“‘(…) Yes, I do believe humankind holds a special place in the world. It’s the same place held by a mockingbird, in his opinion, and a salamander in whatever he has that resembles a mind of his own.
Every creature alive believes this: The center of everything is me.
Every life has its own kind of worship, I think, but do you think a salamander is worshiping some God that looks like a big two-legged man? Go on! To him, a man’s a shadowy nuisance (if anything) compared to the sacred business of finding food and a mate and making progeny to rule the mud for all times. To themselves and one another, those muddy little salamander lives mean everything'”(217).
– Prodigal Summer
This quote from Prodigal Summer (a book I recommend! Interesting…) reminded me of a book I read in high school. My teacher, a friend of mine and I discussed this subject. Our topic was more along the lines of: Our creation myth or story ends with the appearance of man. But a rabbit’s creation myth ends with the creation of the rabbit.
Point being – we’re all self-absorbed! Ta da! No… While true, that wasn’t the entire point. Simply that every animal only really knows itself and who it is. We’ll never truly understand another species, even if we sit around watching them our entire lives. We can only talk for ourselves. We have no right to say: birds think this and cats feel this. I’m so much better than them. In your mind, you’re the best. In their mind, they are.
It’s in our blood to believe that our species is everything. But I love pondering this, and how each animal feels about themselves (as an individual) and their species (as a group).
Ponder, ponder, ponder…
Think, think, think…
