by Wade Davis
Once we look through the anthropological lens and see, perhaps for the first time, that all cultures have unique attributes that reflect choices made over generations, it becomes absolutely clear that there is no universal progression in the lives and destiny of human beings. No trajectory of progress. Were societies to be ranked on the basis of technological prowess, the Western scientific experiment, radiant and brilliant, would no doubt come out on top. But if the criteria of excellence shifted, for example, to the capacity to thrive in a truly sustainable manner, with a true reverence and appreciation for the Earth, the Western paradigm would fail. If the imperatives driving the highest aspirations of our species were to be the power of faith, the reach of spiritual intuition, the philosophical generosity to recognize the varieties of religious longing, then our dogmatic conclusions would again be found wanting.
Viewed from this broader perspective, the notion that indigenous societies are archaic, that their very presence represents some impediment, is transparently wrong. As David Maybury-Lewis has written, indigenous peoples do not stand in the way of progress; rather, they contribute to it if given a chance. Their cultural survival does not undermine the nation state; it serves to enrich it, if the state is willing to embrace diversity. And, most important of all, these cultures do not represent failed attempts at modernity, marginal peoples who somehow missed the technological train to the future. On the contrary, these peoples, with their dreams and prayers, their myths and memories, teach us that there are indeed other ways of being, alternative visions of life, birth, death and creation itself. When asked the meaning of being human, they respond with ten thousand different voices. It is within this diversity of knowledge and practice, of intuition and interpretation, of promise and hope, that we will all rediscover the enchantment of being what we are, a conscious species aware of our place on the planet and fully capable not only of doing no harm but of ensuring that all creatures in every garden find a way to flourish.
About the Author
WADE DAVIS HAS DEGREES IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND biology as well as a Ph.D in ethnobotany from Harvard University. He is currently explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Davis is a popular, critically acclaimed and award-winning writer of many books, including the international bestseller The Serpent and the Rainbow, as well as The Clouded Leopard: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire; One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest and The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey Of Richard Evans Schultes.
Copyright©2001 and 2007 by Wade Davis
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The text was first published in 2001 in a book of photographs and essays also titled Light at the Edge of the World.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Davis, Wade
Light at the edge of the world : a journey through the realm of vanishing cultures / by Wade Davis.—Text-only edition.
eISBN : 978-1-926-70689-4
1. Ethnology. I. Title.
GN316.D3752007 306 C2006-905295-6