Dominion

The Bible has Adam name everything that God created. In ancient lore if you knew the true name of something you had power over it. The (unpronounceable) name of Deity was only pronounced in the sanctum sanatorium of the Holy Temple once a year. The High Priest was,supposedly, the only one who could pronounce it. He had to wear a cable tow around him so that if he would collapse while in the holy of holies they could pull him out. He was the one person who had God's ear and everything had to "go through him." That gave him a lot of power, not only over God but over the entire Hebrew Race.

It also says in the Bible that God gave man dominion over everything that he had created. I think that is one of the problems with religion. God should not have given us "dominion" or at least if He did give us dominion He should have made it clear that it was not to exploit what he had made but to use it and conserve it. We seem to think that this world is ours to use (up) and throw away. One of the problems is that eventually we will run out of things. Oil (for example) is a finite resource. We are currently in a war which is over oil. This is stupid. We should be working on ways to replace an oil based technology.

I once read a science fiction story in which astronauts went on a long journey. When they left the left behind an industrial civilization dependant on technology. When they returned the society was pastoral. No evidence of technology at all. It turned out that they still had technology. They just did not let technology rule them. It was there but it was not the focus of their civilization. Mankind had grown to realize that they did have dominion over the world. Not for exploitation but to make it a place where they could live in peace, still having the things necessary for a happy, productive life.

I also think that a lot of life's problems on an interpersonal level have to do with dominion. The dominion of a man over a woman, a parent over a child, or one person over another. The dominion of one group over another. Witness how the fundamentalists of any religion want to dominate their society and make everyone submissive to them.

I think that mankind will truly progress when we wake up and realize that we aren't meant to have dominion over the world but to live in it, conserve it, love it, appreciate it and pass it on whole to those who will come after us. Stay warm and be happy.