Quote
Jack Oskar Larm
Good point. As you state, many 'pagan' cultures believed that everything had a soul, ie trees, rocks, a single thread in a tapestry, the knife that cut the bread, etc. A healthy dose of worship was spread around to those things that were part of one's life. I suppose it was about respect for the world around you - the world that sustained life. As we distanced ourselves from the mundane and worked towards 'civilisation' we could start to take life for granted. Basically, the Earth Mother was replaced by a singular god to reflect our new priorities. We were starting to see ourselves as greater than our instincts, our human nature.
But look at the price we are paying for turning our backs on her.
I more-or-less agree with you on that. Especially your final comment. Am I fair in assuming you mean the singular god reflects the ideal of 'civilisation'. And of course, the 'God's image' story serves as justification for humanity's dominance over nature (as does the 'take dominion of the earth' statement). The essential point is that in Judeo-Christo-Islamic religion, humans are distanced from the natural world and order by being placed 'above' it to 'govern/rule/dominate/care/etc' over it. While it too is 'God's creation' it is innately inferior to that which is essentially an extension of God himself (or itself, in the original hebrew) - i.e. the image of deity (however it is interpreted). Interestingly, while the theory of evolution technically returns the concept of humanity as an aspect of nature, the general mentality that it is there to be controlled still remains, largely unconscious.
That didn't really relate to the JOS, but it was interesting nonetheless.