“Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.” –Wade Davis
Ethnosphere, as defined by Mr. Davis is “the sum total of all thoughts and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspirations brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness”—the ethnosphere is humanity’s greatest legacy. It is truly amazing, the varieties of life, thoughts, and perceptions that have developed in the various habitats throughout the world.
Every ecosystem depends on vast diversity for its health. Since there are no “separate events” in the world—its all one big happening, ultimately every thing is dependent on every other thing to maintain equilibrium. Is the variety of perceptions and thought, born in the array of surroundings through the utilities of life, any different? Is not consciousness, as natural a resource as any other form?
Enter religion
There is one way of being human that holds itself in the highest of regard. It dismisses naturally grown cultures and interpretations of the world as inferior ways of being. It has done more to destroy the ethnosphere through its total ignorance to the value of variety, and if they have their way and bring everyone to Jesus or Allah, the earth is doomed. The ethnosphere is every bit as important as any natural habitat. When one idea or specie artificially inflates its numbers, it detriments not only its own health, but the well-being of the entire system.
Would it be moral in any way, to visit an indigenous culture for the sole purpose of getting them to think like you (under the ignorant guise of love and concern, no less?) To abandon thousands of years of diverse existence to live the monochrome life, where everyone thinks the same and lives by the same rules, now has nearly the entire planet living in a state of constant anxiety. How superior is that?
TheCommonAtheist 