Humans have been battling ignorance from the very beginning. So much has been made of the achievements that have been made possible through human intelligence that we often overlook the fact that the first humans appeared on this planet in the same condition that a newborn infant makes its entrance into this life, with one significant difference; we had not assigned teacher. The young of each species – human and nonhuman -- learn from the adults of the species, usually their parents, how to perfect the behaviors that are unique to their species and which are encoded in their DNA molecule.
It is significant that one species will not take on the unique behaviors of other species with which they share living areas. Their DNA determines how they will behave as a species. When humans arrived on the scene we knew nothing about the world around us and culturally we did not know how we should react to external stimuli. Like a newborn infant we had to learn how to respond to external stimuli but there was no one to teach us. Had it not been for the wild animals we met here we never would have made it. This is one of the unanswered questions of human evolution; one that I don’t intend to try to answer in this blog. Why does human DNA not include cultural information that would dictate how we should respond to external stimuli? This information is encoded in the DNA of all other species so why the sudden rewriting of the script with Homo sapiens?
Whatever the answer to that question may be, modern humans should be thankful that the other species with which we were to share this planet knew what to do; we have been learning from them ever since. We are not really innovators, we are the original copycats.
Who played with our DNA? Somebody must have. And whoever did, did not tell us how far or in what direction we should go in our quest, or where we should stop.
A systems level discussion on Organizational Leadership and World Peace written by:
© Darius A. Lecointe, Ph.D., J.D., M.A. Join in the discussion here or through dalecointe@gmail.com
5 comments:
Because as humans we have been blessed with something no animal has - its called free will my brother - and with it we are slowly killing ourselves in the name of progress.
Is it really free will or a desire to overcome ignorance? I think we have tried to put a positive spin on our inferior status.
The blank slate that we were given, if we take the account in Gen.1: literally, was to allow us the opportunity to communicate with God on His level, an un-programmed entity. Furthermore, The Creator had taken care of the survival aspects of our life. The choice that the First couple made, put them in territory not native to their "design". Humans now had to begin the process of fending for themselves. To His credit, The Creator gave a mind able to store and impart knowledge. The complexities of human existence, weather, type of soil etc., is vast, but the mind capable of communing with God demonstrated how many extras God had added and the Human being learned and thrived. We are fragile at birth, but as we grow and are taught we develop the skills, not the programming, to thrive. This makes us versatile and that means we are not bound only to a particular area or region pre-selected for us and out of which would be helpless, unable to over-ride programming. But we can have the freedom to move into an area that is not native to us and survive.
We have the intellect to understand that what we need in any area is the same, but differently structured. We need shelter: warm at the colder regions, but cooler at the warmer climes. It is the ability to adapt to come up with solutions not previously experienced and to learn even from the animals that gives us the witness to a Creator that loves the innumerable variations of encounter and survival the we experience daily and has allowed us to learn and adapt, even from the mistakes of others. After Cain and Abel we learned that although we were all in the survival game together, as humans, not all could be trusted. So, we survive by imparting that knowledge and learning: how to identify and code behavior: friendly, threatening, or deceitful.
Hi everyone! Just a few ruminatTions and questions if I may... Two 'beginnings' are mentioned--creation and birth. Creation here seems to include echoes of a big bang... Which beginning is to be considered?
If beginning refers to creation then a Teacher had been assigned. If a bang is the 'point de depart' then the teacher is appropriately described in the remainder of the argument as the 'wild animals'.
It seems too simplistic to assume that choice precludes 'making it'. Humans choose whether or not and how they wish to make it. Animals are part of an eco-system and suffer the same fate as human choice... they make it only sometimes at other times they are food for the one who is 'making it'.
Humans have always had clear instructions as to how to make it (parenting 101 or forbidden fruit 101). Humans of the big bang are also programmed with choice but more of the self-help variety and not that of the personal attention of a Triune God.
I trust that it would not prove injurious to the author to answer the question of wild animal instruction here, if not in a book. Do remember that dominion may be the reason for humans making it...and annihilation may have been their fate if left up to the wild animals.
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