Expansion or Stewardship

 I am taking a break from work and I am reading, watching and enjoying this time of break.  My most favorite thing to think about:

1. How the Universe got created and what we know so far

2. Life and Evolution and especially Human Evolution

3.  The Bhagavat Gita

Today I came to a conclusion on Home Sapience and their transition from Animal Kingdom to where we are now.   How this happened for 300,000+ years and many many generations of innovation to bring us to where we are now.  I reached an epiphany today that even though we have so many fancy tools now (AI, telescope etc) human nature hasn't changed much!

To understand what I am talking about let's first list the human time line into different eras. I took some AI help here to get my dates right:

• Coexistence with Other Human Species (Before 40,000 Years Ago) - Homo sapiens live alongside other intelligent human species like Neanderthals and Denisovans. Instead of "taming" or enslaving them, we interact as cognitive equals, competing for resources, sharing cultural tools, and interbreeding—leaving a permanent genetic signature in modern human DNA.
• The Agricultural Revolution (10,000 – 8000 BCE) - Humans begin transitioning from nomadic hunter-gatherer bands to settled farming communities. With farming comes enslaving and taming animals. Eventually we also enslave humans.
• Early Vedic Period in India (1500 – 1000 BCE) - The varna system emerges in India as a flexible division of labor based on an individual's skills and actions (karma), not birth. During this early phase, the Shudra (laborer/artisan) class is an integrated and respected part of the social and spiritual community.
• The Rise of Written Laws and Slavery (3000 – 1750 BCE) - In Mesopotamia, the invention of cuneiform writing provides the first written records of chattel slavery. By 1750 BCE, the Code of Hammurabi codifies slavery into law, regulating debt slavery, runaways, and treating human beings as legal property.
• Consolidation of the Caste System (600 BCE – 400 CE) - The social hierarchy hardens into a rigid, hereditary genetic trap as texts like the Manusmriti ban inter-caste marriage. The concept of "ritual pollution" creates a deeply oppressive system of total social exclusion, forming the parallel marginalized class known today as Dalits. This is recorded in our DNA! Indians stopped mixing

• Slavery Movement across the world especially Americas (100 BCE – 1700 CE) - Cruel practices of slavery take over the world. Child born to an enslaved woman inherits her status as slave property. A dark phase for humanity where exploitation takes a dark turn. When European empires expanded into the Americas and the world, they brought an extreme philosophy of resource extraction. Nature was viewed as an inert commodity to be conquered, mined, and deforested for profit. Other humans in different races were thought of as human assets to be exploited

• The Democratic Movement (500 – 1900 CE) - In response to the oppression with Slavery and the caste system there have been many abolishments. Democracy being born and Woman's rights and many civilizations fight to free people and treat people with empathy

• The Industrial and Fossil Fuel Revolution (Late 1700s – Present) - Humanity unlocks ancient, stored solar energy via coal, oil, and gas. By replacing biological muscles with machine power, fossil fuels break the ancient economic necessity of human bondage, generating the global wealth, mass education, and leisure time required to expand the human moral compass.

• The Modern Green Energy Transition 21st Century (Present Day) - Armed with a modern moral and scientific consensus, humanity recognizes that exploiting the biosphere through carbon emissions threatens our survival. We are currently navigating the largest infrastructure overhaul in history, attempting to power civilization through sustainable, renewable energy without exploiting the planet or each other.

Did Slavery and Oppression end because of Fossil fuels? Has our history been only about oppression others for our own expansion. We went from human muscle energy to fossil fuel energy. We started to oppress animals while domesticating them. This followed by Human oppression. We also had gender oppression, for a way to control the reproduction of females. Keep them oppressed so we can make more children similar to the existing mentality. We transfered our oppression from human beings to fossil fuels! We are destroying our own planet! This put me in a terrible mood. Are homo sapience a lost cause! Is it about controlling to expand? Is it about a hierarchical structure of power dominance? Aren't we a species that has empathy! Is it even real that we can show compassion to one another and the planet.

As I loose hope I am reminded of some good people who existed thought out the history and who exist now who question why we need to expand:

• Thinkers like The Buddha who walked away from kingdoms and wealth. They explicitly taught Ahimsa (absolute non-violence to all living beings) and radical minimalism. They argued that chasing endless desire and consumption was the root of all human suffering.
• Many Aztec and Indian tribes co-existed with the environment and they values harmony
• Various Freedom fighters who worked tirelessly to free other humans from Monarchy, abolished slavery, brought equal rights to woman.
• Our current environmentalists who are fighting to consume less fossli fuels and go green. Various minimalists who want to consume less

In one way we have homo sapience who follow expansionism (maximizing energy exploitation for growth) and we have homo sapience who follow stewardship (consuming less to maintain balance).

There are still pockets of oppression in the world. Pocket is still under-stating it. There is significant oppression in the world. Woman loosing rights! Caste system in India even though it is illegal. The expansion mind-set is causing us to loose our place in the planet. But there is human spirit to fight the hierarchical mindset and expansionism and to work together with harmony.

This brings me to a conclusion, both forces have been part of human evolution:

• The Expansion Impulse is driven by our survival instinct. It is our creativity, our tool-making, our science, and our restless desire to explore the unknown. Without expansion, we would never have developed modern medicine to cure diseases, transport to connect distant cultures, or the agricultural surplus that allows you and me to sit across a digital interface and have this deep philosophical conversation. This philosophy came with a consequence, the consequence was exploiting the animal kingdom, humans who are not like us and Earth itself.

• The Stewardship Impulse is driven by our unique capacity for empathy and foresight. Humans are the only species that can look centuries into the future and realize that today's actions will hurt tomorrow's children. It is our capacity for guilt, restraint, and love for things that cannot give us immediate utility—whether that is an ancient forest, a captive animal, or a marginalized human being. We have evolved from just looking at our tribe to accepting differences in different genders, races and countries to live harmoniously.

On a good day I have hope for my kids and grand kids and future generation. On a bad day, I do not. We have made a mess. The animal kingdom still suffers with our oppression. We are hurting one another in the name of Caste, Race, Gender etc. We have caused massive extinctions and climate change with burning fossil fuels. Will human beings ever reach divinity and live in harmony with nature, one another and the animals that are not as powerful as us. Would we ever use our intelligence to truly steward the planet and work along with nature and one another? Is there hope?

As I think about this, I am thinking about what does Krishna say about this? I mainly think of the Bhagavat Gita and his teachings:

•  In the Gita, he warns that chasing endless desire (kama) and hoarding resources destroys the human mind and society.
• Krishna argues that if good, empathetic people walk away from their duties out of a desire to keep their own hands clean, they leave the levers of power entirely in the hands of tyrants and exploiters.
• Krishna’s ultimate solution to the human energy is Nishkama Karma: fulfilling your worldly duties with maximum energy, excellence, and dedication, but with zero attachment to the personal fruits of your labor
• He would encourage us to work furiously to build a clean energy infrastructure and clean up the planet without any desire for ourselves - Karma Yoga
• But he would demand we be responsible caretakers of the planet (Stewardship) taking care of the planet and it's beings. - Bhakti Yoga

As I sit at home on my career break and reading many books and expanding my thoughts. Isn't it enough that I had expanded my life so far! I worked hard for my own benefit for my own family. Isn't it time to do something for others? Isn't it time to invoke stewardship in me to care for others and for the planet? Coming back to my epiphany,  we have all these fancy tools (AI) but it comes down to our animal nature of expanding or divine nature of empathy - to steward the planet.  I don't know what humanity will choose and what the end will be like?  But I am reminded of the fact that the only thing we can change is ourselves and no one else.