I already understood the point, decades ago, which is why I'm making general statements, not absolute ones. Please don't waste my time responding that not all Western practices were bad and not all indigenous practices were good. I trust it's obvious that I'm generalizing about Western and indigenous cultures. For instance, they were generally apologetic about killing animals, humbly thanking the Creator for the gift. But they didn't do it greedily or gleefully, because God ordered them to go forth and multiply.

Sure, Natives burned forests and killed whales. The values expressed here contrast markedly with traditional Native values: putting the community first, preserving the natural environment, thinking seven generations ahead. 320-21)Comment: I think this is an excellent summary of the dark side of Western civilization. They yearned for the rapture to come, without knowing they have killed rapture forever. They can believe any answer, no matter how false, so long as it is a certainty nailed firmly onto the cross of money.

His followers reject mystery and madness and marvel. We were given magic to use in creating wonder, and the gobble-god has sucked it dry. We call him by different titles and commit blasphemies in the name of worship. His ten commandments are me first (let me live as I please), humans first (let all other living things die for my benefit), sperm first (no birth control), birth first (no abortions), males first (no women's rights), my culture/tribe/language/religion first (separatism/terrorism), my race first (no human rights), my politics first (lousy liberals/rotten reactionaries), my country first (wave the flag, the flag, the flag), and, above all, profit first. He is the gobble-god who bids fair to swallow everything in the name of a totally selfish humanity. A false one which has been set up by man to expedite his destruction of the earth. When she's exposed to the horrors of the near future, learns what her civilization has become, here's how she describes it: We have been thwarted at every turn by god. Her simple lifestyle, her appreciation of the people and the land, makes her values akin to traditional Native values. Other than living in a castle, she has little or no contact with mechanical technology.

Tepper, one woman-a young fifteenth century noble, Beauty by name-finds that she is a pivotal character in a number of familiar fairy stories as she haplessly travels through the past and future, and lands real and imagined, on her way to a bizarre destiny.Beauty comes from the pastoral countryside of medieval Europe. Here's a fantasy novel with a message about our cultural values:īeauty (Spectra special editions) (Paperback) In this novel by renowned author Sheri S.

Beauty sheri tepper