Realizing 'We' are Animals 3/28/09

My entire life which so far, consists of 19 year and about 4 months, I had never thought about being an animal. The thought just never occurred to me. I think like this because I like so many others live in a world where humans think they are the dominant species, 'we' think we rule over all other animals and that the universe was made only to give us a place to live and thrive. But now that I have had time to think about this theory or idea the more I see how stupid and self centered we humans have become. Humans are so caught up in living the "perfect" we have forgotten we too are animals.
Humans are animals but "true animals" don't live like humans have become accustomed to over these many centuries. True animals live in the wild or in a natural habitat, not some box they call "home." They are free, and care free, they do not worry about stupid and often useless activities and problems humans create. Everything about the way other animals live their lives is natural, birth, bowel movements, eating, sleeping, they do not worry about how they look in a mirror before they interact with other animals.
For as long as I can remember learning in school I have been taught that humans are the top of the food chain, humans are the best, the last in evolution, 'we' are the reason the universe exists and everything exists for us. Six reasons humans separate themselves from other animals: 1. Genisus 2. Scientific Classification 3. 95% of the time humans are with other humans 4. We emphasize non-human traits and tasks, like sitting patiently in a classroom 5. Evolution- education King of Creation, teliological idea 6. Mind vs Body-Descrates and Dualism (connects to the immortal soul-dualism-immortality)

1. Genisus
-the idea that God created animals, land, water, and vegetation for the humans

2. Scientific Classification (web)
Domain Eukaryote
Kingdom Animals
Phyllum Chordate
Class Mamila
Order Primate
Family Hominid
Genus Homo
Species Sayas species

-The Classification Scheme separates humans and chimps but we share about 97% of the same DNA
-The Tuskegee Experiment, "untermenchen" (sub-humans)
-Idea in our civilization, there are animals that are more important than others: ex. treating dogs fairly vs. treating dogs like humans, treating humans like slaves, treating humans like dogs (other animals), treating humans like humans
-There is a difference between treating your pet like you treat yourself and treating your pet like a doll, they are animals you should give them some if not all the freedom possible

I think people should have a good relationship with other animals and not treat them like "pets," pets sound like enslaved animals, still putting the image of a human above all other statuses of other animals. You should try to interpret the dog's feelings and emotions to the best of your ability.
-People "doll-up" their dogs (humanize) them, carry dogs like matching accessories -Gavin
-Yes, you can accept the dog as a member of the family but don't turn them into a four legged human, don't humanize the dog. -Marco

Ishmal- "The revolt hadn't been put down, it had just dwindled away into a fashion statement." p.5; "You're captives of a civilization-al system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live." p.25.
-Is there a secret knowledge in the world? Someone who has an insight into the world? Epistomology- the theory of knowlege

3. 95% of our time is spent with other humans
-if you think about it, humans spend most of their time with other humans. When 'we' say we are going to hang out with friends with hang out with humans
-'we' only spend a minimal amount of time with other animals because humans find it difficult to relate to other animals, 'we' see ourselves as a very separate creation from other animals

4. We emphasize non-human tasks
-humans

5. Evolution-King of Creation
We 'humans' believe we are the end of evoultion and nothing evolves after us. But that sounds blantenly stupid when you put this theory into another perspective: the jellyfish story from Ishmal-

6. Soul-Dualism-Immortality

There are four main benefits of realizing you are an animal:
1. if your an animal you don't worry so much
2. they body matters
3. prioritize the physical (walk instead of sit)
4. knowing the proper role of thinking
5. a blind spot - one part of the visual field that you can't see
ex: you can't imagine feeling dead, we can't imagine ourselves unconscious, the conscience is the center of our universe

We believe there is such a thing as "special rescue," we like other animals can go extinct, if we realize we are animals too, there will be no special rescue.

I believe that understanding these four benefits of realizing we are animals is an eye opener. And truthfully, the truth kind of scares me. Lying to ourselves was an easy way to get around and live our lives as if nothing was going on, the lies were worn as a mask. This mask dimmed down and at times hid the truth, we were hiding from the truth, under all the makeup and new clothing. We are using material possessions to show how "non-animal" we are and to emphasize the human (we are different) in us. All along I knew the truth but my mask was not allowing the information to be processed in my mind, like it was going in one ear and out the other, I didn't really care about being an animal before we started this unit. Currently I feel more connected to other people and other animals, experiencing a few exercises in class made me feel happy and good about myself. I felt free and worry free. I felt like a kid again, more like an animal. I could have done these exercises on my own but the interaction with other animals made be feel like my life could be more meaningful. There was communication and physical contact. This interaction was not created because I had to but because I wanted to just for fun, no real pressure or purpose, like exercising in the gym to loose weight; we ran in the park to have fun.
Knowing that everyone in my class felt similar about having this experience and realizing we are animals made me feel less scared. Knowing the rest of the world is like this too was also reassuring.

Able to see and grasp real things, not like an economy, which is just an idea.