I am neither optimistic, nor disproportionately pessimistic with regards to humanity. I feel as equally put off by the cruelty, short-sightedness, and intolerance of much of the species, as I am by its penchant for the smug, self-congratulatory glorification of its ‘humanity.’ Such thinking is understandable, but is ultimately nothing more than kitschy, human-centric conceit at its gaudiest; a manner of glossing over the facts, elevating humanity to a status above that of the rest of the planet, and masking the fact that we are nothing more interesting than a differently evolved species of animal and made of the same components. We are so imaginative that we have even written our superiority into our ‘holy’ books and our histories, solidifying our dominion over the earth (perhaps because we doubt it on some primordial level?).
There have always been difficulties. This particular moment in time is no more or less difficult than any other in human history. It seems that it is the unavoidable curse of each generation of humans to suppose that their particular era is in some manner worse than those which came before it. In youth I was as guilty of this as anyone.
My own subjective world view disallows human-centric thought, insomuch as I can consciously avoid it. Whatever else may be true, the only immediate threats posed to humanity, are those whose cause can ultimately be traced by to the human animal itself. I am hopeful (perhaps foolishly so) that we can learn to overcome the smug conceit of our ‘humanity’ and stop focusing solely on isolated, active acts of kindness (generally quite limited and species-specific, or perhaps extended to our ‘pets’) and instead learn to embrace a more all-inclusive sort of compassion, one extended to all species; a passive, graceful, paradigm shift. If, for example, we can learn to curb our growth, to downsize, and live with the planet instead of subjugating and polluting it. To share. To become leavers instead of takers, as Daniel Quinn so eloquently put forward.
For me, there is little hope for true optimism, until, and unless, we abandon humanistic thinking, or at least broaden its scope into a sort of everythingist mode of thought.
So I thought this one up on the spot, hope it is okay..
