The Human/Nature Boundary

Near the end of class today we began to talk about the division of humans and animals in the context of Werner Herzog’s film, Grizzly Man. I found the discussion interesting, but there was one particular aspect of the human/nature barrier that I wanted to explore in greater depth.

During class on Wednesday we mentioned the emergence of religion as a human institution. For me, it doesn’t make sense to view religion (at least as we understand it) as a static institution that has always existed. Religion, as a social force, is constantly changing and evolving. This means that religion probably developed simultaneously with symbolic and increasingly sentient intelligence. Why is it that humans in all parts of the world have religious systems? Furthermore, why are so many of the major world religions focused on addressing similar concepts (i.e. appropriate moral actions, purpose of existence, what happens after death). The purpose of this blog entry is not to propose an answer for these questions, but I would like to present a few personal ideas that our discussion prompted.

When we were talking about the separation of humanity from nature, I realized that our self-aware cognitive abilities are really the basis for the human/nature division. Animals, although they form spatial and social boundaries (i.e. marking territory or creating social hierarchies), are not self-aware to the point of personal introspection. Unlike animals, humans are capable of interpreting experiences into cogent ideas, and we are capable of analyzing the nature of existence because of these thoughts. Thus, the separation that we perceive between the natural world and ourselves actually does exist, although it is essentially a byproduct of our minds.

To apply this idea to the film we watched today, we briefly mentioned that Timothy Treadwell may have been looking for a meaning in his existence, but this search for purpose in life is certainly not unique to Treadwell. Humans, as self-aware creatures, are rationally inclined to seek out purpose and meaning in life. To paraphrase Blaise Pascal, all humans are born with a god-shaped vacuum in their heart. This, in part, is why I believe that religion is prevalent worldwide; with conscious thought came the deep-seated urge to explain what we are incapable of understanding. Religion can provide answers, structure, direction, and comfort to an existence that can be cruel and seemingly nonsensical at times.