That's an intriguing way of putting the contrast. I follow up on a similar one in the series of articles linked below, and I argue that the difference roughly between prehistory and history maps onto the difference between childlike and more mature collective mindsets. Making friends with nature depends on a kind of naivety that's reminiscent of children's instinctive gullibility and openness.
But the comparison isn't accidental since prehistoric people would have been locked into mythic sensibilities due to their lack of accumulated knowledge. It's the accumulation of knowledge (i.e. of history) that requires the invention of writing and that adds up to an "adult" (powerful, hubristic, informed) mindset on the collective scale. And eventually that mindset descends into old age cynicism and helplessness (postmodern consumerism).
