I am currently helping take care of some tropical fish (such as angelfish, rainbow cichlids, parrotfish). Nature red in tooth and claw indeed! Aggressive, territorial... unpleasant animals. Pleasant to look at, though.
That got me thinking about a previous post of mine titled Dolphins as Persons. Yes, dolphins are very intelligent animals, and like another intelligent species they are set apart by cruel behavior that less clever animals don't seem capable of. Sexual aggression of males against females is particularly disturbing, as is killing for the sake of killing, since these are behaviors that seem to spring simply from sadistic feelings rather than having some evolutionary justification -- also much like another intelligent species I can think of.
Information on this less savory side of dolphins isn't difficult to find. You could start with this brief Slate article from 2009.
A more closely related intelligent-and-sadistic species is the common chimpanzee. Natural is not always good, at least from a human point of view. And what does it mean to "be in touch with nature"? If it means to be in touch with our human nature... humans may have a much more pliable nature and instincts than other animals, but what does that mean for a Pagan? To surrender ourselves to our animal nature is often a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing as well. Addictions, for example; not just for drugs but for food or sex or other behaviors. To "act naturally" is often to to debase rather than elevate ourselves. Again: what does it really mean for a Pagan to be "in touch with nature"?
Anyway, I'm rambling now and getting off topic: I will follow up these thoughts with a post later on how old Paganism differed from today's variety, via a couple passages from Marcus Aurelius.
No comments:
Post a Comment