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Eden
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Of all the natural wonders of the world, the magic of a growing seed, the secret transformations within a pupa, the smartest advances in animal intellect, I find the human race is by far the most perplexing. Age after age seems to pass, and although we modernise our habitats and quality of living, we seem to do little to change our habits and responses to certain people and situations.
It's the early middle ages. Various people are being tortured and burned for practicing 'witchcraft', people which today would be known as mathematicians... scientists... People who could research into alternate points of views, swim upstream and could find different ways of doing the ordinary were persecuted, banished. People who thought outside of the box were considered demons, laughed at for their attempts to create light, to capture images, to fly... Today all these people have made huge contributions to how we percieve the world. A world full of technology, fast-paced and loud, even if perhaps a bit intoxicated with poisons.
We can look back and laugh at the foolishness of these people who burned what they feared, and mocked what they did not understand. Has it really changed? We can look to movements of 'equality' and 'freedom of speech' but in my opinion ffom observation, humans don't take likely to 'difference'. Change seems like the enemy, and in an ever changing world, it is a bad enemy to have. Many conspiracy theorists have presented alternate views on the world (a very likely occurence as all humans are entitled to their own opinions) and in a similar stance to witch-burning are accused of lunacy. Take the 9/11 conspiracy for example: Here are people (with some viable evidence for what they claim ) that are shunned for what they question. The presentation of a different view is at times threatening to another human as it challenges their state of consciousness. This, I think, causes the animal-like behaviour of aggression to dominate the challenger and to bite them down. Why else are these conspiracy theorists so brutaly handled?
On a slightly different note, this leads me to violence as presented in the media. People are so easily offended and like to pretend that their sophisticated ways call for less violence in the media, and although I do not necessarily agree with it, I accept it as not only part of our violent world, but as part of an even more violent and lustful history. In the Roman empire Coliseums were arenas of death to entertain the emperor. Gladiators, ravanous wild beasts and sometimes even random spectators were tossed into a cocktail of gore for the pleasure of thousands of onlookers. Various torture methods (among which the mildest were beatings) were fit punishments to sinners, handed out readily by (obviously sadistic) executors. With our past written in blood it is hard to think of people as pure and non-violent creatures in ourselves and once again, an animal blood-lust lies within our race. Why then, do we find our violent Television programs so offensive? Why was heavy metal and violent programming to blame at Columbine's shoot-out? Is it not perhaps our simple nature?
It's the early middle ages. Various people are being tortured and burned for practicing 'witchcraft', people which today would be known as mathematicians... scientists... People who could research into alternate points of views, swim upstream and could find different ways of doing the ordinary were persecuted, banished. People who thought outside of the box were considered demons, laughed at for their attempts to create light, to capture images, to fly... Today all these people have made huge contributions to how we percieve the world. A world full of technology, fast-paced and loud, even if perhaps a bit intoxicated with poisons.
We can look back and laugh at the foolishness of these people who burned what they feared, and mocked what they did not understand. Has it really changed? We can look to movements of 'equality' and 'freedom of speech' but in my opinion ffom observation, humans don't take likely to 'difference'. Change seems like the enemy, and in an ever changing world, it is a bad enemy to have. Many conspiracy theorists have presented alternate views on the world (a very likely occurence as all humans are entitled to their own opinions) and in a similar stance to witch-burning are accused of lunacy. Take the 9/11 conspiracy for example: Here are people (with some viable evidence for what they claim ) that are shunned for what they question. The presentation of a different view is at times threatening to another human as it challenges their state of consciousness. This, I think, causes the animal-like behaviour of aggression to dominate the challenger and to bite them down. Why else are these conspiracy theorists so brutaly handled?
On a slightly different note, this leads me to violence as presented in the media. People are so easily offended and like to pretend that their sophisticated ways call for less violence in the media, and although I do not necessarily agree with it, I accept it as not only part of our violent world, but as part of an even more violent and lustful history. In the Roman empire Coliseums were arenas of death to entertain the emperor. Gladiators, ravanous wild beasts and sometimes even random spectators were tossed into a cocktail of gore for the pleasure of thousands of onlookers. Various torture methods (among which the mildest were beatings) were fit punishments to sinners, handed out readily by (obviously sadistic) executors. With our past written in blood it is hard to think of people as pure and non-violent creatures in ourselves and once again, an animal blood-lust lies within our race. Why then, do we find our violent Television programs so offensive? Why was heavy metal and violent programming to blame at Columbine's shoot-out? Is it not perhaps our simple nature?
Well, those are my random ponderings of humanity for today and with that, I will leave you to contemplate our existance for yourself.
