Just being human, reason to think about 'something more'?

[Mickey_Mouse_33]

You and me as humans have been blessed with an abundance of possibilies, options and freedom. We can chose our own thoughts, are not destined to be mastered by our animal instincts and we have the power to communicate in very advanced ways, both verbal and nonverbal. We can taste tastes, see colors, hear music (The Universe be praised), make love to lovers, contemplate the totality of existence and yet the list goes on. It seems to me that other animals on planet Earth that we know of have very limited life experiences compared to us. I am not implying that they are lesser to us, life is life, but am merely pointing out what different options we have.

Having this in mind the possibility that there is something 'behind the scenes', something 'more' or simply put some funny stuff going on, seems a lot greater to me. Life as we know it might very well be a random accident, immensely beautiful and complex, or, it can be an elaborate scheme, 'a game of hide and seek', or even just a hilarious game. Death holds the definite answer, but I am in no rush to find out when I still can enjoy all of this.

Anyways, your thoughts about life?

 

[jamie]

I have lots of thoughts about life..but I wouldnt know where to begin to be honest..let along where to end.

 

[Mickey_Mouse_33]

I have lots of thoughts about life..but I wouldnt know where to begin to be honest..let along where to end.

How about just sharing something from the middle?

 

[Global]

You and me as humans have been blessed with an abundance of possibilies, options and freedom. We can chose our own thoughts, are not destined to be mastered by our animal instincts and we have the power to communicate in very advanced ways, both verbal and nonverbal. We can taste tastes, see colors, hear music (The Universe be praised), make love to lovers, contemplate the totality of existence and yet the list goes on. It seems to me that other animals on planet Earth that we know of have very limited life experiences compared to us. I am not implying that they are lesser to us, life is life, but am merely pointing out what different options we have.

Having this in mind the possibility that there is something 'behind the scenes', something 'more' or simply put some funny stuff going on, seems a lot greater to me. Life as we know it might very well be a random accident, immensely beautiful and complex, or, it can be an elaborate scheme, 'a game of hide and seek', or even just a hilarious game. Death holds the definite answer, but I am in no rush to find out when I still can enjoy all of this.

Anyways, your thoughts about life?

For some reason when we flood our brains with a marginal amount of a particular substance (DMT) we can sometimes have full-blown musical hallucinations. Oliver Sacks goes into a lengthy accounts of musical hallucinations in humans in his book "Musicophoelia". Now, if even the slightest modulation of chemicals in the brain can bring on full-blown musical hallucinations, and we can make no absolute claims of what it is that an animal (or any other being for that matter) experiences internally, then who is to say that there might not be some animals who may have spontaneous musical hallucinations. Maybe after almost getting eaten alive by a lion, a gazelle, just barely having escaped hears odd music in the air - the gazelle knows not why, but hears it nevertheless. Something I've become about which I've become convinced through my use of DMT is that it can use elements and sensations that are both familiar in every day life as well as those that are utterly foreign and alien. Both futuristic elements of the unknown as well as elements of the natural world including flora, fauna, etc...can be experienced, so even if music is not part of that animal's everyday experience, perhaps it is nevertheless accessible through certain mind states of which we would be relatively unaware.

Another thing to consider is that while animals do in fact have a seemingly more limited range of "activities" or options or what have you, this may not reflect on their contentment at all. It has always been rather surprising to me how pets (particularly cats and dogs) never seem to get all too tired or bored with whatever medial game you play with them day after day. A cat that is once entranced by yarn will likely always be entranced by yarn. Baby humans as well seem to be rather similar; you can play peek-a-boo a million times, and they don't seem to get too tired of it until they move on to a more developed phase in life. I think it is the fact that we've had so many different experiences coupled with our knowledge to freely remember and associate them with pleasure and therefore become attached to those experiences that is our downfall. For a being with limited experience, there is little room to imagine there could be all that more. I sort of got off track, but the point I wanted to make was that with such an authentically simple life as some animals seem to have from their low attachment to anything other than kin (and for some animals, that doesn't even go too far) and owners (in the case of domesticated animals) allows them to live a life happily. If you're a domesticated animal, you've got it pretty easy cause you don't have to worry about survival or food, and if you're a wild animal, since that will be preoccupying much of your time, there is little room for speculating on how great things could be or what you'd much rather be doing right now.