Just a Thought
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sat 6 Oct 2018 00:39
As we spent the night together I began to wonder what we had in common, apart from a shared roost. It occurred to me that it was rather a lot. For a start we are made of the same things. In both our cases the same elemental particles that are the fundamental building blocks of all matter that we know of have come together to form the particles that make up the atoms, that in turn make up the molecules - mainly proteins - that we are both made of. That this should be the case is no coincidence. The Red Footed Booby and we share a common ancestor along with every other creature on earth. We are family. Over millions of years the successors of our common ancestor gradually developed in differing ways, exploiting the different habitats and conditions they encountered, with some astounding events along the way such as the simple cell and mitochondria coming together to allow the formation of the complex cell that in turn allowed the development of complex cellular structures. Richard Dawkins, Adam Rutherford and many others make for wonderful reading on this subject.
So, my distant cousin and I were sharing a roost and I at least was thinking about that. What was the Booby thinking, if anything? I find it impossible to imagine what it must be like to think about anything in the absence of language. Some believe language to be fundamental to the development of human consciousness and self awareness. Umberto Ecco has a lot to say about this and if you fancy something really impenetrable try “Kant and the Platypus”. My booby friend will squawk to attract the attention of his or her mate, in response to fear or irritation, to warn others to keep away and so on but it seems to me that hardly amounts to a language. But, like us it will, as I understand it, experience emotions that have no need for language such as hunger or fear. We know that other mammals grieve such as the killer whale that recently carried its dead calf with it for a month or elephants in response to a bereavement. Whether this grieving is more than just a sense of loss I don't know but it seems to me there is no distinct dividing line between human consciousness and that of other creatures. After all dolphins have both language and self awareness, as do great apes.
Anyway, back to my cousin. He or she has better eyesight than me and an innate spacial awareness that, perhaps combined with other senses that we don't possess, allows he or she to fly and navigate over hundreds of miles, know the time of day and time of year and to know his or her mate when they meet up after each year apart. Most nights at sea there is nowhere to roost except on the water and yet when Vega heaves into view it knows that it can roost there and preen clear of the briney. So there must be something going on inside its bonce short of thoughtful articulation.
And at this point I realise how lucky I am; how lucky all human beings are. I sometimes wonder why I am experiencing my life now. Why not at some point in the past or in the future? Maybe I have in the past but there is no mechanism for prolonging the memory. More likely every life is unique, a one off never to be repeated. It just so happens that the combination of atoms, molecules, proteins and genes that is me is unique and so is everyone else’s and every creature that has ever lived. We get just one shot at life and the fact that it is now, and as me, is ever more wonderful the more I can understand the amazing history of life and the complexity of the interactions going on to make it possible.
It is human consciousness that allows us to cogitate on our existence. This can of course be a burden which is the premise of every Shakespeare play and the musings of philosophers throughout the ages. Some find the burden of not understanding “why” we are here intolerable and invent divine or religious explanations that then create a tyranny far worse than simple ignorance of the origins of life and of the evolutionary process that has led to us. “Faith” is a tyranny of the closed mind and blinds adherents to the real beauty of life.
I am so grateful to be living life as me. In true stoical fashion I try to enjoy every precious moment. To be floating around the world seeing others living their lives is the most amazing privilege. Few have this opportunity. I can also see how we in the industrialised world are destroying our planet. I can see the diminished life in the oceans; I can see the plastic waste in the water and on every remote island we have been to; I experience the changing weather patterns and can see the increasing frequency and magnitude of cyclones and hurricanes; I have seen the impact of rising sea levels (one islander was acutely aware of global warming and pointed out how far up the beach he now has to stack his copra before loading it onto his boat). I have seen how one can lead a more simple but content life but have also seen grinding poverty and resentment cheek by jowl with ostentatious wealth. I have seen the impact of our history in the former colonies and protectorates and seen the extent of tax avoidance under the British flag.
My point is this. All life is unique and amazing. It is not divine, created or a precursor to heaven or hell. It is the product of the most wonderful natural process. Human consciousness allows us to appreciate this and to go beyond the Darwinian precept of “red in tooth and claw” or “survival of the fittest”. We can recognise that we all get just one shot at this life. We can either act in self interest to further our lot or we can work together to try and make the world a better place for everyone. We may disagree about how best to do this but if there was a greater sense of common humanity this might better direct our ethics, politics and economics.
Ps Annie and I are this morning sitting in the cafe at the marina where I have just finished writing the above. On the next table but one were an Australian and American loudly rejoicing the election of Donal Trump and the fact that they were now free to speak openly and honestly without the liberal establishment suppressing their views. Amongst other things the American was caustically critical of native Americans who had had the temerity to resist their land being overrun by the superior white settlers, who not only killed each other but had actually killed whites as part of their armed resistance, had failed to adopt the superior western values imposed upon them and had become drunken degenerates. The Australian was equally critical of the Aboriginals who (despite having their lands taken, 30,000 years of culture destroyed and being treated no better than farm animals) were also drunken degenerates with the added debauchery of being child molesters. According to the American, Trump has been more effective so far in getting things done than Obama was in two terms of office. Careful consideration and understanding by these two would, you might hope, have prevented this level of ignorance and bigotry. How should we respond when hearing such views?