Being A Human And An Animal

Inhabited by our adventurous characters as humans and animals, we can't choose which trait to strengthen with our actions. We live and always gamble on our prosperous integrity of life to feed our egos. 

Think of the wisdom of an animal a nesting Dove with it, its purity of animalness with being a faithful animal deep by its natural design as well as commitment.

Nonhuman nest building Dove is all about soaring high leaving our egos behind and below our life endeavors. Building our lives with simplicity from raw nature gifts of imperfection and sophistication. Are afraid and ashamed of our animalness, in reality, we are beasts at our core personality.

"Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated the movements and constitution of the solar system with all these exalted powers Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." - Charles Darwin 

We act rough to forage the advanced nature of ourselves. In other meaning, it's the primitive sense of ourselves as humans we like to identify with, we can't accept our animalness. We like to compare ourselves with imaginary beings than awaken ourselves with love and the wisdom of animal nature of ourselves. 

What is fascinating " we continue to think with animals to imagine ourselves about them we self-conceptualize through animals in particular contexts. And that's all we can do, we can't change that." Aaron Gross ( 2012)

Being in the advanced nature of humans is understanding and appreciating animalness as true love and wisdom of life stability. The basis of humanism is being an animal. Animalness blends in the natural world better than humans.

"Maybe it's animalness that will make the world right again: the wisdom of elephants, the enthusiasm of canines, the grace of snakes, the mildness of anteaters. Perhaps being human needs some diluting." - Carol Emshwiller

Humans have a profound ancestry in nature. We bother about our animal limitations, we regard ourselves as superior beings. Like animals, the daily cycle of human life is to eat, think, communicate, and sleep.

We even liked to fly like birds. We imagined dressing up like birds. Biomimicry was born out of imagination inspired by the wisdom and beauty of animals in nature. 

Being human is not about surpassing what is naturally occurring to us humans and makes us who we are, but animalness breathes. By keeping and nurturing it with our intelligence and creativity it yields sustainability. 

How awesome animals like humans do to grow food. Insects like leaf-cutting ants can grow fungus out of the leaves they cut and collect,  for food. It's even surprising, that some birds like parrots can speak. Apes like chimps think, create and use tools. What is the meaning of being a human animal?

In addition, animals, birds such as weavers birds, and spiders are awesome at creating architectural structures such as nests and webs using the resources they can produce or collect from nature such as twigs, leaves, grasses, and silk the most adaptable material on Earth.

They are different from us because they do all those things without endangering nature and causing imbalances in life on our planet. We do everything by inspiration of animals from the stories, the nature of our societies is built in animal imagination and reality.

However, what makes us different is that we can analyze and create narratives. We can create complex things such as music, machines, we can speak, and so on.

"Animals are the bridge between us and the beauty of all that is natural. They show us what's missing in our lives, and how to love ourselves more completely and unconditionally. They connect us back to who we are, and to the purpose of why we're here." -Trisha McCagh

Fondness and emotional care as well as inclusive compassion are not only true animal wisdom beyond human experience but also nature's adventure. Animals take what they need and not what they want from nature. Therefore keeping nature in balance. That's a true indication of love in the form of life and sharing it. 

Tamed species in large farms and pet animals are good examples of what humans can experience firsthand by sharing space with our fellow animals. Going from bad to worse than it is supposed to be so. We have to think, that they need more space than we can take advantage of their necessities.

Looking at what is going on around the world. It's not nature, but a disturbing human reality of each society in our world. A life built on ego and selfishness. A life of much profit at the expense of the weakest and vulnerable, or a life of self-care at the expense of selfishness.

It's the life of being better through hard work or the life of self-experience and hard lessons haunted by an empty sense of pride. Enjoying the moment at present with commitment to the responsibilities we got in life, that's all we need to do. Though we got language and reasoning characteristics, are still animals who think for the better of our animal counterparts.

Hurting others out of necessity or healing others out of necessity. It's a matter of chances in the difference between a person's animal trait and human nature. Living a good human life is protecting all that is human. On the other hand, being the best human is protecting all that's life.

"We patronize the animals for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they are more finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth." - Henry Beston

Nowadays we are being caught up in our nature as people, but biologically we are animals. Are we good enough to be the best human beings? or we are just humans who can't understand a language not made of words? 

According to Melanie Challenger a researcher on the history of humanity and the natural world, and on environmental philosophy. In her book 'How to Be Animal' she explains what it means to be human and that at the heart of our existence is a profound battle with being animal. Humans have a psychology that strives for separation between humanity and the rest of nature, and we have invented grand ideologies to exaggerate this. 

"How it is that animals understand things I do not know, but they do certainly understand. Perhaps there is a language that is not made of words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to another soul." - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Being the best human beings leads us to solve the challenges of our time together for the future. Are we waiting until we get lost in the blank ideas of the betterment of humans regardless of what is happening with our planet? Or we are already lost?

Every little boy and girl dream of the imagination with seconds of chances of fulfilling the prophecy. The prophecy of his or her parent's love is likely with many options in life tied to nature.

While others got a lot of choices, one got one choice to run to the only chance for a better future. Some got no future but a blurry picture in a beautiful night vision in the sky. In the darkened future by the mortal egos.

Thinking of the days with life. In the freezing universe, I see rather hope here than anywhere else. The life of choices. The lifestyle of nature and the warmth of the planet. 

Conquered by viral fear of our adventure. We can't detect our mindful flow with nature. The natural feelings of being the best we can be to our young ones. The feelings of lively active moments on this beautiful planet.

Are we imagining better humanity in the best humans anyhow of what hasn't been nature's gift to us? The gift of selfishness and greed out of necessity.

We have the common sense to conquer it all. We also got love beyond human nature to truly love and care with good intentions. The useful intentions are better for our planetary nature and life.

Human-animalness is the true love we got to restore and share. Deep down in our skins, we know who we are. Nature awakens our senses with the language of warnings such as climatic heat waves, economic crises, moral crises, and pandemics as well as love to learn and stop the mismanagement of nature as a whole. 

Having both senses of human and animal consciousness is key to the survival of humanity. Taking back our natural roots as animals are being real humans.

References 

Aaron Gross. et.al. (2012). Animals and the Human Imagination: A Companion to Animal Studies.Columbia University Press; Illustrated edition.

Challenger. M. (2021) How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Penguin Press.

 https://www.harvard.com/book/how_to_be_animal/