One Cosmic Instant: Man's Fleeting Supremacy

by John A. Livingston

In the words of John Livingston, who is a distinguished naturalist and writer, this book represents "a lifetime's worth of questioning a hitherto immutable attitude and behavior toward the natural world." His questions lead him and the reader back to the very origins of our environment, which will survive only if we learn quickly enough to recognize man's place in the web of life. In clear, uncompromising terms, he speaks out for a revolution in our thinking, for a new perspective on man's relatively brief career as the most powerful force on the planet.

Beginning with the "man-apes" of Africa, and through classical and Christian eras to the present, the author traces the roots of man's fancied separation from the natural world that sustains him. This egocentric tradition has led to the extinction not only of animal and plant species and their habitats but also of man's own support systems.

His point is that these fallacies are a product of cultural evolution, not of instincts. "There is no 'killer ape,'" he writes, "but there is a 'killer man'... Since aggression is not instinctive, but is learned, we may have hope. Cultures and traditions can change, and they change rapidly."

One Cosmic Instant will be a part of that needed change. It is a valuable book for everyone concerned with the ill-balanced relationship between man and the natural world. It provides the groundwork for a new environmental ethic.

243 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

John Allen Livingston (November 10, 1923 – January 17, 2006) was a Canadian naturalist, broadcaster, author, and teacher. Livingston was the author of several books, including The Fallacy of Wildlife Conservation (1981) and the Governor General's Award-winning Rogue Primate (1994). In his later years, he was a professor emeritus of environmental studies at York University.

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read...but even as this is 44 years old it is still an informative look at how we have arrived at this mistaken view that we are better than all the "resources" that are on this planet...
i was reminded that mayhem is just a waste of energy...
i was slammed for being a liberal humanist...not moving fast enough against the industrial sea cucumber.
i was moved by the fact that " i will be here...i have always been here and with a certain effort of will, I can sometimes remember.
i have a confirmation that life should be more than consumption and power...and am left with some hope that our pursuit of materialism will cease soon enough and we can restructure our values to protect this planet and its entire ecosystem which we have the pleasure to be a part of.

[Stephen Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of hard work and heartbreak went into this book. A warning to mankind from 1973, and yet here we are on the same destructive path. This is a must read.