We spend so much time dealing with one another that for the most part we do nothing else. Recent study has come to show me we are off task. The more I dig into anthropology, sociology, and theology I find there are three basic layers of focus: heaven, man, and earth.
It is my observation that Man as a specie spends most of his/her time worrying about the things of Man. Well actually, Man spends most of their time concerned with the stuff of Man and who has more of what. Man’s concern for stuff and who has what stuff has led to all the wars Man has ever fought.
Man is so focused on Man that Man has missed what is going on around them. Their avaricious pursuit of stuff has stripped parts of the only planet we can reach of vital resources. This greed has made desert what was once lush greenery and rich soil. And some have made cheap the value of life; any kind, even human.
Man has minimalized the value of Man. Through predation, through enslavement, through dehumanization, through racial or genetic superiorities, through eugenics, and through inutero-genocide. Man has done so much to Man, has so focused on Man, that other layers of life go practically unnoticed.
I still recall the eco-commercial with Iron-Eyes Cody standing there in native American garb, overlooking at what used to be America the Beautiful, and a single tear rolling down his face. It was an apt representation for a people group who mostly saw themselves as caretakers and passersby on the earth. The Euro-American industrial machine introduced destruction and corruption for the production of now.
The sociology of abuse of the ignorant to the gain of the seemingly knowledgeable led to leaving many cultures indigent, polluted, or completely dependant on their parasitic masters, as if the master-parasites were the host instead of the other way around. The planet and the people on it were there for the use of those who had the greater technology and character to use them. It was might is right and god-given ascendancy by self-determined theologies. The planet and those lesser-than were there to do with as pleased by those who held the power.
Most theologies were the perversion of the earliest theologies. They all had their similarities. The central figure, all-father type. The all-mother type. The strong one, the weak one, the dark one, the supplanter, the one for sex and fertility, the one for intoxication and lewdness, and many variations on other themes all representing desirable character traits or flaws. Beguiling leaders used these superior beings to control Man to the sways of power over others.
Man has missed the mark for Man.
There are three layers: the god layer, the human layer, and the earth layer. Man has missed on all three.
Just suppose that the Jesus of the Bible was correct in his parable of the vineyard. He spoke of a king who gave his land over to servants to watch, tend, cultivate, and prosper. The king grew long in returning until the servants considered the land their own. So when the king sent emissaries to receive a report on the lands, the former servants beat and sent the emissaries back. This happened several times. Then the king sent his son and they killed him. How do you suppose the king will treat those who rejected him and his son? I can’t imagine it will be favorable.
Just suppose the Bible was correct all along. Just suppose. According to the Bible, Man is the offspring, the children of God. According to the Bible, Man was to tend the garden in the east of Eden and make the planet like the garden. According to the Bible, the first Man – Adam – caused the rules to change but not the job. The descendants of Adam changed the job. Man no longer looked after the planet but after Man’s own desires. Even after the do-over with Noah, according to the Bible, Man did not take long to change the rules again: trying to build a tower for themselves rather than a garden for the whole planet.
Just suppose the God of the Bible was correct, and Man failed on three layers. Man did not partner with God their father. Man did not partner with Man to make a garden of the whole planet. And Man did caretake the planet as if borrowed and owned by someone who might demand it back. What would that be like if the owner came back? How would He treat Man? It might be too late to apologize then.
Each generation has a choice. My generation’s time may be passed. There is not a lot of strength left in it. The next succeeding generations may have a shot … if … if they can convince those who have the verbal power now to exercise their voices to correctly manage their three layers now.
How about it, Mankind?
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