One of the more disturbing aspects of natural life, I found as a child, was the fact that having overcome its prey, your average predator would simply begin to eat it. This practice is widespread and is easily explainable; there is no need to expend energy or resources killing an animal which is unable to defend itself.
Peter Matthews
My childhood desire to become a wildlife ranger was probably a casualty of my unease with this situation. That, and receiving a guitar for my 13th birthday – put paid to my education as well.
Compassion and empathy are the missing pieces here, neither of which are found in any animals except humans. Go on, tell me I’m wrong. When my dog watches me eat a piece of toast in the morning her eyes are full of joy which she feels because she can see how happy it makes me. Or is the earnestly focused attention directed more at the toast than me?
I was tasked, a few nights ago, with rescuing a frog which the cat had brought into the house. Slippery little creatures. I found myself admiring the cat for having caught it in the first place, something I was failing to do. The dog (Twigg, a terrier) watched the proceedings intently, as did the cat from outside the window having been ejected from the building. Twigg did not seem moved either way until, spotting her opportunity, she leapt in front of me and grabbed the frog for herself. Clearly Twigg had no concerns for the welfare of the frog, but neither did she harm it. She was indifferent. As are all members of the animal kingdom to all other members outside their own family or territorial group.
Humans are not the same. At some point in our evolution, we have developed the ability to care about others. Other people and other species. This is a curious twist of evolution, one which has not improved our chances of survival since a human looking out for others is less likely to notice a threat to itself. This selflessness is one of the things that make humans who we are. Along with self-consciousness, generosity, and sadism. Yes, we have gone the other way too; there are those among us who take pleasure from the suffering of others, and that can surely have no evolutionary benefit.
As a person who believes, or should I say “accepts the reality that” the only movers and shakers in the universe are cause and effect, these developments in humans are somewhat hard to understand.
In fact, I don’t understand them. This is where the paranormal comes in: Another trait of humans is that faced with the unknowable, they tend to invent rationales. I can see why this happens and I can see why it might help. But when I look at the world, I still can’t see how any of the approximately 2500 available gods can have had anything to do with any of it.
