Wednesday, February 29, 2012
More Than Our Dna
Being human is one of the biggest mysteries of life, yet we all share it. Anyone reading this is human, therefore probably feeling dominant over things that can't, but we are all mystified by our creation and what makes us human. Well, what does make us human? To me, being human is being labeled as so when you are born. If you were born, and your parents never mentioned that you were human, you wouldn't know. Yes, in the future your friend or the internet would spoil it and say you're human, but for the first few years you would have no idea. Days before writing this I was thinking of summarizing what being human is by showing emotion and responding emotionally to events. I've changed my thoughts though because my cats aren't human, and I think they show more emotion than I do on some days. It's a great feeling when I come home from school and my cat leaps off the couch and charges to greet me. This makes me believe animals are capable of greater emotion, and that humans may not be as dominant in some aspects as we think. Just like being human, I think being a man, a woman, or an artist is the same thing: being one of those is classified by others to show its difference, but if those were never classified people's differences wouldn't be apparent observations.
"Our insistence on cognitive knowing may already have robbed us of some of our capacity for being human." Humans are always insisting and achieving to know more and more. This separates humans from other animals that do the same things every day and don't learn more than they need to survive and keep surviving. Like I said above, animals show plenty of emotion, but they lack the cognitive knowing to wonder what happens after death, or of there is death. Their biggest priority is when the next meal is. Using a scientific viewpoint, humans should be just another race of animal, but we separate ourselves from this race when we continue to learn and apply new skills to survive and succeed in the world. Our insistence on cognitive learning robs us of being human because we never stop learning and applying, and this makes us something more.
We can achieve or regain our full humanity by spending more time with and appreciating the source of our survivaly on Earth: Mother Nature. Nature is what gives us the ability to live, by providing food, places to create food, water, natural shelter, natural resources, and more. Rather than being stuck in an urban office all day wondering when work will be over, one can reunite with humanity by realizing there's a world outside of the office. This world is what lets us live, and this world is the creator and mother to many creatures and living beings. Without realizing the spleandor and beauty in our creation and surroundings, we could lose what it means to be human and how to protect our humanity.
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While listening to discussion on the topic of what it means to be human, I have definitely heard people mention that what make people human, and unique from other animals, is our great capacity for emotion. I appreciate your opinion here that other animals can show and experience emotion just as much, or more than, human beings. You seem to being saying that the only thing that really makes human beings *human* is the fact that they *are* human. When I rewrite this here, it sounds like circular logic, and yet in your first paragraph I really understand what you point out: we are human because we are labeled as such. You imply that being human is just the same as being any other animal, but we distract ourselves from really experiencing our humanity with our insistent drive to learn and apply our knowledge. I am inclined to agree with this assertion, and with your solution. I shall try to remind myself to appreciate nature around me- the true force of what allows me to be human, and me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about animals and how they probably feel more emotions than people sometimes. My only disagreement is animals and death. Animals know the concept of death on some level. Take a deer for example, they do not know about avoiding a car, because it is not part of their natural environment therefore they don't know what to think of it. As for a dangerous plant a deer won't touch it because they know it can harm them. A lot of animals have some sort of "instinct" in them that tells them what is safe and what is not on some level.
ReplyDeleteWow, nice job, Guyon! I really like that you looked deeper into the meaning behind being human, as opposed to just explaining it through a biological perspective. I also really like that you discussed the fact that animals have just as many if not more feelings than we do, because I feel as though that is definitely something that we as humans overlook. I also agree with you in the fact that we need to spend more time appreciating nature, for it is a vital part of our existence. Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future!
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