Knowledge is a double edged sword, each time we learn something new, it paves the way for new questions, for further fragmentation of knowledge uncovering deeper truths. This has been beneficial for the western notion of progress, towards a technological utopia, where we can develop technology to such a degree that we no longer have need for human intervention, that technology will create itself, and all human needs, as well as wants and desires can be satisfied. Perhaps this narrative, with the potential end goal of a Brain in a Vat isn't the utopian future we are after.
Nonetheless the discovery of new truths, leading to the fragmentation of knowledge, takes knowledge away from God or the God's (Narratives of Ignorace), and places it in the hands of humans. For most of history, the rise and fall of the Sun, was the work of the God's, so too was the movement of the stars across the nights sky. Once humanity understood the connection between the gravity on earth, and the gravity of the stars, the reasoning paved the way for a Law of Universal Gravitation. Taking away the mysticism of the movement of the stars associated with realm of the Gods, and shun further light upon natural laws of the universe within the realm of humans. The narratives that had been shared for generations, had now to be replaced with a scientific explanation, a different type of narrative, and with no God to pay admiration and awe towards, who through the myths ensured the virtue of balance and moderation.
So too with Uranium, which for thousands of years the compound Uranium Oxide had been used as a colouring agent for ceramic glazes and in glass. When it was discovered by Becquerel that Uranium were giving off 'invisible rays', this mineral went from an ordinary colouring agent, to an element with the properties of radioactivity, and a new branch of science emerged to investigate the property. This knowledge, the further insight into a mineral, took a colouring agent, turned it into a field of study, and ended up being used to generate electricity, and further developed into a weapon of mass destruction, a destroyer of worlds.
What happens with knowledge that comes from these discoveries is further dissection and fragmentation, the slicing and dicing of knowledge into its component parts. Human knowledge in this sense moved away from the holistic albeit ignorant understanding that all happened in the world was because of the gods. The knowledge could then be explained as a breakdown of processes, into sub processes, into further sub processes, where we have arrived at today, where almost every occurrence or observation can be explained through this 'scientific reductionist' world view. That each behaviour, each process, each movement of an atom has a reason in relation to something else. However all these parts don't have an eloquent connection to the whole as they did when they were explained in relation to God or the Gods.
This disconnection from a global narrative which is exacerbated by the reductionist and scientific materialist world view, is a large part of the reason humanity has developed the behaviours associated with instant gratification, and what Arran Gare calls, "commodity fetishism". We want everything we can imagine and afford, and we want it now! If the whole world wasn't limited by funds, just by our collective imagination, we would have already accomplished the hollowing out the earth for a collection of shiny objects that provide brief stimulation, and a momentary dopamine hit. If we saw the Earth as a living being, as with an animal, perhaps the level of disconnection we have developed with the earth would be analogous to giving an animal a small electric shock for our enjoyment, for our personal stimulation.
The narratives of ignorance where the Gods controlled everything, which connected man to nature through God, need to be adapted to include the scientific reductionist knowledge, which separates man from nature. The need for humanity, is that we use what we have learned throughout the scientific revolution, and create an interactive story that each human can be a part of. That we can show our participation in solving the problem, rather than hiding the reality that we are creating the problem. The goal, the purpose of the global narrative and the beginning of an ecological civilisation, is to be the first generation that leaves the planet in a better state than it was when we were born.
