Posted on 19 Sep, 2008 -
Are we any more than animals?
Are we any more than animals?
* Why I find it useful to remind myself that our fundamental needs as animals are for food, survival, love, procreation (and hot showers)
* But if to be human is more than that, are we fulfilling our potential?
I like to remind myself from time to time that we are actually animals and to take comfort in that thought.
An animal, of course, does not build cathedrals, play an oboe in an orchestra or write articles exploring ways of being a perfect parent. But then few of us spend much time really reflecting on that ‘human’ side of our nature either.
So my philosophical question for us today are what benefits can be had from separating out and exploring these two separate poles of our nature?
Why would we not want to be ‘just animals’?
I often hear people moan about the amount of time they have to spend on shopping for, preparing, eating and clearing up after meals (yet alone working for the money to put it on the table which many of the moaners tend to forget).
“Three times a day, every single day!” goes the lament. But I would ask them to think about the horse or the cow who spend 12-14 hours a day grazing (and chewing the cud in the cow’s case). Or how about the cat who, needing only a few minutes of the day to eat his three bowls of feed, can spend the rest of it in rest and repose...?
If we remind ourselves that we are in fact animals then we can take comfort in the fact that the need to eat, survive and bring young into the world is all that we really need to achieve. Everything else is just trimmings. We can cut ourselves some slack. Not just ourselves so harshly or set our expectations so high.
Take pleasure in warmth, good food and survival
If we have managed to feed ourselves and our young for another day then we should feel good about ourselves. If we have cuddled our young close as a monkey does then we can feel good as mother. If we have protected our family from dangers then we can feel good as a father.
To feel good about our lives we must perhaps take pleasure in the fundamentals. A satisfaction in putting a hot meal on the table. In having a hot fire to gather around. In working together as a strong family or community unit - like the pack of wolves or pride of lions that we watch with such interest on our tellies.
Indeed the qualities such as devotion, courage or self-sacrifice we see in such animals are sometimes of a higher moral quality than the super-animal qualities to which us humans sometimes aspire. And who has not, if only in passing, wished for the life of a cat…
What is it that makes us different from animals?
But what, we might now ask, of those extra ‘trimmings’ that make us so different from animals? For indeed, for those of our race who refuse to take satisfaction from the meeting of our basic animal drives and needs, it is from those trimmings that we must find our sense of self worth…
When we say ‘human’ do we mean better? By some criteria or measurements of judgment we are surely actually worse?
The sublime beauty of the human mind, energy and unstoppable drive to build and create
So what, I have asked myself, do we humans do so well? And by ‘well’ do I perhaps mean more beautifully than ‘right’ or ‘good’? Because if our aim is to achieve those then it would seem that we still have such a long way to go.
So yes, there are the cathedrals and the glorious gems of architecture from across the ages. The Spanish Rhapsody by Liszt that I am currently listening to on my radio. Our incredible powers of humour, intelligence and drive that have created railways across the wilderness, quantum physics, brain surgery, Friends and The Simpsons.
And what of the individual?
And what can we humble individual specimens help to achieve?
Do we all not share that same human desire to take pen to paper (or voice to the air or cloth or clay in hand) and create something that expresses something wonderful, something so human but yet so unique to our individual self? And do we not all, perhaps, aspire to make the world better? To live better? To be better?
Which brings us, perhaps, to the big question that seems to be plaguing our society right now: Where are we going wrong?
As Mother Teresa said, “We cannot do great things on this earth. We can only do small things with great love.”
I’d be happy to hear any of your thoughts on all this because I believe these are not things that are discussed enough!
