Penni, you said -
>>What sets us apart in the animal kingdom is our ability to be
more than the thoughtless animals who are driven only by instinct<<
Instinct, dear penni, is one of those concepts that explain everything yet say nothing. You must hear now what John Galt avers. Animals think! Animals make decisions. Animals weigh the evidence and act upon that evidence. The concept of 'instinct' was yet another attempt
to elevate man above the animal kingdom. Science has since laid the
concept asunder. It is no longer a valid one when used in disguishing man from the animal kingdom. Indeed, as animals show thought abilities, man, too, is driven largely by automatic biological processes.
But what does distinguish man from the animal kingdom is the same
trait which has catipulted him to dominance and for which will condemn him to extinction...if we do not recognize it in time.
The ability to imagine the absence of something is that distinction.
The zero, the null set, the void, and that most mysterious of nothings - IS. The IS or GOD or Universe or whatever you wish to call it, IS is the no-thing by which all things are. The biblical pronouncements of God creating the Word is really not too far off.
This played an important role in the development of human language.
The concept acts as a magnifier to the universe of possibilities and
at the same time causes our hearts to yearn for fullfillment.
We are the only known species who can deny the existance of something
- let us say as an example, one's own mind. To deny the inherent biological trait of selfishness is to deny one's own mind. Altruism
represents the denial of self which is the denial of one's own mind.
One cannot give without some underlying motive that is selfish, like
being accepted into heaven.
Knock, knock, knock'in on heaven's do-o-o-r...
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