There are few things that people are better at than self-congratulatory gestures... and as such, the species as a whole seems determined to talk itself up. We are highly evolved, I'm told, socially, physically, and mentally. We can reason the hell out of any cat, dog, or goldfish, and consequently we're the greatest thing on the planet since sliced bread - which we invented as well, through our infinite wisdom and moderate baking skills. Well, I'm here to say - Bull. We aren't that great, and I intend to show you why.
Most people would agree it is our intellect, our ability to reason, that sets us apart from other animals. In some cases, this is true. However, humanity does itself a great disservice through the frequent inactivity of that ability - in short, we are afraid to think and we loathe our own sentience. Evidence to this is the amazing power our sub-conscious mind has over us, the penchant most people have for falling into routine, for rote learning and for blindly following a social or legal system. You cannot tell me that the same people who go to a church just because their parents did, vote for a man because their parents did, hate a group because their parents did, and buy a car because their peers do are thinking. They are worse than those that cannot think... they are those that do not think. And they are all around us. They are a majority, a vast majority.
Our literature and folklore are full of proof that we fear intellect, that self-consciousness is somehow evil. The classic mythological tale is of a heroic and strong, albeit somewhat dimwitted warrior battling a corrupt and devious wizard or deity, who uses magical tricks and mental traps to ensnare our poor hero. Even when there is a sage on the side of good, he is always a secondary character, a sidekick, and his efforts are limited simply to fending off the mental advances of the superfoe. Strength, speed, and valour are lauded... brains are not. It's almost as if we resent having made it to the top of the food chain through self-consciousness and not brute strength, and we are constantly trying to atone by our unthinking nature.
Need more evidence? Well, the favourite pastime of pretty much the entirety of humanity, myself included, is self-sedation... and it has been for many centuries. How many people do you know that like to forget their troubles (with the annoying ability to think about our own existence and find faults in ourselves tantamount among those problems) with a drug of some sort? Not to say that this is wrong in and of itself, but it is symptomatic of a much bigger problem. Note the escapist nature of most of our pop culture, the superficial nature of most of our mass media, for somewhat less invasive methods of this self-sedation.
I could go on for ages. In fact, I have been known to do so on several occasions, leading to remarks that I may be "overly analytical" or, for the laypeople, that I "think too much." I contend that one cannot think too much. If, as is often suggested, our intellect separates us from the animal kingdom, that means there can be no more humanizing activity than thinking, than self-introspection and existential angst. A life of physical pleasures, governed by routine and instinct is not totally avoidable. It is also not totally desirable, as it shows just how little we have evolved. It is an animal existence, and I would think that even if there is nothing more in life, we should search for more anyway. The search, in and of itself, makes you more human than any meaning you might find. Searching for truth without hoping to find any is the closest to perfection any of us will ever come... and it is my advice to you, should you be looking for meaning to your life. Maybe, if enough of us started doing it, we could break the stereotypes the rule our life, and start to truly earn our position as the masters of this planet.
