In 1492 Columbus and his crew, lost, battered and stricken with dysentery, were helped ashore by a people he described as “neither black nor white—fairly tall and well proportioned.” Believing he had landed in the East Indies, he called them INDIANS. In fact, they were part of a great population that had made its home on this continent for centuries.
To the inhabitants of this land were not one people. There customs differed. Their language differed. Some tilled the Earth; others hunted and picked the abundance of the land around them. They lived in different kinds of housing and governed themselves according to different rules.
But they shared in common a belief that the Earth is a Spiritual presence that must be honored, not mastered. Unfortunately, western Europeans who came to these shores had a contrary belief. To them, the entire American continent was a beautiful but savage land that it was not only their right, but their duty, to tame and use as they saw fit.
As the twentieth century draws to a close, Western “civilization” is confronting the inevitable results of this Euro-American philosophy of Dominance. We have gotten out of balance with Mother Earth, and the very future of planet Earth depends on our capacity to restore Nature’s Health and Balance.
The cultural diversity of the pre-Colombian peoples of the Americas is not what I tried to "question" but rather the "narrative" that is used to justify the imbalances that you address. Obviously, I agree with you, but what I see is that the "grab" mindset is just as much in play now as in 1492 and beyond. One day it may be gold and buffalo hides, another it is oil and lithium . . . and genocide is a very heavy price to pay for this greed.
However, the "narrative" is what is blasted at us in schools and by the mainstream media and has very little to do with facts . . . so the underlying issue is correcting understanding by a combination of learning to trust our own observations and looking behind the curtain to see who is scripting the puppet show and why.
In 1492 Columbus and his crew, lost, battered and stricken with dysentery, were helped ashore by a people he described as “neither black nor white—fairly tall and well proportioned.” Believing he had landed in the East Indies, he called them INDIANS. In fact, they were part of a great population that had made its home on this continent for centuries.
To the inhabitants of this land were not one people. There customs differed. Their language differed. Some tilled the Earth; others hunted and picked the abundance of the land around them. They lived in different kinds of housing and governed themselves according to different rules.
But they shared in common a belief that the Earth is a Spiritual presence that must be honored, not mastered. Unfortunately, western Europeans who came to these shores had a contrary belief. To them, the entire American continent was a beautiful but savage land that it was not only their right, but their duty, to tame and use as they saw fit.
As the twentieth century draws to a close, Western “civilization” is confronting the inevitable results of this Euro-American philosophy of Dominance. We have gotten out of balance with Mother Earth, and the very future of planet Earth depends on our capacity to restore Nature’s Health and Balance.
Larry,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. In case you missed it, there was an essay a while back that addressed exploration in general: https://ingridnaiman.substack.com/p/the-echo-chamber.
The cultural diversity of the pre-Colombian peoples of the Americas is not what I tried to "question" but rather the "narrative" that is used to justify the imbalances that you address. Obviously, I agree with you, but what I see is that the "grab" mindset is just as much in play now as in 1492 and beyond. One day it may be gold and buffalo hides, another it is oil and lithium . . . and genocide is a very heavy price to pay for this greed.
However, the "narrative" is what is blasted at us in schools and by the mainstream media and has very little to do with facts . . . so the underlying issue is correcting understanding by a combination of learning to trust our own observations and looking behind the curtain to see who is scripting the puppet show and why.
Best wishes!
Ingrid