What the Art at Lascaux Can Tell Us About Ourselves–If We’re Willing To See It

Cave paintings were discovered in Lascaux, France, on this date in 1940.

British art historian Wendy Beckett, better known as PBS television’s Sister Wendy, had this to say about the art in the caves, which I paraphrase:

They show us many things about human life 17,000 years ago: how people fed themselves, how children played, how men and women contributed differently to everyday life, what they feared, and what they understood of the cosmos.  But they show us something that is, in my opinion, of far more profound significance, and is, that they were, in every important way, not very different than you and I.

Men and women fell in love, and when they had children, they loved them and took great care to ensure they were safe and became good people.  They worked in communities where the common good was regarded as highly valuable.  They looked into the heavens and wondered about the mysteries of life and the universe.

To me, this poses the questions: How has modern civilization changed–even in the few short decades since Sister Wendy made these remarks in the late 20th Century? And what does it mean for the sustainability of human civilization going forward?

In particular, it’s certainly far less the case that human society, at least in the U.S., harbors too much concern for the common good of our communities.  Somehow, we’ve come to see our fellows as competitors rather than compatriots.

We regard the poor with contempt, and elect leaders who work hard to remove the social programs to feed and provide healthcare for them and their children.  Our greatest fear right now seems to be that immigrants, who heretofore have done nothing but harvest our fruit, clean our homes and care for our children, but now somehow represent a great threat to our well-being.  We live largely in disregard for the quality of the environment that we’ll be leaving to our descendants.

We tear up peace treaties that have prevented the development of nuclear weapons.  We ratchet up our already enormous military budget, preparing for wars all over the globe.  We revert back to tribalism and racism. How eager we are to hate; how hungry we are to fight.

Maybe we need to look back up to the heavens and reevaluate who we are and where all this is going, while we still can.