I am the centre of nature!
And I am unchallenged!
My dad always used to say, “If you started it, you've go to finish it!” I never did understand why and wondered, why I had to finish it, if I started it or more importantly, why I could not end it, if I did not start it!
And it is after 20 years, I feel that those words do make much sense.
This is the ‘ecological’ view of nature. Man and woman are seen as just one of the many different elements that go on to make the entire nature. None is inherently better than the other. This is the ‘Web of Life’. This figure represent harmony and cooperation!
This is the ‘egotistical’ view of nature. Man and woman are seen as the dominant elements, the products of billions of years of evolution, and hence all powerful! This represents competition!
But this is just one perspective of looking at the these figures!
We are right now at a such a place in the entire history of mankind and possibly of earth, that there is no chance of survival at the present rate. The environment has been degraded so drastically that nature alone can never bring it back to pristine state.
But we can stop, what we have started, because my dad never lies!
And this brings us to Permaculture! Permaculture puts man in his ‘correct’ position, that is right at the top and expects him to be act accordingly with his power, remembering at all times, the three ethics of caring for earth, caring for people and returning the surplus.
The first of the two figures therefore is a reminder that man is but one element of the entire web. The second makes sure that he understands that with ‘great power, comes great responsibility’.
Both the figures are just two sides of the same coin!
This article was orginally published on my gardensofabundance.tumblr.com. The author (G. Sai Prasanna Kumar) is a Permaculturist. For further information please email at hello@gardensofabundance.org
