I say ‘Irish’ but this series is relevant to all Western societies and many non-Western ones also. Ireland will be used as a case study. It’s a good example, as Gaelic society saw itself very much part of the earth, physically and philosophically, while today…..
The story that was to unfold over this series is something I believe we all need to understand. We are not a ‘virus’ on this planet and it is not in our nature to ‘destroy’ the earth. It is very plausible that if certain events had gone differently over the course of the Human Experience, we could all be living our lives in respect of the earth every day, as many cultures have over the years. I despise this idea that ‘modernity’ and ‘progress’ innately lead to natural destruction - that one must be sacrificed to attain the other. Its ridiculous.
This destructive madness that we see all around us ‘happened’ because the particular industrialised way of life that has come to dominate the world expanded dramatically without any true value for the earth. Physically and psychologically, the earth became nothing more than a raw material just as our ability to extract and utilise its resources increased to an alarming rate. Once our way of life became dependant on this mass exploitation, natural destruction on a global scale became part of our reality.
Hopefully I will get to tell part of this tale in flash animation form once we get going on ‘State of Separation‘.
I always ask the question: What would our relationship with the earth look like now if the early industrialists of the 18th century ‘had’ valued the earth in the same way that they valued their God?
I’m not offering any solutions here. I am just trying to get people thinking about values and the different relationships that are possible between our way of life and the earth based on healthy values.
Full synopsis here.
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