The current pervasive influence of Old Testament religious thought on world history has been maintained through the accident of asymmetrical technological advancement--scientific progress occurred more rapidly in the West. This asymmetry had a profound effect on history. In the colonization and exploitation of the New World and Africa, for example, Western technology (guns, steel) and biological forces (i.e. bugs) made the less "advanced" indigenous people easy targets for suppression. Religious delusions, along with blatant greed, provided the conquistadors the necessary excuses for the inhuman and brutal treatment of the indigenous people and the environment.

With the exaggerated riches reaped from the New World, the economic philosophy of capitalism was born in Europe. However, the new economic system was flawed. First, it had to have built in historical amnesia-- to the New World conquest and the enslavement of the Dark Continent. In other words, from its inception, capitalism needed to cook its books. Second, it was indebted to desert religious thought. The excuse of "converting the savages" was used by the merchant class to ignore the rights of the indigenous people. Third, since it was born out of violent and unfair conquest, capitalism was destined to depend on violence to keep the system going.

Scientific process has done much for mankind. Modern medicine, for example, has alleviated much human suffering. Without physics, airline travel would not be possible. However, scientific thought and philosophy (i.e. evolutionary and naturalist thought)has been unable to become a pervasive way of thinking about life. Instead, science has become the tool by which the dominant historical trends keep themselves pertinent. Unfortunately, instead of enlightenment, science has left the legacy of nuclear weapons and the capacity to clone humans.

Returning to Rand's thesis, it follows that, in order to alter and redirect what are arguably the destructive political and cultural trends of "modern" time, men must rethink their fundamental philosophy. But are there alternatives to the above mentioned philosophical and historical trends? Sure there are. I believe that an alternative "philosophy" can be found amongst the indigenous people of the Americas (as well as amongst the Buddhist of Tibet, but that is a topic for another essay). With the unprecedented resurgence of America's indigenous people's movement, this mode of thinking, which promotes man's integral and spatial relationship to nature, may be on its the way to shaping future historical trends.

(The recent presidential election in Ecuador, which placed Col. Lucio Gutierrez in the highest office, highlights just this indigenous resurgence. Most pundits and experts lump Ecuador's current political fortunes in with the rest of Latin America. What they fail to see or do not want to acknowledge is that what occurred in Ecuador is categorically different from what is happening in Brazil and Venezuela and more like what is occurring in Bolivia with Evo Morales. It is true that the leftist leaning parties of Ecuador, including Gutierrez's own Sociedad Patriotica de Enero 21, were huge winners in the Presidential campaign, bringing about a sudden and unexpected power shift to the left. However, it is the presence of the not so easily classified indigenous political movement which makes Ecuador's situation unique. For the indigenous, it is not just a question of being politically "left" or "right," it is a matter of a quantum shift in cosmo vision. This cosmo vision, as will be seen, is intricately tied to the social, philosophical and political organization of indigenous communities and effectively replaces Western individualism with what the theologian Jace Weaver calls "communitism.")

Indigenous religion and "philosophy" are "integrated totally into daily activity. They are ways of life and not sets of principles or creedal formulations." Native American religion is based on the life giving force of Pacha Mama (Mother Nature). It is understood that Nature gives life and must be respected like one respects one's mother. This "maternalistic" philosophy differs from Western monotheistic thought in that the desert religious movement is paternalistic (God the father) and asserts man's dominion over nature.

Indigenous social organization is based on collectivism and there is no practice in Native religions for personal empowerment. This modus operandi is at odds with Western individualism which has individual property rights as its cornerstone.

It is evident that the resurgent indigenous movement brings a "new" ancient philosophy onto the world stage. Though currently small, it is poised to challenge Western led philosophies. Given the state of the world today--environmental jeopardy, widespread poverty and misery, unending violence and profound human loneliness-- isn't it time to give a new philosophy a chance to influence the course of history?