"The insignificance of the feeble evolutionary detour that is man is evident, for our future is clear: we will be nothing but dust and bones on a scorched, lifeless rock waiting to be devoured by the sun" - Dark Fortress, Black Metal band
Humankind is in its final stage. The destruction that it has wrought upon nature since the industrial revolution has led to its final stage of annihilation. This corresponds with the last period in Hindu mythology – the kali yuga, where the world will be destroyed ultimately.
“Behold the vastness and sorrow of this empty land
A dark and fell rider clad in garments of shadow
Is the lord of this place
A cruel and wanton king,
A priest of a black religion is he” – Wolves In the Throne Room, "Vastness and Sorrow" from the album Two Hunters
For someone who breathes extreme metal these lines set the tone. Poignant words from black metal bands, whose genre is defined by its association with Satanism. But read between the lines and you find that it speaks of our true nature – to destroy, ourselves and nature. If we step away from our feeble egos, the concept of “I” and look beyond the sky to the vast universe, we will notice that we are nothing more than a grain of sand in the grand scheme of things. In the evolutionary time scale, we are a blip and judging by the rate we continue to maraud, we have ensured that we remain a blip. The irony is that we can’t do anything about it. Wait let me rephrase, the best part is that we can’t do anything about it.
What gives us sustenance? How are we alive? What is our home? Not food, not air and not the four cornered piece of cement slab called as a house, but the planet Earth. Over the last two centuries we have done a wonderful job of turning a blind eye to the larger picture, that is to coexist with nature peacefully but we have managed to destroy it and ourselves in the process.
Close your eyes for a minute and think how much and what is really required for us to survive - Food? Wasn’t that available to us via agriculture? No, that wasn’t enough. We invented money that led to division of classes, we reproduced like viruses, our brains started to develop creations which poisoned the environment. If that wasn’t enough we continued to move to virgin areas and destroyed the fauna and flora of those places as well. Still we keep spreading like viruses and keep infecting places with our actions and thoughts. Is it possible for us to even imagine of an agricultural society or even a hunting one now? Oh yes, living in a hut or a cave with clean air and water seems so nauseating? Hold on, what about food grown in clean unpolluted soil? That’s so history; we have genetically altered vegetables these days!
As I sit in front of my computer (and the next client deliverable) and think about my career, aspirations, needs and wants I begin to wonder how insignificant I am. Yes, I too have played my part in the destruction of my home and I see no way to remedy it. If I get killed then some amount of justice may be done. If we notice the natural calamities and diseases around us, I can't help appreciating the fact that nature has a built in self-defence mechanism. It will not allow a species to grow beyond a certain number. Somewhere in my heart I feel peace. As for humankind, we eventually will get destroyed by our own devices of destruction. But before that I would like our egos and small insignificant worlds that we have created for ourselves crushed as we stare into the dark abyss with no trace of hope.
