Welcome to the Post-Apocalyptic era.

This realm once resembled a paradisal garden as shown in avatar, where as today, our world would be seen as a desert wasteland

If the legends are true, then our world tree or pillar was cut down..It could be viewed as the "navel of the womb" like structure we live. I think what happened is the umbilical cord (tree of life) got cut off, & with it the flow of nutrients, (carbon dioxide, oxygen, etc.) destroying our biosphere —the antediluvian world

The ether had different electromagnetic properties compared to today & was so energetically present, we got all we needed to survive directly from breathing it in, & living in it

In other words, present earth is a failed
experiment, or at least something unexpected happened to the womb