Domination - we are all one in the same boat

One theme of human history is domination. Humans want to dominate each other, they want to dominate themselves, and they want to dominate the world itself. If humans had the power to dominate the weather they would. But until that happens, we have domesticated a lot of animals for our benefit, and invented agriculture.

This is why wars and slavery have always been prevalent throughout human history. Each human being wants the world to be a certain way, and if you have one single person who has not a drop of compassion, they will resort to dominating others and forcing them to do whatever work forwards that dream. Pharaohs, in essence, weren't much different from some of the CEOs and world leaders we have today. Their goal is simply to manipulate and enslave people in order for them to achieve the lifestyle they want and acquire the things want in their life.

Resorting to domination and manipulation is such a part of human history that it’s hard to imagine life without having human beings dominating one another. Peak Oil, or the depletion of the world’s most precious resource, will likely make it difficult for world domination. Things like Capitalism, global trade and industrialization will eventually enter reverse. If you don’t have the energy (literally) to expand your business in other continents, then you don’t have the power to dominate other parts of the world; at best you can dominate people locally. Peak Oil is good news, as I always say. A world filled with local economies where each restaurant is unique is a much more exciting world than one filled with Mc Donald’s in every area of the planet.

So local economies are becoming and will be the trend, and yet I am reluctant to become completely local and independent. Why? It isn’t that being independent by growing your own food, building your own house and living without money isn’t pleasant and healthy. My reluctance comes from knowing some history. If you live simply, you are likely to have a longer natural life (no stress, healthier diet, and close contact with nature). However, you also make yourself more vulnerable. Think of the native Indians in North and South America. While they still had wars and violent disputes, their lifestyle is something we can only admire at this point in our so prevalent “civilization”. The American Indians never claimed to own nature or land. They simply lived in it, and they understood the responsibility they had as stewards. I.e., if they destroyed nature, they destroyed their habitat, which would cause their demise. So they lived in harmony with nature. Sounds like a sustainable way to live that will prolong your species for billions of years, doesn’t it? Well, history teaches us that their way of life did not last for very long. When the Europeans arrived the majority of Indians were quickly slaughtered. Some were enslaved, and “the luckiest ones” were simply stripped of everything they had, including their culture.


My conclusion here is that one cannot create their reality by designing their life a certain way – sustainable, as far as we’re concerned – while ignoring the rest of the world. For us to go back to the Garden of Eden, we first must face all our demons. If not, the Garden of Eden will certainly get invaded, and its habitants will likely be slaughtered just like the American Indians were. And in this day and age, building a fence or wall to protect a newly-made Garden of Eden that is self-sustaining would be futile. Not only are the weapons of war far too advanced, but even a nuclear weapon that explodes outside will wipe out everything in a very large area. You cannot live harmoniously in the Garden of Eden if your air is contaminated with radiation, or even if the rain that falls on your land is polluted from activities that are happening on other parts of the planet. History is filled with horrific examples of domination, by the way, and the one I present here is just a good example that illustrates my point.

The fact is we are all in the same boat, that is, we live on the same planet which has become very small right now. We cannot build our own haven and pretend there’s nothing else happening outside. Whether we like it or not, to face all problems and issues together and as one. The whole world needs to; everyone. Nothing else will allows us to get away with not facing the whole truth. We are one. The longer we pretend we are not, and that we can live independently, the longer we avoid this inevitable realization.