentally as a result of humanity’s rebellion toward the natural order. The creation myths narrated in the Abrahamic religions in the Book of Genesis provide some clues on what took place at the beginning of human history. The Book of Genesis states that the first humans lived in God’s garden (the garden of Eden), but they were expelled because of their disobedience. Genesis Chapter 3 narrates the curse God placed upon creation.
The human race realised that they were alone, naked, and miserable, cursed with suffering and death in a hostile world. The seed of yearning for a reconciliation between nature, man and God was planted. This feeling of alienation made mankind vengeful and hostile toward God, themselves, and creation itself. In a desperate effort to regain their lost paradise, they began to launch a deadly assault on nature, which led them to lose their consciousness. The invention of a hierarchical society, which placed God (or gods), priests, kings and queens at the top, with everyone else in a subjugated state, was man’s first attempt to re-establish order. This man-made order consistently leads to decay, tyranny and collapse. The children of men have died in their millions, in both the establishment and the destruction of this hierarchical man-made order. While many other forms of government have tried to create a fair system that will benefit the community’s needs rather than individuals’ desire for power, all efforts have been in vain. An ancient writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament reminds us of humanity’s endless pursuit of the wind.
For thousands of years leading up to this point, mankind’s endeavours were largely motivated by their deep desire to find the lost paradise of Eden. Ancient Greek philosophy was borne out of this deep desire to know the highest form of life, the ideal or utopian form of the world, and to understand why the world is the way it is.
Many early European explorers were surprised by the purity, beauty, and mysticism of nature when they went to the islands in Oceania or Caribbean – some even said that they had found the “lost garden of Eden”. Unfortunately, the problem did not lie in the newly discovered islands, but in the unfulfilled void in their heart. The cornerstone of human thinking has, in large part, been dominated by an immense hunger to rediscover the lost eternal home. In order to achieve this, they required power. The descendants of this human family have become desperate to regain Eden. In the process of pursuing this mythological lost paradise, they built astonishing cities and civilisations.
Civilisation emerged out of human communities coming together in a large, organised groups to cultivate the uncultivated natural world. In the process, they destroyed the natural world, enslaved and massacred millions of species, including their own people. The civilisations and cities that they had built became so big, unmanageable, and corrupt that nature and God decided to destroy them to restore the natural order. Religious and cultural myths have left us many signs of what happened to our ancestors. The stories of the Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorra, and Noah’s flood warn us of the future fate of mankind and the other species on this planet.
Many kingdoms, empires and civilisations have repeated the same tragic stories as their ancestors. They continue to launch deadly attacks on nature and on their fellow humans and animals, gradually losing their consciousness. Today, we are witnessing the final phase of this aggressive and destructive path. This destruction can be traced to the dawn of the Renaissance in Italy, which is deeply rooted in the psyche of civilised man, ever since their rebellious ancestors were expelled from the garden of Eden.