What separates man from the rest of the animal kingdom?

Who was Joseph Campbell? What is a myth? What does "Follow Your Bliss" mean? If you are new to the work of Joseph Campbell, this forum is a good place to start.

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Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

CarmelaBear wrote:I wonder if apes show signs of understanding their own mortality, because they most certainly experience and express clear signs of interpersonal emotional attachment and profound grief over the loss of another with whom they have formed a strong bond.~
I am not sure CB if they experience profound grief. If that was the case then the need for rites would be necessary. Tbh, I think, they experience confusion but I don't think they understand mortality the same way we do. Not to mention that animals feel no shame for their nakedness, that is a totally a human thing.

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Post by Sitting Owl »

I agree with you there Andreas, you only have to see in 'Mythos I' Episode 3 'On Being Human', when the mother of a dead infant carries it around for a few days (out of confusion) and then goes away and comes back without it, but only after it started to rot and smell, that the chimps, like all animals, only live out of their cellular memory and instincts.
It is because we humans have higher faculties that we can bypass or misunderstand instinct that we need to have the rights of passage built into our social system.
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CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Our hubris as a species has changed the climate for all species. Not impressive. Our species killed millions upon millions in the twentieth century. We invented a way to destroy most life on earth in flames and disease. Maybe superior judgment will evolve later on, after life on the planet is reduced.

I'll give us credit for two things. Our species breeds with great enthusiasm and we have developed a set of narratives to deny (or celebrate?!!) our sadistic and suicidally predatory tendencies.

:roll:
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

Good example Sitting Owl.

I agree with you Carmela also. About human hubris.

Edit: I was repeating myself. I deleted part of my post. :P

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

You don't have to check out other species to observe wild differences. There are functions we perform that go bye-bye with any number of body-altering conditions. Other species are far ahead of us in ways we tend to overlook.

Although we are remarkable in our own inimitable way, I find it somewhat ironic that cockroaches and comet-borne microorganisms may survive us. The habitat we are destroying will surely come back to life over time.

:arrow:
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by romansh »

zoe wrote:
What separates mankind from the rest of the animal kingdom?
Our imagination.
Agreed our minds allow us to imagine we are different so it is...........................

Nothing
I forgot to add ... trousers
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel, "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

:lol:
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

romansh
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Post by romansh »

CarmelaBear wrote:I find it somewhat ironic that cockroaches and comet-borne microorganisms may survive us.
The interesing thing is ... even if there will be no global catastrophe ... manmade or otherwise, mankind will become extinct ... If all goes "well" in a million years some future archeologist will be digging up skulls of homo sapiens and trying to find the right spot for us in the evolutionary tree.
Last edited by romansh on Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"That's right!" shouted Vroomfondel, "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Humans can be distracted from what is most important by one thing: spoken language. It crowds our brains and removes the senses we need to open a portal to what scientists call the "unified field" and the Buddhists call "Nirvana" and Christians call "Heaven".

We are confused by death, and we organize our experience with tales and rituals and art.

I hope our ways help us understand our evolving responsibilities toward the nature we exploit with such carefree abandon. Without balance, I can only wonder about our place in the world we are presently attempting to dominate.

~
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

A self-conscious aside. I worry that I sound too dogmatic and mean and judgmental about our species. Somehow, that concern doesn't stop me. I have become like the strict teachers and judges who frighten me into invisible silence.

No wonder people sometimes learn to hate school, law, ethics and nature. They bring us to heel as if we were reduced to nothingness. Campbell saw nature as killing and more killing. No ethics. Just eating.

~
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by Sitting Owl »

That's right WorryBear, if I remember correctly he said: "The essence of life is the killing and eating of itself.", but it is the enactment of the rituals of Myth that wipe out the guilt. Which again brings me back the rites of passage that can fix the pickle we are in. However there is no need to worry as we are getting ever so much closer to that crescendo that Joseph spoke of in 'The Masks of God'. There are many of us that are awake and yet have experienced death like the shamans of old and are not afraid of it. Very soon man's madness will end; the corrupt corporate governments and banksters days of keeping us enslaved is very near the end and the enlightened ones are lighting the way for all. All the masses have to do now is let go of their fears, open up to truth that is in their heart and is being spoken by the enlightened ones. A good grounding in Joseph's work is a good start.
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CarmelaBear
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Post by CarmelaBear »

Now, I'm worried about worrying.

:lol:
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Sitting Owl
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Post by Sitting Owl »

:lol: Don't worry, be happy :lol:
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Post by Orangevalkyrie »

Just thought I'd chime in. Some studies were done with children and apes showing a preference of children cooperating more often than apes to get a mutual goal accomplished. Can't find a link to that study, of course, lol.

I did manage to find this one from NOVA about a small portion of our brain that is used to "read minds".

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/what- ... human.html

There is just not enough information to really answer this question currently in my opinion. But it's fun to theorize! :-)

Andreas
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Post by Andreas »

Hey Orange and welcome.

Interesting. Yeah,I'll agree that there is not enough information to answer the question. That being said check out this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytmt-plowOE

:lol:

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