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What occurred (once a general reverence for Nature is withdrawn, around the seventeenth century for Europeans) was that this particular collection of human civilizations replaced Nature with some other reverential object based upon human technological power—weapons using gunpowder and lead bullets along with improved naval vessels that could travel with large cargos for long distances. The new reverential object became colonial conquest (“discovering” and “civilizing” the “primitive world”) and then they expropriated riches from their aggressive land thievery. This made these empire builders believe that they were Masters of the Universe: Nature.¹⁰ They came, they saw, and they conquered. Then they destroyed the land configurations and substituted their own visions of majesty in its stead: constructing cities with brick buildings, roads, and monumental cathedrals that redefined the landscapes. This is what a Master of the Universe believes is in his job description.

Though for hundreds of years the magisterial attitude among Europeans and their thralls was supreme, there were a few architectural renegades such as Frank Lloyd Wright (1867−1959) who thought that organic approaches of fitting into the existing physical space rather than conquering it was a better goal.¹¹ This was also the goal of many conquered indigenous peoples who also often set out the organic in their architectural vision: fitting into the landscape rather than refashioning it in their own image. The standard European approach marks a transition by embracing a community worldview of dominion.¹²