{"id":11082,"date":"2020-09-15T20:43:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T01:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=11082"},"modified":"2021-06-13T21:49:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T02:49:24","slug":"creation-of-the-world-in-seven-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/09\/15\/creation-of-the-world-in-seven-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Creation of the world in seven days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On day one, I poked an eye open. And shut it tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On day two, I tried again, looked around, grasped for something, clutched it tight. Then I ate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On day three (a lot of things happened between days two and three), I started thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On day four, the thinking bore fruit. I realized that life is about eating and being eaten. The longer you can keep from being eaten (or getting killed some other way), the more you can eat and enjoy it (and get things done otherwise, which usually, ultimately, has to do with eating). So I got better at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On day five, I realized that life is about carving out a bubble<\/a> of security so you don’t have to worry about being eaten. Social animals like us do that together, which is why we need each other. (Where’ve you been all along.) Some do it better than others, usually with a lot of training and socialization, and when they do, they\u2019re capable of some admirable achievements (beyond the eating, though that can be admirable, too). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On day six, I realized that there are times when something comes along and bursts that bubble of security. A pandemic, a war, a hurricane, an earthquake, an extraterrestrial invasion. When it does, we get anxious. Sometimes we get anxious anyway, which is an indicator that our bubble isn\u2019t working very well. Day six fills the world. Its cup overfloweth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On day seven, I realized, whoa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On day one, I poked an eye open. And shut it tight. On day two, I tried again, looked around, grasped for something, clutched it tight. Then I ate it. On day three (a lot of things happened between days two and three), I started thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[660440],"tags":[16837,628598,628600,628603,628599,628602,628601,331],"class_list":["post-11082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manifestos-and-auguries","tag-apocalypse","tag-creation-story","tag-day-six","tag-garden-of-earthly-delights","tag-hieronymus-bosch","tag-holy-triamazikamno","tag-octave-doctor","tag-peter-sloterdijk"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-2SK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12753,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/07\/20\/what-does-it-mean-to-plant-a-tree-or-a-trillion\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":0},"title":"What does it mean to plant a tree (or a trillion)?","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here, for instance, in Brazil's Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros? Zach St. George's New York Times article \"Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World?\" is an excellent overview of the reality of tree planting versus the ideal of it. Among the reality-checks: In the 24 national plans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9408,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2017\/08\/18\/post-vegetarian-food-ethics-continued\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":1},"title":"Post-vegetarian food ethics, continued…","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is a follow-up to my \"case for a non-mammalian food ethic.\" I've given that case some more thought\u00a0and have decided that honesty requires more nuance than either continuing to call myself a (straight) vegetarian or calling myself a \"non-mammalian.\" The latter term is confusing in any case, since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-culture"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecoculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1007,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2008\/12\/01\/the-idea-behind-this-blog-original-version\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":2},"title":"the idea behind this blog (original version)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Every blog has its reason for being. The idea behind this one was originally to serve as a forum for thinking in and around the Environmental Thought and Culture Graduate Concentration, which I coordinate at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont. But that idea mutated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Blog stuff","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/blog_stuff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8617,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2016\/01\/12\/a-case-for-a-non-mammalian-food-ethic\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":3},"title":"A case for a non-mammalian food ethic","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Vegetarianism has been part of my identity for the last 25 years (thanks to arguments like this one\u00a0and this one), but I've been increasingly recognizing the term's limits. For one thing, I've eaten dairy, eggs, fish and seafood all along -- which makes me a lacto-ovo-pesco-vegetarian. For another, I've started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-culture"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecoculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Front Cover copy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2016\/01\/Front-Cover-copy-275x246.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8284,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/06\/12\/the-cosmopolitics-of-herzogs-bears\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":4},"title":"The cosmopolitics of Herzog’s bears","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the films that gets a\u00a0lengthy treatment in my book Ecologies of the Moving Image is Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man, about the death of Timothy Treadwell at the hands of a brown bear in Alaska. I characterized it\u00a0there as a complex and nuanced film that provides a series of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cinema_zone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/yySvdJeBcEg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/02\/19\/the-decay-of-images-of-bodies\/","url_meta":{"origin":11082,"position":5},"title":"the decay of images (& of bodies)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dNCI4bFoqOg&hl=en_US&fs=1& Catherine Grant's wonderful Film Studies for Free has posted a great set of resources on film preservation as part of the Film Preservation Blogathon, which features blog posts, articles, images, videos, tweets, and rallying calls from distinguished cinephiles including Roger Ebert, David Bordwell, and others. The video above (included\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cinema_zone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still3.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2010\/02\/still3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11082"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11089,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11082\/revisions\/11089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}