Nature and Mankind

Gilgamesh is a story that presents a man’s life, his quests, and his search for immortality. In the epic a man named Enkidu is presented. He is the foil of Gilgamesh. Enkidu is born and lives in the wild. He roams with the animals, drinks where they drink, hunts where they hunt. Enkidu himself is like an animal. In the story Enkidu represents the “Leavers” as told in the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, and Gilgamesh represents the “Takers”. Enkidu also represents mankind in its creation, born in the wild, in nature. The “gods” created mankind as a part of nature not as something that destroys nature, but in the Epic of Gilgamesh mankind is doing exactly that, cutting down the cedar forests, killing nature itself. But man, although he may not realize it, depends on nature just as nature depends on man. We provide gases for the trees and they give us air to breath, animals provide us with food and we provide shelter and a home for some of them. If we were to destroy all of nature we would be destroying ourselves in the process. At one time we were Enkidu, innocent as animals, without knowing good or bad. Some refer to this characteristic as being the “noble savage”, almost superior to evolved humans because of their innocence. But as we evolved we became as Gilgamesh; corrupted, selfish, arrogant, and prideful. We destroy the places we used to call home and by doing so we destroy ourselves.