"To subdue the earth" means to gain control over or conquer the natural world and its resources. It implies human dominance and the ability to shape and utilize the Earth for our benefit.
Full definition
The blanket impression produced by his latest exhibition at Michael Werner Gallery (closed 16th November) was of an exquisitely arrayed private collection with a predilection for Modernist primitivism, Surrealist drawings and the occasional biomorphic tapestry design executed in
subdued earth tones.
Likewise, the privilege of ruling over all living beings and
of subduing the earth carries with it the obligation to care for all things.
Wabi - sabi aesthetic magnifies the imperfection, naturalness and unaffectedness of the decorative elements and
subdued earth colours such as white or bright grey.
Vatas should choose from a palette of muted and
subdued earth tones that suppress hot and cold.
He once again sent the wind to push back the waters into their designated places, to dry out the land so that humans and animals might once again have a way to fulfill their God - given task of filling and
subduing the earth.
Whereas Adam is created alongside an external call to dominate and
subdue the earth (Gen 2:15), Eve is created with a silent gaze toward the human person.
Repeatedly they remind humans that only they are created in God's image, that only they have been given dominion and told to
subdue the earth, that only they are directly addressed by God, and that only they have speech and the right to name all other creatures.
I don't know about what Bible you have been reading, but, try reading Genisis 3:16 (KJV) and keep in mind they were also instructed by God to «go forth multiply and
subdue the earth...
In addition, one can not realistically read that the human was commanded to
subdue the earth and not understand the presence of a free will to make decisions in the process.
Tracing the roots of this false reality principle to the Hebrew Bible itself, Roszak, among others, considered the heart of the ecological crisis to be the biblical injunction to conquer and
subdue the earth and have dominion over it.
The first narrative says: «
Subdue the earth; have dominion over all animals» (Gen. 1:28, JE).
In this creation story, humankind was made in the image of this all - powerful Creator, able likewise to
subdue the earth and exercise dominion over every living creature that lives upon it.
Hence, the striving for autonomy in this age of control is accompanied by pressures for more and more education, to supply the knowledge that enables man to
subdue the earth.
First of all, there were early recriminations («it wisnae me, it was her»); then the natural attraction they felt for each other, of mind, soul and body, changed quickly into a relationship of domination and lust; and their glorious vocation to be fruitful and multiply, and
subdue the earth, was marred by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work.
Evidence for this idea is seen in the fact that Adam and Eve were able to speak to animals in the Garden, and that somehow, the animals were to work together with Adam and Eve to tend the garden and
subdue the earth.
We are driven by the Puritan ambition to
subdue the earth but have lost the redeeming virtue of stewardly respect.
Not to
subdue the earth, but free the earth through fellowship with it!»
Many people feel a little queasy about the Bible's instigation to be fruitful and
subdue the Earth.
But whether the project of mastering and possessing nature (or filling and
subduing the Earth) began with the Scientific Revolution, or with the monotheistic abolition of animism, or whether we have always been trying to manipulate the natural world and have only recently gotten good at it, relentless technological progress and economic growth are defining features of the modern world.