MIke, That we are able to "transcend base instincts" and animals aren't is an illusion. Animals very often alter their initial instinctual behavior in the presence of good reasons to do so. That's exactly the same mechanism that cause humans to alter their initial instinctual behaviors.
The dog doesn't do 'bad' things it would instinctually want to do because of the disapproval of its master. Humans don't do instinctual things they might naturally do because of the consequences they anticipate. Exactly same mechanism that holds throughout the animal kingdom. All animals alter their instinctual behavior in the face of perceived negative consequences of it. Same mechanism humans follow... Edgar On Jun 23, 2013, at 8:02 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Merle,<br/><br/>> you seem to have it in for animals, insects > etc.<br/><br/>Don't put words into my mouth that were never there!<br/><br/>I > was careful to point out in my earlier post that we are *not* superior to > other animals, just unique in our ability to transcend base instincts. > Constantly giving me examples of the terrible things humans do to each other, > other animals and the environment does *not* constitute an argument against > this premise. Human beings have the sense of sight. To keep bringing up > examples of blind people you know doesn't negate the first > point.<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
