Human ??

How fitting that this prompt should come up on my Birthday. At a time when good health is suspect and a moment when my psyche is feeling bloody sorry for itself.
I decide to see what comes up in photobucket when I type in the word Human. Now most people likely find the image that I fixed upon as disgusting and a very cynical view of being Human but for me I found it to be sobering, centering actually. Almost having the same effect as meditating on being dead. It reminded me of U.G Krishnamurti's proclamation that we are no more or no less then extremely intelligent animals whose main purpose is to sustain life and propagate our species. Again not a very pleasant view of our existence. The majority of us find this concept to be quite distasteful and contrary to our belief that we are put on this earth to be superior to other species, hold dominion over this spinning, circling, speeding planet. We are God's chosen, his image. We are creators in our own right. So... What does it mean to be human?

Let's imagine that I am out hiking in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains immersed in the beauty and sanctity of the forest. Heading for a little stream I know about to sit and communicate with nature when a Grizzly bear crosses my path. Homo Sapien meets Ursus arctos horribilus. I freeze and my mind begins to scramble. Do I run or lay down and curl up in a ball if he attacks? Do I back up slowly? Am I down wind? Does he smell the pastrami sandwich in my backpack? It turns out Mr Grizzly isn't interested in me today, another day I may be lunch or something to play with but today he's more interested in going to a stream he knows about to cool off and do a little fishing. Now I've just had a very real experience with an animal that some Native Americans believe to be their direct ancestors. What a knee shaking, gut wrenching, adrenalin pumping experience that should have been.


I don't think old Griz is going to go back and tell his buddies that he met this fat old white guy in the woods today but I'm positive that I'm going back and telling everybody who will listen about my experience, maybe even get a couple minutes of fame by telling the media about it. It's only Human to do so, but I should have left it there in the woods. That was all it was meant to be. Man can not be anything other then what he is and what he is, is what he experiences in the present moment.

U.G. Krishnamurti