Humans = Animals ?

[ayokolomo]

5 hours ago, tryingforfreedom said:

Oh right..I see what you are saying about the finger and branch thing now...OK

If the concept of value doesn't exist, why are you even placing a value to your dog? You don't need your ego play the game at all. Like I said, it's not the dog's fault that it can't wash the dishes. If you can't see that, then I can't say anything more. 

The value my dog has, is not from anything he does I give him value because he is and because I can.  But mostly because I want to.  

I do love and value my dog, just not as much as my son.  

Apologies if I have said anything offending

[Guest Kingkong123]

Interesting question, indeed! Since you do not specify what kind of answer you are seeking (your syntax seems to suggest a mechanistic bias)  , I will give you my personal ideas. I believe this question cannot be answered mechanistically, we must therefore resort to a vitalistic answer which is as follows:

 

Superlative Counciousness. That's what the difference is.

But this gives us a sense of 'power' and "uniqueness" that perpetuates our ego and as a result we forget about relativism. May I add, this is partly why we see no problems in murdering animals for personal gain/pleasure. We "humans" are ultimately animals. We still operate on some level on the reptillaian brain, albeit to a lesser extent than before, if a portion of our behavior is anamilistic and cannot be controlled are we really that different from the ones we think we are so superior to?

[Rufus]

Simply animals do not have an ego, they don't have thoughts or imaginative capabilities. they are made of simple sensory systems and emotions that react to its surrounding compulsively without so many complex stories and mind exaggerations.
That's why animals are beautiful

Edited February 17, 2016 by Rufus
Spelling/Grammar

[Rufus]

+ Although due to my personal observation, some animals developed imaginative capability, but it's too simple yet to become an ego, such like Cats, Dogs, Dolphins, and Monkeys.

[Simon Zackrisson]

There is no difference.

Life intelligence is life intelligence.

Animals are animals.

Only different levels of complexity developed throughout a lot of now, (conventional time  )

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ayokolomo said:

The value my dog has, is not from anything he does I give him value because he is and because I can.  But mostly because I want to.  

I do love and value my dog, just not as much as my son.  

Apologies if I have said anything offending

I wasn't offended at all I think I just misunderstood what you were saying is all..

[FindingPeace]

Animals live functional lives without brains full of bullshit concepts. Humans have egos, language, long-term memory and the ability to put these things together to form abstract conceptualisations that make our lives more complicated than they need to be and with more suffering thrown on top.

It seems to me that animals live life with far less suffering that we do. I envy my pet rabbit that lounges around in the living room all day with complete bliss and ignorance, looking as relaxed and laid-back as I would like to feel! I often look at her and wonder what thoughts are occuring in that tiny brain. Certainly looks a lot more peaceful than most people do..

[Amilcar]

Humans are animals trying to live and preserve our  species, animals do the same thing, but recently humans release that we need nature to preserve our species. 

[Guest]

Here's why I say that all beings are reflections of each other, whether animal or human:

In order to understand what humans are in comparison to animals, the best way is to imagine yourself being born as an animal. For example, let's say I am born as a mammal with four legs. I enter the world pretty much in the same way humans do. The input from my senses is basically the same as a human upon first being born.

As I grow, I discover that my limbs are like stumps, I can merely walk with them, nothing else. Just like how a human has very limited capability in his/her feet, this applies even further to all four limbs of the animal. Next, we discover that the mouth can only voice one syllable, our communication is limited. With a limited capability to communicate TO the outside world, the outside world therefore has a limited ability to communicate to us.

Next as we grow, we realize that the mind cannot grow, precisely BECAUSE of the limited function of the body and its limited connection to the outside world. Limited function of the body and limited communication between with outside world means that the potential for our mind to develop to a similar capacity as that of a human is simply not there. 

This does not mean that animals have no mind at all and have no ego at all. Take a look at animals in the wild, and you will see that they still have suffering and limited resources. They still experience the senses, they still experience pain and fear and pleasure. Existence itself is the birth of the senses, and is therefore the  birth of the ego. They still have egos, but it doesn't take over the essence of their being like it does with humans. Humans become completely overridden by language and dependence on society and the external environment for pleasure vs pain...animals do somewhat become overridden but not to the same extent.

Now imagine plants. They barely experience the senses at all. They do not become overridden by ego. What connects humans, animals, plants and bacteria, is beneath all form, beneath appearance and beneath the ego. This is why they talk about oneness in Buddhism. That which connects all is conceptless.

So human=animals? Yes. Ethical behavior in this world is directly related to the suffering of the being at hand and whether that suffering is necessary. Looking beyond that, suffering has no bearing at all on the truth. 

Edited February 18, 2016 by tryingforfreedom

[dice]

[JKG]

Of course there is the difference with the consciousness... but consider this

I read somewhere that humans are like herd animals. Then I looked at my unconscious classmates and observed their behaviour and conversations. It is so funny. They all want the others to like them, they want prestige, they want to know who is in a relationship with whom... chimp behaviour.

Like animals we want to follow the path of least resistance. For animals in nature it is good to survive, for us in our unnatural environment it is very toxic.

[step1]

 

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 0:25 PM, Rufus said:

Simply animals do not have an ego, they don't have thoughts or imaginative capabilities. they are made of simple sensory systems and emotions that react to its surrounding compulsively without so many complex stories and mind exaggerations.
That's why animals are beautiful

What about a dog that barks when it is alone?  Is this not a sign that it needs something external to its self to make it feel whole.  Isn't this a symptom of the ego?  I honestly think all social animals have ego.

Edited February 19, 2016 by step1

[TruthSeeker]

On 2/17/2016 at 10:50 AM, FindingPeace said:

I envy my pet rabbit

I Just thought that was funny.

 

Why can humans talk and not animals?  (I mean with real words...and I'm talking about all animals besides parakeets )

 

 

 

[Rufus]

@step1 Yep, all animals has a very small mind capability, but animals are not capable yet of saying (I AM) in their heads or making a mental self-image out of themselves, EGO is a man-made term that we usually use to describe the human self mental image,
Although I mentioned in another post above that some animals such like cats, dogs, monkeys, dolphins, are developing a small ego. probably being domesticated and living with humans for thousands of years, It's likely to see a bored cat or a dog that needs an external attention and entertainment, but it's unlikely to see a bored wild animal in the jungle that needs an egoic entertainment.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Rufus

[Guest Kingkong123]

1 hour ago, quantum said:

Of course there is the difference with the consciousness... but consider this

I read somewhere that humans are like herd animals. Then I looked at my unconscious classmates and observed their behaviour and conversations. It is so funny. They all want the others to like them, they want prestige, they want to know who is in a relationship with whom... chimp behaviour.

Like animals we want to follow the path of least resistance. For animals in nature it is good to survive, for us in our unnatural environment it is very toxic.

Unfortunately we have not evolved out of the reptilian brain, or more appropriately it has not evolved out of us...yet.