This letter has been corrected from the original version published. Our apologies for the omitted portion.
Frank Sterle Jr.’s speculation on humanity possibly ‘doing itself in’ through ignoring nature (Observer, July 29) need go no further than exposing the over-arching “stories” that have separated us from the natural world, at least in terms of regarding our true relationship to it – that is: dependence and interrelationship with nature, the exact opposite of ‘separation’.
Alas – such fundamentally flawed “stories,” such as scriptures instructing us to “have dominion over…and “subdue” all of nature, (Genesis 1-26-28) have been all-too successful in ‘setting us apart’ from nature’s ‘real world.’ Thus, we have come to see ourselves as outside of, and superior to, nature and its processes, not part of them.
Science was not blameless in creating this false mindset. In its early discoveries and spectacular, technological progress, it originally was confident that we had achieved ultimate ‘mastery’ over natural forces. It took Darwin and the reality of evolution and its processes, together with the present-day biochemical confirmation, of just how closely we share the same genetic building blocks with all life, to finally and utterly reject our imagined “separation.”
The sheer size of the planet and the vast time span of the Earth’s history over the course of billions of years, together with the inherent limitations of our ‘high-speed/short attention-span” nervous systems, no doubt contribute to our ‘“tunnel vision,” as Frank Sterle Jr. suggests. But those same nervous systems must surely also enable us to go beyond such limitations to truly and responsibly understand and respect the planet and our inseparable dependence on it.
Isn’t the time long passed for such cultural practices as “have dominion over,” and “subdue” (nature) to be pronounced illogical, ‘dead-in-the-water,’ harmful guidelines for our relationship to the planet – before we are too?
Tom Crowley
@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net
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