"Man is a rational animal.
He can think up a reason for anything he wants to believe."
-- Anatole France(1844-1924)
Humans are primates, close cousins to apes and chimpanzees. While we can put up with a lot more lecturing, double-talk and posturing than the average chimp, we have our limits. The more humans are moralized, corporatized and sanitized, the more we seem driven to seek release and balance through fantasies (e.g., daydreams), addictions and outright rebellion. This is why our leaders can only maintain their power for so long before corruption creeps past their principles and altruism. We expect leaders to remain permanently brilliant and disciplined and this is not possible without feeding our need to be in control of our lives - which virtually requires a tightly controlled over-achiever to mess up in some way, often a very colorful way - just to be able to feel human again. You can force an ape to wear a suit and tie, or a priest's robes, but once a primate - always a primate.
Humans are apes, controlled by a rational brain/computer, or so we think. In reality, the ape is in control of the computer. The rational is servant to the irrational. Let darkness fall, or boredom set in, and the apes comes out to play. Abuse and dominate the ape and it will eventually turn on you. Humans are not tame-able. And our ability to reason, the intricacy of which is possibly a signature of our species, is no more a proof of superiority than the intricate construction of an ant colony is proof that the ant is superior to the crow.
This is not bad news for us! Indeed, our understanding of our nature opens possibilities of removing some of the cultural factors that trap us in our cycles of greatness - inevitable failure - shame - neurotic overcompensation - greatness - and unsustainable failure.
See http://www.divineprimates or find me on facebook or linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/earon for more.
2 comments:
As growing Primates , Mammals and our
Vertebrate family , are we not offspring ,
desendents , vying for position , to a better
Life , as our upbringing has been , for billions
of years .
Now it is the Space Age , and as we so
threaten to let ourselves , destroy , our own
offsprings future , with the Nuclear Fire ,
may we talk to our neighbors , look to our
past , ( and our shared future ) and DISCOVER
a common ground . What happens next ,
depends upon ME and my NEIGHBOR .
How do we tend to view our history , and our
present decisions , for tomorrow the Sun comes
up . and baths us , with Her nuclear fire .
I love that Sunshine , it gives us Life .
But, why rush to do things that accomplish nothing?
Anonymous, I like what you wrote!
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