Mother Nature is in her Crone Phase. Menopause was during the 2000 years prior to now where they butchered everyone out of hand and blood flowed through the streets. Not very MUCH, but it has mellowed somewhat. At least it is harder to GET away with murder in many places. Time to give up the old and bring in the new.... Soon, we will have a new world and Paradise for many. And I am not talking about death, I'm talking about re-birth right here on planet Earth.
When we call Nature our Mother, we mean it poetically, symbolically. We can relate to the idea emotionally with tremendous ease. She is the original cause by which we come into being. She provides all the sustenance by which we grow and live. We could even say that she provides us with all the lessons we need, no matter how obtuse we are as students. Perhaps that she seems at times hard to predict. We find her frustrating when we cannot fully understand.
But although she is vulnerable and mortal, ultimately she is not a woman and does not bleed or cease to breed in quite the same way. If she is the Earth, mankind is poisoning her to death before she has the chance to grow old. If she is the universe, then she is still young and growing.
I wonder if the idea of feminising Nature goes back to pre-Christian religions, some of which seemed to have been matriarchal. Wiccans would say they were - and worship a female deity - but unfortunately we cannot know for sure because no written records survive. The Classical Romans and Greeks left accounts of their own polytheisms, but not as far as I know, of anything they found already existing.
If it's any comfort, we won't poison "the Earth" to death. The planet will survive! Humanity won't last forever though at least we won't be around at its end, and there's no reason to think life generally will not continue until astronomical processes wipe it all out.
Even then, Nature won't stop. It will just be another, relatively insignificant, event in our own galaxy's life.
You're right, Durdle. I exaggerated unduly. I am certain that nature can eventually overcome the toxins we pour into the air, water, and earth - for they are all chemicals that exist anyway and it's really only a matter of balance as to the place those chemicals occupy. I do actually believe that there will be several more rounds of evolution before our Sun burns out. If you could see the part of the world that I live in, subtropical and abundant with greenery and wildlife - it makes the heart sing. Knowing what is to come... I wish it could be averted, wish it was not too late 40 years ago, wish that anything I could do would make a difference. One part of me grieves and prepares to face the end, while another part of me says that this is humanity's just fate as the result of our greed. There is little we can sanely do, except learn how to love (agape not eros) and appreciate what we have while we still can.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at October 22, 2016 7:26 PM MDT
You're right, Durdle. I exaggerated to the point of absurdity. I am certain that nature can eventually overcome the toxins we pour into the air, water, and earth - for they are all chemicals that exist anyway and it's really only a matter of balance as to the place those chemicals occupy. I do actually believe that there will be several more rounds of evolution before our Sun burns out. If you could see the part of the world that I live in, subtropical and abundant with greenery and wildlife - it makes the heart sing. Knowing what is to come... I wish it could be averted, wish it was not too late 40 years ago, wish that anything I could do would make a difference. One part of me grieves and prepares to face the end, while another part of me says that this is humanity's just fate as the result of our greed. There is little we can sanely do, except learn how to love (agape not eros) and appreciate what we have while we still can.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at October 22, 2016 7:32 PM MDT
Sometimes I wonder if our own species will wipe itself out, or if its end will be by evolution replacing it by something else. Mammal species seem to exist for about 3 million years or so, even if the genera last much longer, so we've a long time (in human terms) to go yet.
I don't think we will drive ourselves to extinction.
This fear arose during the Cold War, but even the all-out nuclear war everyone hoped will never happen would not kill everyone. The bombs themselves would kill only a fraction of the world's population directly, plus many more by consequent radioactive contamination, but there would be plenty of survivors in the grim times afterwards.
That hazard has receded though not gone away, to be replaced by a more pernicious Armageddon through over-population, famine and materials shortages, and famine. Even that would leave many survivors, but the overall standard of living would be much lower than now.
Nature is pretty robust, and the only real human threat to it, is extinction of many other species at a much greater rate than they would die out naturally thanks to human actions of a type and on a scale having only very rare natural equivalents.
Durdle 