GREAT MUTATIONS -FORKS IN THE ROAD

In each of the two prefaces that  Nostradamus included with the two different release dates in 1555 and 1558 he clearly sets out what his works were meant to focus on.

Later because of the increased commonness of their happening I decided to give way , and by abstruse and perplexing sentences, tell of the causes of the future mutations of mankind, especially those of popular interest, and the ones I perceived, and in a manner that would not upset fragile sentiments. All had to to be written under a cloudy figure, above all things prophetic.
Nostradamus 1555 in the beginning of  his Preface to his Prophecies.

I have mixed therewith no divination coming from fate. All from God and nature. It is much like seeing in a burning mirror, with clouded vision, the great events, sad, prodigious and calamitous events that in due time will fall upon the principal worshippers. First upon the temples of God, secondly upon those who sustained by the earth, approach such decadence. Also a thousand other calamitous events which will be known to happen in due time.
Nostradamus in an early part of his Epistle to Henry, June 1558.  
(Note: Nostradamus emphasised God and nature by using italics for these three words.)

In order to present my findings it is important that I give what I believe is at the heart of these statements by Nostradamus

There are some absolutes that I see determining the great mutations for mankind and I believe that as a successful Prophet Nostradamus would have reached the same view.

• Time is on the side of eternal truth in the battle of science versus dogma.

• In any contest with its creatures Nature eventually wins.

• The individual's long term future lies in its seed.

• Society's future requires that man's institutions don't become Nature's foe.

• Nature has a higher claim upon the Earth than man.

In every age man judges what he deems important and strives towards its end but man's efforts are a sideshow, a fleeting ghost in the larger span of evolution. Of man's struggles it is only that which is in balance with nature that will endure. Those sad, prodigious and calamitous events that will fall upon those who sustained by the earth, approach such a decadence are the words Nostradamus chose for the second of the great mutations. There can be no doubt that ever-growing population is an attack on nature. And Nature will respond as it always has to infestations by the destruction of that species ability to seed and by growth in other species in order to right the balance. Man's current dilemmas reflect an imbalance. In failing to face the limitations of a finite planet and to live in balance with Nature, climate change, pollution, diminution of biodiversity, poverty, and increasing  famine, flood and disaster are our inevitable destiny. History tells us that in such circumstances nature will redress our follies and this now presses upon us. Nature's response is knowable even if unacknowledged;  the human seed will be mutated and the human ability to breed will fall; institutions that depend on and foster population growth will die. This is the meaning of great mutations as distinct from revolutions and temporary horrors. It is not Hitler, Napoleon or the Kennedy brothers that are Nostradamus' focus, it is the potential fate linked to man's neglect of the Earth and Nature that is his core concern.  What many see as Nostradamus focus is but a device for retaining attention. Hitler, the French Revolution are not amongst the great mutations but among the thousand other calamitous events which will be known to happen in due time.

And Nostradamus' interest in the great mutation of current religions is because in the end this is the mutation that can make it possible for man to survive. The eternal truth is that Nature is our Creator and the Earth was once our Garden of Eden but this is not currently the basis of Religion. It isn't that worship of  Nature and the Earth will change what happens since they need no worship; instead they demand respect. That demand is not one of choice or will but it is what must be. When man's need for belief embraces that Man has only so much right to the Earth and its evolutionary treasure then the will can be found for man's behaviour to change. The impediments are dogma and amoral institutions. Yet time has always loosened the bonds of dogma that hold back understanding but rarely at an easy pace. The  understanding of evolution, the Earth's mechanics, the way  disease is spread and many other issues are now embraced by many ideologies that once relished in their denial. But given time reason wins and dogma loses, so we can be certain that ideas fabricated by men that lie outside reason will one day be usurped. But When? How soon? Will it be in time? These questions are the ones I believe Nostradamus sought to address.  Increasingly it appears to me that he did have an ability to see the future. He stated that  his visions stretched far off covering over two millennia and if this is so he would have seen the triumphs of reason one by one and he would have seen the fall of dogma.  Ultimately Religion must evolve so that it is in tune with the realities of Nature for religious faith is a need of most people's of the Earth yet without this change the World remains in constant denial of a visible truth. Although I have no great fancy for any creed I would see a battle over the status of Christ as equal-to-God losing out to his mortality. This is the first small step in the breaking of the yoke of dogma and it will not come from science but be wrought by orthodoxy's historical challengers.  The change they bring will however not be the last mutation and it will be the trigger of many horrors. Confirmation of these thoughts can be  seen in Nostradamus' aim to record  the great events, sad, prodigious and calamitous events that in due time will fall upon the principal worshippers.  First upon the temples of God...

It is apparent that Nostradamus' Prophecies fall into three streams of which the Mutation of Religion is the primary one and the Mutation of the Earth's environment the second most important. This guidance from Nostradamus has determined the way in which my presentations will now proceed.  My output will also be in keeping with another statement by Nostradamus.

Many events, most powerful of all Kings, of the most astounding sort are to transpire soon,  but I neither could nor would fit them all into this epistle, but in order to comprehend certain horrible facts, a few must be set forth.
Nostradamus at the end of his Epistle to Henry, June 1558.