With the future of “life as we know it” increasingly entering a gray-zone of uncertainty this might be a good time to stand above the controversies of can we, or can we not, save ourselves.
Confined to our small planet, we humans evolved an anthropocentric view of life, believing that “human beings are the central or most significant species on the planet, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective.” ~Merriam-Webster
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” ~Genesis
And so, creepeth we did.
From this god-inspired man likeness given dominion “over all the earth” came our father-centered family, father-centered society and father-centered governance where maketh “man in our image” was incorporated as a strategy to divinize men into an undisputed position of power.
We have never recovered from “his” dominion and, many think we are, indeed, beyond repair.
However, “some secular proponents of human exceptionalism point to evidence of unusual rapid evolution of the brain and the emergence of exceptional aptitudes. As one commentator put it, “Over the course of human history, we have been successful in cultivating our faculties, shaping our development, and impacting upon the wider world in a deliberate fashion, quite distinct from evolutionary processes”. Jenia Meng uses evidence from an international survey to argue that anthropocentrism is inevitable in all human societies and that it is an result of gene-centrism. She also notes that although anthropocentrism is unavoidable, excessive anthropocentrism should be avoided. The 2012 documentary The Superior Human? (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/superior-human/) systematically analyzes anthropocentrism and concludes that value is fundamentally an opinion, and since life forms naturally value their own traits, most humans are misled to believe that they are actually more valuable than other species. This natural bias, combined with a received sense of comfort and an excuse for exploitation of non-humans cause anthropocentrism to remain in society.” ~Wikipedia
A different kind of reality, however, leaves us stranded in our own little world that we cannot get off fast enough, but, should we succeed in reaching other living worlds, they would be in grave danger from our dominion “over every creeping thing that creepeth upon” these newly discovered planets.
Nearly 80% of Americans believe in angels. In a very real sense we are crippled inside.
Perhaps, if we turn our introspective sights a little farther afield, we might reach a different perspective we might reach a different perspective of the unknown as they become increasingly knowable.
In the first video let’s take a look at what Carl Sagan called our “Pale Blue Dot” as viewed from Earth’s orbit:
02:27 http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2043531694001_2131926,00.html
In the second video the world’s largest telescope looks across the vast expanse our galaxy, The Milky Way:
05:26 http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2407450445001_2144331,00.html
A very real and present danger
While I’m not in favor of either gender being the dominate gender, I have reason to think that a dominating gender also acquires a powerful ego behind it. Men, certainly do not lack a self-centered high regard of themselves. And that superiority complex played a role in the evolution of the terrible “man-god.”
That created a terrible imbalance that pushed aside and demeaned women, thereby suppressing the life-nurturing instincts natural to womanhood and motherhood.
That schism created by chest-thumping men at the expense of women undid a real chance for western human society, that still dominates the world today, from living in peace with itself, with nature and with its future generations.
Would turning over the world-order to women, without influence and strings, undo the patriarchal harm and would it be in time?
I don’t think men will allow such a radical change, so the issue of “is it too late” is a very real and present danger.
A Board of Ones' Own
This past weekend at the movies Hollywood had one of its biggest takes ever. Led by Fast and Furious 6, and Hangover 3, close to a third-of-a-billion dollars came into the box…These testosterone driven hunk-fests were not supported by men alone. So there’s something complex at work here, even beyond conditioning and old time domineering. It shows where we place our values.
Nature supplies the gender division. The offsets of burly and brawny, compared to the softer and more nurturing feminine are not confined to the human species.
The challenge we face is to acknowledge the imbalance, and recognize the damage done from exacerbating those power differentials. And then, attempt a form of redress. This is one thing we do badly as a species, hubris and arrogance seem as hard wired as an Adam’s Apple.
One place that shows an interesting symbiosis is in the world of snowboarding. This young sport, once the exclusive domain of men, is now much more a shared activity. Women’s prize money has gained a parity with mens in many major contests- a precedent that is long overdue in society overall.
But most interestingly, the grace and creativity long found in women’s gymnastics has merged with the exploits driven by power and nerve. And now, if you examine the tricks, even though men in general go bigger, and get higher, women are matching, or even exceeding men in complexity and style of execution.
It’s Virginia Woolf and a Room of One’s Own all over again…Equality must begin with both the opportunity and the space…Then, changes of significance, and contributions that transcend gender can make their way into and across all fields.
Too many women today are just men dressed in drag?
Any analysis of women in society now carries with it a several thousand year legacy of them being second class citizens that necessitated women to evolve competitive man-like conditioning. In fact, I sometimes think that too many women in today’s world are just men dressed in drag.
In past civilizations and mythologies we’ve had matriarchal societies from the Bronze Age to the 20th Century, including Grecian, Roman, Celtic and South and North American.
Some scholars think, however, true matriarchies are not known to have actually existed, but comprised more of matrilineal structures. Whatever the case, the central role of women in societies has not predominated comparable to heavy-handedness of patriarchal societies.
As an aside to your comment, in addition to snowboarding, it seems more women are involved with car racing.
I guess what worries me is the question: do we really have time to transcend gender roles that will rebalance away from the immense harm up until now?
rich
From a cosmic perspective it’s all a wash anyway…
From a tragi-comic POV, it does seem we are leaving ourselves a camel’s chance of threading the needle..