Flogging, fogging, and finding our way

There are no doubt some who think I'm flogging a dead horse, or at least it seems to be so. That's not what's going on. There are some things in life, this this shared Reality of ours, that are simply very difficult to grasp, simply because the things in question are things we simply take for granted. No one should ever underestimate the power of taking something for granted.

The minute we take something for granted, we consider it a "given". It's one of those things that we can't imagine could ever be questioned in any way. They are simply instances of "the way things are", and they are things that we, individually or collectively, can do nothing about. And nothing could be farther from the truth.

For as much as we might like to think, and for as much as "science" may want us to believe, that we are "just animals", that's not how things are. For those philosophers among you who are asking whether we can really know anything at all, I can only say, yes we can. We know that we have a lot of characteristics that we share with other animals, especially primates, but there are just simply a few things about us that make us different. Viva la difference. It's the difference that, well, makes the difference.

We need to be clear on this. Without interpreting in any way, shape or form, human beings are simply different. Our degree of self-awareness (not self-awareness per se), the intensity of our language capabilities (not just having or not having a "language), our ability to point and beware of "the other", our ability to be aware of and plan for the future, to question, to speculate and hypothesize, to create art for its own sake are all indications that we simply are not just like other animals. It's OK that it is that way. We don't need to be "just" animals, but if we are not, we should, at a minimum, be true to whatever it is we are, and that, in the end, is human.

Humans, it should be noted, are the only creatures who possess the notion of "inhuman", which is very different from the notion of, say, "non-human". We recognize these distinctions in the simplest forms of expression, in the concepts we use (and in this case, this concept can be found in all languages, not just English). Whereas "non-human" may merely distinguish us from our animal cousins, a word, a notion, a concept, such as "inhuman" carries with it -- in every language -- a negative connotation. When we hear the word, we know what is meant is not good. To be inhuman is to act in a way that negates (or ignores) one's own humanity.

Again, I'm not making a case for a special treatment or consideration of humanity. I believe we are, just like all other species, sentient or not, part of a greater configuration we call Nature, or Reality, or whatever. We have to acknowledge, however, that we know we are a part of it, that we know we are different, and this knowledge obligates us to act accordingly. It's not a matter of well-that's-just-how-things-are, rather, we need to behave in a manner commensurate with our difference. We need to be human.