As a teenager, I used to to think, for no apparent reason, that animals are fundamentally different from us. That we are, somewhat, more special, superior, beings.
That is indeed, what most people think.
Fast forward decades later, I realised that we are all connected, that we all belong to the same kingdom, and that completely changed my approach towards life, other animals, humans, and myself.
How come on earth, we think, that animals are fundamentally different than us? And that we are, somewhat, more special, superior, beings? Where does this arrogance stem from?
How is it even possible to believe that something, that has similar eyes, ears, organs, hearts with us does not relate to us in any way?
Here’s why we think the way we do, why it isn’t true, and the consequences of each ideology and way of thinking.
Why We Think We Are Superior To Other Animals
Since we are born, we are told by our surroundings, our schools, culture, basically everyone, that we are special, somehow more important than other animals because we’re smarter, or have consciousness, or whatever.
Take a baby human who’s playing with a cat or a puppy:
Is the baby thinking I’m superior to these other creatures? Probably not, it probably plays with it in the same way it plays with you.
The cat or dog is also probably not thinking that the baby is much different from them either.
However, as we grow up, we start asking questions about the difference between us and other animals.
There, we are bombarded with several ideologies, very far fetched ideas and disproven by modern science, all of which seem to indicate that we are much different from them:
- We are special, because we have an evolved brain capable of advanced reasoning, and they don’t.
- We are special, because we have a consciousness, the ability to be aware of ourselves living, and they don’t.
- Our religion says that we are god’s favourites creatures on Earth, so we are special, we are humans, and they are, just animals, they don’t matter as much.
Well, let’s quickly demystify these 3 points.
First of all, surprise, other animals are smart too, it’s just that we don’t understand them much yet. Animals do problem solving, communicate with each other, and experience emotions just as we do.
And big news, researchers are now proving that other animals experience consciousness as well (See this and this), establishing that there isn’t such thing as an animal being more or less conscious than us or other animals, it’s just different forms of consciousness.
And with the last point, well, we aren’t going to argue with religions, aren’t we?
See, all of these misconceptions rooted in our cultures have led to disastrous consequences & atrocities.
Let’s discuss a few of these.
Consequences of Seeing Ourselves As Superior
1. Believing That Animals Have No Emotions
It always seemed so foolish to me when I see those questions on TV programs sometimes: “Do Animals have Emotions?”
I was always thinking: What are you serious? Is this even a question? Why would you ever believe that they don’t?
Well, if you think that animals are fundamentally different from you, and you don’t understand what emotions are, then yes, you’ll probably want to monopolise emotions to be exclusive to what it means to be humans.
Spoiler Alert: You are not that special my dear.
We’ll explain later why this is the case, but for now, we need to realise that most people think that animals have no emotions, and that in itself, is a big problem.
It changes the entire ethical rules and basis defining how we interact with other animals, leading to:
2. Mass Farming & Torturing Animals
If we believe that animals are soulless creatures with no emotions, not experiencing pain, fear, then that’s one more green light & permission for us to enslave these animals in cages, on top of each other in the most cruel and brutal conditions imaginable, exploiting them and mass farming them on an industrial level.
After all, there are here to serve us, right?
308 Billions animals are being tortured every second, they are feeling extreme pain every second, and we are the ones doing that to them, year after year.
And that’s okay in our societies.
Have you ever wondered where the steak or the eggs you find in your supermarket comes from?
Check out this 4min documentary trailer below, it shows you a hidden truth that you are probably not thinking of when going to your local supermarket.
We Are All Connected
Forget about all the ideologies, theories, sciences, and religions out there.
Just run an experiment & then make your own conclusions: Observe.
Take a leaf from a tree, put it next to your open hand, and observe. Put your cat or dog in front of you, observe its eyes, ears, reactions, and observe yourself in the mirror. Feel it’s heart beating, then feel the same pulse within you.
Look at how your body heals itself from a wound, and how a tree regrows its damaged parts. How the salt in your tears is found in the Oceans of our planet.
Do you see all of these similarities? Do you really think that, in spite of all this, we as humans are something totally different and do not relate to the other animals? Do you see the connection? More importantly, do you feel it?
If not yet, consider this very brief history of human kind, that might help you understand why we are all connected.
Brief History of Human Kind
See, a long long time ago, we all used to live together, in harmony, in Nature.
Us & Other animals.
We were hunting in groups, like lions do, to catch prey and be able to survive in sometimes harsh environments.
We were also hunted by other predators, but luckily for us, by working together and staying in groups, we managed to not be erased by these creatures.
We were hunters and gatherers, hunting for meat, gathering fruits for most of our history, 95% of the time since our existence on this planet.
Our cousins, the chimpanzees, with 98% resemblance with our DNA, lived in very similar ways, and still do to this day.
However, around 12000 years ago, we humans invented agriculture and started building towns.
Slowly, we began to move away from Nature and it’s harsh conditions, and living in cities with more advanced facilities and comfortable homes with roofs upon our heads.
Multiply that by thousands of years, and you’ll find where we are at right now:
Domesticated humans, wearing our ironed clothes, driving our cars on our way to work, indulging in distractions and pleasures on weekends, thinking we’re big time special, living in our self-made bubble, in this human made society, not having a clue about our roots, not giving a damn about other animals, merely seen as an inconvenience, not as our equals with whom we share our home called Earth, having severed our connection with Nature, with other animals, with spirit, and with ourselves.
We drifted away from our truth and from our roots. And then we wonder why we’re feeling lost and depressed.
Now, what happens if we reconnect back with our truth?
4 Consequences Of Seeing Ourselves As Part Of The Animal Kingdom
When you finally reconnect with your truth as being connected to all other beings on earth, you will:
1. Feel A Sense Of Belonging
When you go back to Nature, you’ll feel a deep sense of belonging and peace.
This was the home of your ancestors for thousands and thousands of years, so feeling home here is engraved in your genetics, in your body, even if you all you’ve seen since you were born were cities and skyscrapers.
There is something that speaks to you in the silence of Nature, and once you realise you are as much connected to the trees in the forest as to your parents, you’ll be better able to hear it.
2. Become Compassionate Towards Trees & Animals
You’ll start being compassionate and human towards other animals.
When you see some animal in pain or despair, you will help it.
When you see a plant struggling to survive, you will water it.
When an insect comes bothering you, you will try to put it out, instead of killing it.
When you see a bird in a cage, you will open the cage and let it free.
Because who on earth gave you the right to put these animals in cages for your entertainment?
Taking away their freedom and wilderness and turning them to sad weakened creatures?
Can you imagine some other specie say chimpanzees ruling the planet, and separating you and thousands of others from their families to put you in cages for fun?
If you don’t, then we shouldn’t do that to other animals as well, simple as that.
3. You’ll Reconnect With Your Emotions and Increase Your Emotional Intelligence
When you approach life with the “We’re all part of the animal kingdom” lenses, you’ll get a better understanding of yourself, of your emotions and why you do the things you do.
See, the Amygdala, the most primal & ancient parts of the human brain, is the centre of emotions, and it is shared with all other animals in one form or another.
We humans evolved bigger brains and neocortex with advanced planning and reasoning cognitive functions, but all of that happened on top of the Amygdala, our primal brain.
We’re all emotional creatures at our most fundamental level, and like all other animals to this day, emotions help us navigate this world to ensure our survival: Fear triggers the Fight of Flight response by increasing our heart rates and channelling blood towards our muscles so that we can run away faster from a threat, pain teaches us how to not get killed by something, and pleasure provides an incentive for us to repeat the behaviour that ensures our survival (such as reproducing or eating highly rarely found carbonated items in the forest).
Emotions represent our connection with the wilderness.
Being the most fundamental shared attribute between all living beings, emotions also allow us to connect with other animals and in-between ourselves.
Once you realise this, once you really understand the origin of emotions, their role and their shared characteristics, you will start owning whatever emotion ignites within you as you are aware of it’s purpose, and hence be able take responsibility for it & channel it towards your goals. You will also better connect with people and other animals around you as you’ll understand why they feel the way they do and hence better manage your relationship with them: That’s Emotional Intelligence.
4. Connect With The Vitality And Life In You
Once you realise you are part of the animal kingdom, you reconnect with the wilderness and the Animal in you.
See, previously, you have been castrated and domesticated into a compliant, obeying, cold human being who thinks he’s just a brain. “I think there I am”.
But now, when you realise your connection to other animals, you also realise your connection to the wild free animal within you, the lion within, waiting in the cage, for you, to free it and embrace its tremendous power.
You learn to finally connect with that untapped energy within, let it flow, and channel it towards achieving your craziest dreams and goals.
Or as Nietzsche puts it:
The animal in us is a beautiful and powerful gift. What should be overcome is not the beast, but the taming that turns life into a cage.
There is only one cardinal error, and that is to believe that we’re separate from other animals, from the trees in the forest, from the whales in the ocean, and from the birds in the sky.
We stand on a pedestal, proud to have an advanced brain, but ironically, still being tricked & controlled by large corporations through our primitive emotions and what we share with other animals:
They sell us sugary food because our animal brain is wired to strive for highly sugary food as it’s caloric and was rare to find in Nature, they make us waste our lives on social media apps to make profit as they know our animal brains are wired to look for novelty and to compare to other individuals in our specie.
Still, we somehow believe that we’re different, superior, and more reasonable than other animals.
Then, one day, you finally awaken from this illusion, break free from this mental conditioning, and finally see that we are all one.
We are all one: We all have bodies, eyes, hearts, brains, emotions, we all come from the ground and share the same home called Earth.
We all have the same life within us: The ant in the ground, the bird in the sky, the shark in the ocean, the chimpanzee on the tree, and the human reading this.
It’s manifesting through us and all other animals, until we return to the ground, for the next cycle to begin.
So, don’t shy away from it, feel the life within you, fully embrace it and experience it:
Go out in the woods and talk to the trees, hug them, they will tell you about their age-old stories and sing to you songs through the soft breeze on their leaves.
Feed the birds, but don’t cage them, for no one want to have their wings cut. Open the cages, they will come back to you at down and tell you about their travels.
Open the cages for your inner animal, and let its strengths and wilderness help you to become who you truly are.
And finally, be kind and compassionate towards other animals, in the same way you would do towards your family, because we are all, one big family.
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