The Un-Natural Elements

Most classical thinking agrees that there are 5 natural elements- Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Space (Space has often been replaced by wood or metal, depending on the era, the geographic location and cultural biases). There is more than a tinge of irony in terming these elements "natural"- as we go on unending, unrelenting, in our pursuit of altering all the "natural" elements for potential short-term gains and definite long-term disasters.

Much of modern man's life has been spent in "liberating" the natural elements from the "clutches" of the very "nature" that created it. Pickling, freezing,using tonnes of chemicals to grow non-indigenous crops in different areas- have all been attempts to reduce the amount of food lost due to spoilage (flicked from TOD). Building dams, canals and tank storages have all been efforts to prevent water from filtering back into the earth. And, once the land went under the plough, it has lost its "naturality". Case in point- in a matter of decades, the vast, fertile lands of the Midwest have lost up to 2 feet of the topsoil (due to excessive agriculture).

The discovery of fire remains one of Man's greatest achievements to date, and one of the diddly-duddly steps in the direction of controlling "nature". Did the control of fire, the element (loosely used term) that seemed to scare the daylights (can that be a pun?) out of all other living beings make man haughty? too cocky for his own good? Who knows! What we do know is that he used this fire well to control his surroundings and set off boldly, blindly and arrogantly towards establishing the earliest agrarian settlements as we know them. And, it has been one rocky ride since!!

While air, in the form of oxygen chambers and live-saving gadgets, is already sold at a premium price, "air" in general has a price on it too. We pay taxes through our noses for the land that we live on, the water that we drink, and indirectly, also for the air that we breathe (aren't air, the earth and light also the basic elements that combine to produce food in the form that we know- and don't we spend a good chunk of money on that too??) and the fire with which we cook our meals. The less said about the naturality of "space" the better!!! What with the satellites, the probes and the various greenhouse gases that let the entire cosmos know that we are here.

What is it that makes man attach the word "natural" to a few terms and then go about to prove that though it's natural- he can produce, manage and re-distribute it better than how nature intended. Is it the same rebellious nature that makes man break his own self-created laws? Is it indifference? Is it ignorance? Or mere short-sightedness? Or cruelty? Or just a sad quirk in evolutionary genetics that will set itself right by de-evolving man pretty soon?

For the sake of realigning and addressing the imbalance, I hope it is the latter. I wouldn't mind being the last man left on Earth, and being given Noah's job though. There I go again, doing the one thing "natural" to all of mankind- feeding off one's ego!!!