Humanity: a Parasite?

Upon researching numerous online sources and, looking into RELS 200’s Week 3 notes and lecture, I would like to take a deep dive into the role humanity plays in the scheme of the environment and current-day issues.

Origin of the Earth In Religion and Mythologies

Earth has often played a vital role in many myths and religions; I will discuss three main points of view tied to the earth and its origin. In Hinduism, the god Brahma created the universe and everything in it, including the Earth. Earth in Hinduism is seen as a mother, her name is Prithvi, also known as Prithvi Mata “the vast one”, she represents purity in the earth and is also the essence of soil, dirt, and rocks. The view of Earth being a mother is common in today’s as well, often we think of Mother nature making ties to the Greek goddess, Gaia. Gaia in Greek Mythology was the goddess of Earth, she was known as the creation of all living things on this planet and made ties with many Greek Gods to form landscape, sky, and bodies of water on Earth. the last point of view that I will be exploring is the Chinese mythology for the origin of the Earth, birthed by Pangu (盤古) “The Fashioner of the Universe” which I will be going into extra detail for supporting the main point that I wish to get across in this blog post. Pangu (盤古) was first birthed trough an egg and lightness escaped above while heaviness sunk to the bottom Pangu (盤古), had to separate the light from the dark and did so for 18,000 years, eventually forming the universe and the earth. Pangu’s body representing different things in the universe where it is written that “the breath which escaped his lips became the wind and clouds, his voice turned into thunder, his left eye became the sun and his right eye the moon, his body with his hands and feet formed the four sides of the world, his blood turned into rivers, his veins into roads, his flesh into the soil, his hair and mustache into stars in the sky”. Upon the death of Pangu (盤古),  “his elbows, knees, and head formed five sacred mountain tops, his body hair turned into trees and grass and parasites on his body into people“.

Human (Parasite) Impacts

In Chinese mythology, it describes humans as the parasites on Pangu’s body, I would like to tie this belief to environmental worldviews. There are three major environmental worldviews that are anthropocentric, biocentric, and, ecocentric. The one I will be focussing on is the ecocentric (earth-centered) and biocentric (life-centered) view. Humanity is seen as parasites may be more accurate than we think. With the dawn of the era of enlightenment, humanity has done more harm than good for our surroundings. We introduced harmful toxins such as Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) into the environment, killing wildlife, or leaving them with life-changing genetic mutations for generations. As humans we have created explosive devices that have enough destructive force to level mountain tops, essentially being able to chip off pieces of Pangu (盤古).  We as humans beings have introduced harmful emissions into the atmosphere tarnishing the breath of Pangu (盤古), triggering an increase in global temperatures that have adverse consequences such as the melting of polar ice caps, loss of habitat for species, fall of species that fail to adapt to rise in temperatures. We harvest materials for personal benefit, cutting down around 5 billion trees annually, waxing the body hair of Pangu (盤古). Lastly, about 8 million metric tons of plastic waste is washed into the oceans every year, painting the blood of Pangu (盤古) with specs. In Ancient Chinese mythology, humanity is depicted as parasites, as we view the amount of damage we’ve done to the earth, we may be closer to parasites than we presume.

Where is the respect?

When viewing the origin of the Earth through a mythological perspective an understanding of how things came to be is understood not just the Earth, but the creation of the entire universe is told about in most myths. When understanding the origin of something, a certain respect is gained for said thing, understanding and respecting go hand in hand in ways. For example, recognizing the challenges a person experiences during their lifespan allows for a greater appreciation for the person. A real-life example of this is Terry Fox, a legend for his trot across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer research. The understanding that Terry Fox had to have a leg amputated due to cancer and he managed to complete a 5753 kilometer run with a prosthetic leg was what gained greater respect. To reinforce my point that, with a greater understanding of its origin, there may be greater respect for something. So, the question I am wondering is: since the Earth plays a vital role in many myths and religions, and by gaining a better understanding of the origin of the Earth through myths and religions, where is the respect for the Earth?

Theory That Ties

To conclude, I would like to reflect on the theories that I’ve learned at the beginning of the course that correlates to the myths discussed above. The main one being Bronislaw Malinowski’s functionalism theory, which states that myths serve a “charter”, a justification for the way things are. Supported by the slide set for week 3, gaining an understanding of Hindu beliefs, Buddhist perspective, and finally, Sikh lore allows us to make ties into the creation of things. By understanding, for example, the role played by the Hindu god Brahma, we gain reasoning for the creation of the universe, and everything in it. Also by understanding the ancient Chinese myth of Pangu (盤古) we gain an insight into how the sky separates from the ground and how different parts of the Earth came to existence.

References:

Rainforest Action Network. (2018, August 15). How many trees are cut down every year? – The Understory. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://www.ran.org/the-understory/how_many_trees_are_cut_down_every_year/

Ocean Conservancy. (n.d.). Plastics in the Ocean. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-ocean/

Leontovich, O. (2015). The world of Chinese fictional narratives: Content, characters and social impact.