Animals & Humans

[Tim R]

When do you think will we stop making a distinction between animals and humans? I mean a felt distinction. Everybody (with a few exceptions) understands that from a strictly scientific/taxonomic point of view, humans are of course also animals. 

But we treat neither ourselves nor the beings that we share the earth with as though we understand it - many people even deny animals to be conscious. They regard them like robots and their brain like computers. "Poke 'em and they'll cry, but not really. Put a metal hook through their mouth, it's okay, they don't feel anything". The less complex the animals is, the less people think they are conscious. I especially observed this in zoology- and animal-physiology class.  

How will this paradigm shift happen? / what must be understood in order for it to occur?

How will this be related to our popular understanding of consciousness and ourselves?

What will be the implications for society, animals and ecology?

Since society is shifting towards Green more and more, this is going to be one of the great topics for us to deal with.

[Preety_India]

When we don't even try to understand each other, what are the chances that we will try to understand animals? 

 

[Preety_India]

My point is that we can't understand animals until we understand each other 

What Im indirectly trying to say is that as long as we can't have true empathy for each other, we won't have it for animals either. 

Consider this. We respect ourselves over and above animals. This means that we think that human life is more important than the life of an animal. So here we have a hierarchy. We place ourselves higher in this hierarchy and place animals lower in it. Something that we consider lower will always have a lesser priority. If we cannot respect each other despite having given ourselves higher priority, what are the chances that we will look at something with respect when it's at a lower priority than us.. 

It's like saying, if you don't respect your own family members and friends, what are the chances that you will respect your neighbor? 

Did you get my point? @neutralempty

Edited January 25, 2021 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

@neutralempty  maybe this empathy comes from thinking that they're less powerful than humans and because we tend to think that we've a sense of power and control over them. 

Which again means, we treat them unequal and unfairly in our minds. 

 

[Preety_India]

@neutralempty  I mean animals don't use us. We definitely use them. 

What does that say about power hierarchy? 

 

[WonderSeeker]

@Tim R Thinking in terms of ego development, pluralists tend to be more compassionate about furry animals. Even so, most of them will still kill bugs if they're inconvenienced. 

The difference-maker could be promoting higher spiritual development. Doing actual practices such as meditation, that calm the limbic system in your brain so you can chill out and not crush that ant the next time you see it. Ever since I started meditating one year ago, I've looked at animals with more awe and wonder. I let flies and ants crawl on me and just watch, without the need for knee-jerk responses. It's actually a fascinating shift in relating to the living world!

[Willie]

5 hours ago, Tim R said:

When do you think will we stop making a distinction between animals and humans? I mean a felt distinction. Everybody (with a few exceptions) understands that from a strictly scientific/taxonomic point of view, humans are of course also animals. 

But we treat neither ourselves nor the beings that we share the earth with as though we understand it - many people even deny animals to be conscious. They regard them like robots and their brain like computers. "Poke 'em and they'll cry, but not really. Put a metal hook through their mouth, it's okay, they don't feel anything". The less complex the animals is, the less people think they are conscious. I especially observed this in zoology- and animal-physiology class.  

How will this paradigm shift happen? / what must be understood in order for it to occur?

How will this be related to our popular understanding of consciousness and ourselves?

What will be the implications for society, animals and ecology?

Since society is shifting towards Green more and more, this is going to be one of the great topics for us to deal with.

I don’t see this distinction ever going away. It’s been hundreds of thousands of years since our ancestors truly were equals, and the rest is history.

[Tim R]

1 hour ago, neutralempty said:

What do you mean? Popular understanding is just biochemical reaction and animals have those too.

True, and this popular assumption is wrong, since consciousness isn't a neurological phenomenon. 

And when we find that out we'll also have to change our relation to animal consciousness. 

[Hero in progress]

@Tim R

Luckily we as a species have people like yourself popping up all over, who can make these kinds of distinctions and to be able to articulate it also.

I would promote many people creating businesses and awareness, education ect. Veganism be the future.

[SS10]

lol humans dont even treat over races equally. Let alone animals.

[Mohammad]

@Tim R Great topic.

One of the practical ways is more interaction. I've noticed this many times, that when people have more interaction with animals, they slowly see the intelligence of nature in those animals, and in a weird way it will make humans more affectionate toward animals.

Also as others suggested, meditation or spiritual development in general would be also effective. Increased love will make us more kind and understanding, whether in our behaviors toward animals, other humans, or ourselves.

On 1/25/2021 at 5:43 PM, Preety_India said:

maybe this empathy comes from thinking that they're less powerful than humans and because we tend to think that we've a sense of power and control over them. 

Interesting Idea! Never thought of it in this manner. I myself feel more empathy toward animals than humans very often.