Y Yve in a remarkable period ofhmnan
hist(，ry， when the most predictable characteristic of
our lives is change. It is easy to forget that this is a
Padica[ departure fi om the way ore species has lived
for 99.9 percent of our biological existence.
Homo s(tpie~s evolved some 600，000 to 800，000
years ago; for almost all of that time， we lived in a
state of nature-deeply embedded in and dependent
on the rest of the natural world. Our numbers were
small and our technology simple， as small family
groul)s of hunter-gatherers lived lightly on the land. Nature
was vast and emtlessly self-renewing. People depended on their
accumulated knowledge of seasons， plant cycles， and animal
behaviour to avoid predation， to find nourishment， and to meet
their medical and physical needa
Around the world， land was sacred. Land meant much more
than just a place， an area-it represented the spiritual and
physical source of life itself. The land included the air， watel，
animals， rocks， plants， one s ancestors and the generations yet
to come. The very definition of one s identity and purpose came
from the land. Aboriginal people around the x~ orld maintain a
radically different relationship with the land around them than
do members of western technological societies.
Native people speak of their kinship with all creatures， of
their brothers and sisters: the ravens， eagles and killer whales
of the finned and the tree people. We tend to think of this as
quaint metaphorical speech， but molecular biologists have
begun to show that these relationships are grounded in physical
reality. There is a unit) of all life forms that goes to the
|
内容加载中，请稍后...
商品评论（0条）