________________
30 FEATURES
HUMANITY REQUIRES HUMILITY
DAVID FRAWLEY
REFLECTS ON THE
INTERCONNECTEDNESS
OF ALL LIFE FORMS,
A PRINCIPLE AT THE HEART OF JAINISM
ur kinship is not only with other humans but also with all living beings. Among native
totem or tribal spirit, a sacred animal that reflects their deeper life connections. The totem is a means of linking human communities with the greater communities of nature. Tribes are defined as fire people, sun people, bear clans, eagle clans or other power animals or nature symbols that indicate their particular quality and energy. Some of these tribal images remain in our flags or have become national symbols like the American eagle. The individual has a special identity within the tribe that is played out in rituals. This may involve taking on the role of an animal or a the living universe. They have no organic structure through god as the tribal force lifts the individual into a greater mythic existence and cosmic expression through which his soul or spirit can come forth.
people, tribes define themselves according to a beliefs and manipulative marketing strategies. I believe that all ideologies, political or religious, are dangerous and ultimately destructive because they are not rooted in Nature. They do not come out of her indwelling spirit but arise from human cunning, if not prejudice. They seek to impose an artificial human standard upon life that overflows all attempts to control and define it. The Earth has no ideology. The Sun and stars have no belief or creed that they must follow. Any social orders created or run by an ideology must eventually fail because they are contrary to the intricacy of
Jain Education International 2010_03
Photo: Dinodia.com/Nadish Nooraji
Today we are trying to change human life according to 'inorganic factors' like political agendas, dogmatic religious
which they can develop naturally but, like our modern cities, must proliferate an artificial and wasteful existence. They must break down over time and leave us rootless.
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