As I walked around the Museum of Natural History in Berlin today I saw a panel that read :
“If the world started over, the tree of life would look very differently.”
Imagine that - if we hit rewind and then play again, the evolution of species could look entirely different. How interesting!
Just then, I started to have a Planet of the Apes moment - I was surrounded by a bunch of walking, talking primates. Baby primates running to and fro. Adults taking selfies with taxidermied parrots and kangaroos.
At any moment I might turn the corner and see Charlton Heston and his human lady on display in a cage. And it would be my mission to set them free.
But alas, they weren’t. The world is the way it is - otherwise you and I wouldn’t be here. The idea that things could have turned out differently though is quite fascinating...
I.
And yet here we are. Humans. We are at a place and time in history where it is easy to forget where we came from.
Most of us live our daily lives and never give a second thought to the fact that we share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees.
Never give a second thought to the fact that our eyes see the world differently than a dog or a bee does.
Humans think we do things “right” just because we’re the ones doing them.
As if there is an objectively right point of view, and as evolved primates we have been given objective sight, objective taste, objective reasoning, the golden ticket to the one true experience.
This way of thinking leads us to:
Man > everything
That is to say:
Man is the most intelligent being and therefore separate and superior to all others.
Man has been given divine purpose and status to rule over all other lifeforms and natural resources as a means of achieving mans’ goals.
Whether or not these are true, this kind of thinking has led us to the shit show currently on display in our world today:
Imbalance in our ecosystems, mass extinction of species, incredible human suffering, incredible animal suffering, extreme inequality, mental and physical health problems, wars and all the rest.
“Oh, but we’re sending humans to Mars and the world has never been a safer place than it is today mehhhh…”
You can’t acknowledge isolate a few outcomes without acknowledging the price that was paid for them.
Too often do we look back at things in history like, “Oh yeah, that didn’t turn out so bad in the end now did it (despite all that horrible extermination / conquest stuff), they got roads, new infrastructure, jobs, etc. etc. etc.”
If we send humans to Mars but Earth is destroyed, was it worth it?
If we wipe out half the world’s wildlife to raise more cows to provide an over abundance of protein, was it worth it?
These are important questions which are difficult to answer so long as we see the ingredients for our thriving as being foreign to / disconnected from the needs of everything else.
II.
What if instead we thought like this:
Man = everything
That is:
Man is the most intelligent being and therefore the most responsible caretaker.
Man is an expression of the same natural forces that gave rise to all other forms of life and must respect and support the thriving of all other beings.
The truth is that there are people who think like this.
Many indigenous cultures around the world who have managed to maintain their way of life believe that man is not the central, most powerful figure in the world and that there are other natural and supernatural forces which they must respect and maintain equanimity with.
Whether or not their beliefs are true, the results of these beliefs are clear: balance in their ecosystems, respect for other species and natural resources, great health, etc.
That’s where understanding how we, modern society, got here becomes critical to understanding how we got our worldviews.
Monotheistic religion launched it, 17th century philosophical thought refined it, culture and traditions solidifies it into your psyche from the day you’re born: the idea that man is above - and separate from - all other beings and entitled to do whatever he wants to do.
Of course there are certain advances from modern society these cultures also stand to benefit from, but the idea of that man is superior to the natural world is certainly not one of them.
III.
The Nature of Mind
The questions at the core of this discussion boil down to the most fundamental concepts of what it means to be human.
Who am I? What am I? How am I connected to the rest of existence?
We’ll delve into these in the next issue.
Thanks for reading, friend. Until next time.
Amazing article. It is a great reflexion to be have. Very well put "Humans think we do things “right” just because we’re the ones doing them."