Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Neo-Lapsarianism

Our earth is a closed system. Before Humanity, nature found its own way to survive and reproduce on this massive rock, cannon balling through the empty void. We, the Masters of Earth and the Inheritors of Reason sadly must admit to Our participation in this closed system before Our reign began on earth. Our lives today are characterized by concrete monoliths lining asphalt arteries which in turn are lined with steel rails to keep Us separated from the disease growing on the other side of every fence. This was not always so, there was a time when there were no concrete monoliths, or steel rails to help separate Us from nature’s deadly grasp. The only record or remembrance We have of these times come from the myths and legends of nameless Human Cultures and Tribes which have been claimed and washed over by the sands of obscurity. Also the Greeks.

Hesiod, the Greek poet, records that before this age of man, there existed four prior ones, the gold, silver, bronze, and iron age. He says of the golden age,

“…they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all devils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.”

Reflecting Eden in the Abrahamic traditions, this world was one where toils, sorrow, and hardships did not exist or plague Humanity. The earth and Humanity were locked in a hegemonic symbiosis; all of Humanity’s needs would be tended to, but they had to remain subservient to the fates imposed on them by the gods and the whims and seasons of nature. They would be tended to as long as they would not take charge.

This symbiosis was broken in twain by a divine being, a split between Humanity and nature which has ever since been widening, both sides refusing to give an inch without spilling blood. Our savior and deliverer of Reason is the Titan Prometheus. Seeing Humanity in Their oppressed state, and recognizing Their potential, he steals the forbidden fire from heaven and delivers it to Humanity. At this moment, Humanity has Its first taste of the coming glory over the world which created Them. Zeus, recognizing that Nature had no way to defend itself from the Humans which had begun their quest for natural domination, decided to arm the world with evils and sorrows that nature could impose on Humanity. He created the first Woman, Pandora, and sent her down to the world to deliver and open the famous box, and punished Our savior by chaining him to a rock and having two eagles rip his liver from his flesh every day.

This story is an allegory of and a testimony to Humanity’s first shining moment of glory and domination. We stood on the plains holding Our sticks, consumed in flames, lifting them to the heavens and wildly ululating our triumph over the gods and former rulers of nature and fate. Prometheus, ancestor to the gods and traitor to his fellow titans, is the titan of Forethought. In the myth he is a non-human agent which delivered us our capacity for dominion, but it must be emphasized that Prometheus is our reason, our own ideas, our own creative capacities, which rose from obscurity when We first wielded that burning stick and realized nature could be controlled. We are right to thank Prometheus for his beautiful gift, but remember to tap yourself on the back! Because you too share a part in the beautiful Human tradition of our Fall from nature. The story remains as a testimony to the end of Humanity’s nomadic and symbiotic existence, the foundation of reason and the realization that We have the capacity to mold our own existence, and that We have the strength to put nature in its place.

Neo-Lapsarianism is the movement which holds the myths and legends of the Rise/Fall of Man to be imperfect allegories which relate the real moment in pre-history where We stopped being creatures of this world, and began our quest to hold nature in our grasp and ultimately claim that We, as a Race, have finally become all that We can be, and tear the old gods from their lost and forgotten thrones.

Long Live Humanity.
Marcos

4 comments:

Jenn said...

This is brilliant. Identifying the moment at which we departed from nature (and indeed admitting that at one point we were intertwined) is something I never thought of. But I see now how this story can give inspiration to us all to continue the long battle against nature and the traitors in our midst, the insurgency group that call them selves "environmentalists." Expanding the human/nature divide has become common in western civilization and the majority of the globe but with this new "uprising" our progress and that of our ancestors is threatened every day. Stay strong and remember our ancient, triumphant past that this writer has reminded us of.

JS said...

It all comes down to the swerve. Also, RE our earth is in the empty void: the 'void,' as you call it, is nothing of the kind-- the term itself is an unfortunate holdover from the time of the Greeks (who, as we all know, were very poor scholars)-- but is rather a space absolutely packed to the brim with sub-atomic particles.
Now, why is this important? Because the "void," far from being a neutral spectator of the battle between man and nature, is in fact a seething zone of caustic, deadly particles that embody the chaos that is the very antithesis of humanity.
Adding this gives us a disturbing trinity of the Enemy: Nature is Lazy; Nature is numerous; Nature is deadly. QED.

Strome said...

I surrender!

Marcos said...

That is the kind of hatred, aggressive force, and vitriolic language we need to redirect towards the environment. Keep it up fellas!

Also, Jonathan, your comment has uncovered a horrendous truth, that it is not only the environment on this planet that is our enemy, but the very material framework of our universe.

Shit.