Fear Moves Its Lips But Does Not Speak
I've often thought of the conventional wisdom that describes what sets us apart from animals.
We can talk about God and self-awareness and our advanced understanding of the universe.
Those are all good and valid reasons. But sometimes we need convincing in ways that speak to only ourselves, because one of the many things that sets us apart from animals is that we want to be considered separate from them. By something or somebody.
What I often hear is that it is our capacity for good. Our ability to do great and wonderful things. That's a reasonable explanation, I guess.
But that doesn't resonate with me. Not really.
What is branded into the reality that I see is a comfort in knowing that we are set apart from the rest of the world not for our capacity for good, but our capacity for evil.
What do we do that is good? The stuff we all know about. The good stuff. The stuff we read about it in inspirational magazine articles and see on PBS.
But think, for instance, about cobras. Male cobras determine who gets the female by means of an age-old ritual of wrestling. They don't use their venom. They don't kill to prove themselves. They kill to eat. They do what is necessary and leave the rest to fulfilling nature's course and keeping balance.
Humans do for each other, too. It makes us feel good. And it helps our survival, as well.
What sets us apart, however, is our willingness to do things that are out of harmony with the world. To do what can best be described as evil.
We do things that are destructive to ourselves. We know greed and hate and fear of the things that we might never see and that we can't possibly control.
It's what makes us bad. And, in a strange way, what makes us good.
Because it's what makes us meaningful. It's the struggle to make goodness more than a means of survival. To make it a victory of transcendence over evil.
Meaningfulness is a symptom of choice. The power to look within ourselves, at what we're really capable of, both good and bad, and transcend our world to make it a better place.
More than just a place.
7 comments:
WOW! You decided to be deep today.
No doubt about it. The biggest difference between humans and other animals is that they don't have the capacity for evil and hate that we do.
But, yeah, we do like to do good things mostly to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. And to make us feel better about each other.
That's a totally unique take on things! I love when people think outside of the box. Everyone's always talking about "good." When's "evils" day in the sun? Er, dark?
Looking inside can be dangerous sometimes.
"It's what makes us bad. And, in a strange way, what makes us good."
I love your blog because you always make me think.
Love,
Belle
do you do your deep thinking on the toilet?
jay1, i think deep on a regular basis. i just don't always want to depress people all the time.
tink ... halloween?
rusty ... it sure can. it's particular dangerous because it's a time of choice and you might not make the right one.
belle ... thanks. i like yours because you tell stories about guys in libraries eating whole heads of lettuce like they were apples.
jay2 ... actually as i was driving into my neighborhood the other day. i think i was listening about the amish school thing on the radio. (i get your joke, though).
e+
naw, man. do something good. go kick your cat.
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