In my nearly three decades of residence here in the woods I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to come to understand nature far better than I once did. It’s been a treasured gift to be able to be an ongoing student of my natural world. A significant result of this increased grasp of my world has been coming to see that I’ve just scratched the surface—my level is ignorance is daunting.
Another result of my study of nature has been to help me appreciate the findings of numerous scientific analyses in recent years—research that shows humans are much closer to our fellow animals than we previously thought. Our outmoded (and biased) viewpoint told us that humans were fundamentally different from other animals. We created a wide, barren gap between us and them—a gap that placed us superior to all other animals.
Some examples of the qualities that we deemed uniquely human were: symbolic cognition, the design and use of tools, possession of so-called “higher” emotions (such as love, pleasure, excitement, depression), memory, imagining outcomes, language, and of course, the belief that we were forged in the image of the creator. We saw ourselves as the perfected end product of an intentional design process. We believed that the universe has unfolded with the sole purpose of bringing humans into existence. In fact, we once were deluded enough even to believe that the universe literally revolved around us.
But we’re growing up. We now understand that many of the capabilities we once saw as exclusively ours are shared by many fellow critters. Maybe they have them to a lesser degree, but it’s only a matter of degree. The barren gap is gone. We’re more of an animal than many of us would like to believe. We got all puffed up on ourselves and now some of the air in our sails has escaped.
I revel in this awakening—this maturing of the human perspective that’s being abetted by science. It gives credence to the response that springs up when I watch a wild critter here on the homestead: I am both fascinated by its beauty and I feel a close connection to it. I don’t see myself as superior to the spider, squirrel, or sparrow. Sure, I feel lucky to be born a human (with all those enhanced cognitive abilities), but we’re all Earthlings who are much more alike than different.
In fact, I am often struck by the magnificent capabilities that I see in these animals. They are often better than I at smelling, seeing, in their incredibly sensitive perceptions, and in intelligently interacting with their environment. I marvel at their harmony with their world, how in balance they are, and at the positive role they play in their world. I am humbled and even embarrassed when I contrast their effect on the world with our human impact—which finds us fouling our nest and causing so much widespread havoc. I guess, in fact, that’s why I live the life of a hermit: it’s more inspiring to be surrounded by nature than humans.
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I wonder at how many people still believe they are somehow different from and far superior to the other animals. I had an argument with my very own educated and supposedly intelligent daughter who has swallowed whole the precepts of the fundamental Christians that God created man in his own image, so we can't be descended from the animals. Don't they get it that when that precious little puppy gives me unconditional love, he is God's reflection. He is made in the image of God. We can't really idolize all the critters, because they, too, sometimes act in fear and do bad things, just like we do. All we can do is recognize our sisterhood (or brotherhood) with the wasp and the elephant, as well as with the Asian and African, Jew and Muslim.
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