The Animal in Man

The longer I study psychology in the academic sense, the more it occurs to me that it is a science largely interested in drawing distinctions between human and animal intelligence. As if some level of separation were egotistically necessary. I have yet to encounter a psychology textbook that isn't saturated with the statement: "unlike animals." We seem to have this base need to believe that we are somehow vastly apart from the rest of Earth's creatures, existing outside the dirty sweet soil of the natural world.

Let's for the sake of discussion assume that this is true, and we are on a separate evolutionary track destined for intellectual grandeur. Because when we seek to identify our so-called advantage, (thumbs aside) it is our brain, and therefore our ability to create, imagine, and intuit. We should, by all reasonable means then, be interested in the advancement of human thought, and applaud progressive ideas. We should be rewarding those who display the courage to go against the grain and speak out. Additionally, there should be more of us interested in doing just that! However that is not the case. We, as a thinking species are largely conservative, regressive even, and we do not reward radical minds until centuries after their passing when their words are no longer frighteningly relevant.

While browsing through this months PBS program guide, I stumbled across an entry that really helped to solidify this concept. It looked a little something like this:

Walt Whitman

He is one of the most-recognized figures in American literary history; poet, patriot and faithful advocate of democracy. But in his own time, critics denounced Walt Whitman as a "lunatic raving in pitiable delirium." They pronounced his signature book of poetry, Leaves of Grass, "slimy," "vile," and "beastly."

But this is not a sentiment reserved for dear old Walt. This is an indoctrinated social stance that is carefully cultivated by the same uber-conservative elements responsible for such things as book burnings, the pledge of allegiance, and Sunday school.

On the one hand, we use this notion of advanced free thought as a measuring stick capable of putting some space between ourselves and the beasts. Yet, the hidden reality is that many of us don't want the responsibility inherent to free thought. What we secretly want is to be told what to do. We want someone else to manage our lives and make our decisions for us. And in this sense, we ironically have gained no separation. We are merely sheep.