FIRE

A small spark neglected has often kindled a mighty conflagration. – Quintus Curtius Rufus

Fire is among humanity’s earliest conquests. Anthropologists tell us that half a million years ago, human beings knew how to make and control fire. They have found evidence of hearths in caves dating back 100,000 years among the Sinanthropus (Peking Man), and also in the dwellings of Neanderthal Man (30,000+ years ago).

The creation of fire was probably a chance occurrence. A pow­erful lightning might have set a tree ablaze. On a hot day, a dried leaf or twig might have caught fire. Or perhaps in the aimless rub­bing or scratch­ing of stones, one may have accidentally generated sparks. How humans ac­complished this is shrouded in mystery, like other details relating to the initial giant steps of our species. Our ancestors did not keep journals recording their observations.

Those who first mastered the technique of setting dry sticks on fire must have felt fear and a sense of power. With its immateriality, fire was mys­terious. With its warmth, it served humans in winter. With its glow, it helped them see things in pitch dark nights. Fire thus enabled humans to conquer dark­ness. Moreover, fire fright­ened away nocturnal animals that would otherwise be a threat. Fire also has the strange property of seeming to fall up­wards, like nothing else on earth. When humans evolved to a stage of culture, fire came to be wor­shipped and venerated, and was associated with life itself.

Practically all cultures are known to be acquainted with fire. Charles Darwin reported that he was amazed to see the ease with which the inhabi­tants of Tahiti pro­duced fire with the ele­ments of Nature surround­ing them, while he himself had difficulty achieving this. Pacific Islanders, Amerindi­ans, and every culture of the human family developed ways of generating fire. All realized that fire sustains life and can also extinguish it.

Fire played some significant roles in human culture. It gave warmth in winter, light in darkness, added hours of meaningful interactions after sunset. It enabled humans to cook otherwise indigestible foods, especially of animal flesh.

Fire has been given symbolic meanings in many cultures. Making fire is regarded as representing the human capacity to create and imagine the unsubstantial. Fire stands for purity and eternity. In the Hindu tradition, all sacraments are one with fire as witness (agni sákshi). Cremation symbolizes ultimate purification, and its smoke is taken as symbolic of ascension to a higher realm. In Zoroastrianism, fire symbolizes all creation. In Judaism, the burning bush reveals the role of fire in God communicating with Man. In Christianity, the flames of candles stand for hope. In Buddhism, fire is a symbol of forces that destroy evil elements that stand on the way to nirvana.

There are many gods of fire in humanity’s heritage. Hephaestus of ancient Greece was the god of Fire and metal-working. The Rig Veda of the Hindu world begins with an invocation to Agni (Fire) with esoteric significance. Agni created the sun and the stars in the firmament. In China Hui Lu and Hsuan controlled fire. According to a myth in the Pacific Islands, it was the snake that gave fire to humans so they could cook fish. Mantis, Olofat, and Fire Mountain will mean nothing if one is not part of the culture where these are very real. This is not unlike the fact that though we all feel the warmth of fire, its source – candle flame, oil lamp, burning wood or paper – is different in different contexts.

Since fire can burn and cause physical pain, the ancients pictured sinning humans would be hurled into a place where fire rages perpetually. Roasting in Hell-fire is a threatening theme in religions, even while paying homage to a loving God full of mercy. It was the conviction in some cultures that fire would annihilate evil. Since witches and blasphemers were regarded as inherently evil, they deserved to be burnt alive. Mythic poetry is seldom constrained by logic, and sometimes it can also be incentive for horrific acts.

From a scientific perspective, fire is the result of a chemical (chain) reaction brought about by oxygen on a combustible material that reaches a certain temperature. That is why one cannot set fire to water which is not combustible, and combustible fuel will not burn on the moon because there is no oxygen there. Contrary to ancient thought and some modern terminology, the sun is not a ball of fire: it is not burning in the terrestrial sense of the world. Its radiant glow results from nuclear fusion which involves no oxygen. The effect of nuclear fusion is the transformation of mass (protons/neutrons) into radiant energy of all wavelengths. Here on earth, we can have fire while it is practically impossible on the sun and the stars, or on the moon.

Some prehistorians have suggested that one consequence of the discovery of fire was the burning of wood and trees, resulting in the transformation of some regions which were rich with trees into vast savannahs. We are reminded of the sad lines of Nancy Byrd Turner:

Burn, burn, burn –

Wood that once was a tree and knew

Blossoms and sheaf, and the Spring’s return,

Nest, and singing and rain, and dew,

Burn, burn, burn! (Flame Sing)

There is no blessing without a blemish.