Veiled Humanity

To be or not to be… humans

Anthropologically speaking, we evolved from apes 2 million years ago.

And we’ve spent all that time distinguishing ourselves from our ancestors. Science and progress, whole civilisations and nations, all these and much more built on collective imagination, says Yuval Harari.

“How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Despite all that we say we are, claiming to be the most civilised beings on earth, understanding decorum and practising politeness, an animal spirit still resides within us. The desire to survive and to keep living.

Barbarism, waiting to be unleashed.

Always moving forward, looking ahead.

But do we know where we are headed? Our instincts can overpower our “sensibilities”. A constant battle within ourselves. Cloaked in layers of P’s & Q’s, we try our best to tame the wildness within. We lock the beast in a cage made of civility, guarded by rules of humanity, striving for acceptance.

But what is humanity?

Oxford Dictionary defines humanity as “human beings collectively” and also as, “the state of being human”. The definition doesn’t end there but further extends to state that “the quality of being humane; benevolence” is humanity. Thus, if Humanity, the person, bestowed humanity, the act, upon humanity, the whole, we would be a very peace-loving, non-violent species. What an idyllic picture.

Our history says otherwise.

Back to the same battle. Instinct vs sensibility.

The scorecard is heavily unbalanced.

Essentially our intelligence pushes us to question things and propels us to explore. We initially set-off to look for newer pastures, food and possibly easier life. Our survival instinct kept us alive while our curiosity brought us new experiences.

From looking for the next patch of land to exploring the planet. From mastering long-distance travel to traversing the space. Over centuries we’ve also expanded our landscape for exploration. Our ancestors believed in nature’s absolute and unexplained power. We use the same abstractness to fuel our scientific research to all known phenomena.

Our intention to understand better and know more has been both a boon and a curse. We’ve managed to learn so much and at the same time wreaked havoc- physically and emotionally. Subconsciously we always want to be in control. But mostly we are not.

Subdued fears. Whispers.

To allay those fears, we rush to possess and own things. We pretend to be in control. Even our myths stem from this fear. How many species, lives and cultures have we trodden over, just to be slightly less afraid?

Since we so strongly believe in science, maybe it is to science we should turn to for answers. And maybe we already did.

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
— Newton’s Third Law

There is poetry in that statement. And yet somehow we interpret that a shove is the right answer to a push. We’ve managed to mow down our lawn and yet leave that jagged tall fence up. Where are our rules now? Where is our “quality of being humane, our inherent benevolence”?

The point is – we are not apes. Not anymore.