Or not. Maybe all species are obsessed with themselves, humans certainly are, and maybe that is how biological systems work. One would think there is a word or term of art in biology that goes to this concept of species self-focus, and probably books discussing how relentless species focus is an evolutionary necessity (perhaps you can tell I am not a biologist).
But certainly humanities relentless focus on the species does call into question whether our awareness of things greater than the species is severely limited by this tendency for species-centeredness. One wonders if there is even some principle about inherent lack of awareness of all species "higher" than themselves, however one might define "higher". It is interesting that we seem to so readily assign anything that might be "higher" as God or spirit, and essentially unknowable. Well maybe, maybe not, as alluded to a couple of posts ago.
Then there is what I will call species time scale limiting. Recognizing that our lack of time breath severely, severely limits what we can know. Our individual lives represent what, perhaps 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of a blink of an eye. Our entire species existence probably represent the blink of an eye. I mean really, what can we be expected to know?
Perhaps it is a good humbling experience, to realize what a small piece our species most likely plays in the universal dance, and how invisible and inconsequential we are as individuals. Or, we could flip this one around, and go for the ultimate in species self-centeredness, and think that some universal consciousness has decided to use our species to build a physical manifestation of itself, sort of reverse Matrix concept. No wonder we, the human species, are so tool/technology proficient.
But certainly humanities relentless focus on the species does call into question whether our awareness of things greater than the species is severely limited by this tendency for species-centeredness. One wonders if there is even some principle about inherent lack of awareness of all species "higher" than themselves, however one might define "higher". It is interesting that we seem to so readily assign anything that might be "higher" as God or spirit, and essentially unknowable. Well maybe, maybe not, as alluded to a couple of posts ago.
Then there is what I will call species time scale limiting. Recognizing that our lack of time breath severely, severely limits what we can know. Our individual lives represent what, perhaps 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of a blink of an eye. Our entire species existence probably represent the blink of an eye. I mean really, what can we be expected to know?
Perhaps it is a good humbling experience, to realize what a small piece our species most likely plays in the universal dance, and how invisible and inconsequential we are as individuals. Or, we could flip this one around, and go for the ultimate in species self-centeredness, and think that some universal consciousness has decided to use our species to build a physical manifestation of itself, sort of reverse Matrix concept. No wonder we, the human species, are so tool/technology proficient.
