There is a general belief that exists among humans:
We are something more. We are something better. We are something special.
We have unique capabilities that absolutely set us apart from the animal kingdom; our ability to innovate, problem solve and use tools to our advantage. The ability to communicate with one another in one of the most complex ways in nature. The immense privilege of self-awareness and of being able to logically and accurately make decisions based on the data in front of us, which makes us personally responsible for every decision we make, as we make those decisions consciously.
And, we can make some badass art as well.
It is when things seem to be going sideways that we start questioning if we really have all the conscious control we believe we have. Sometimes—many times— we find ourselves asking the ultimate human question:
“Why the hell did I do that?”
To those of us that are not afraid to seek the answers (and to those who are terrified but still do) it becomes a pretty straightforward and simple one: we are driven by forces that we are often unaware of, by the same instincts that most other animals in the kingdom possess, and by the same natural necessities that are designed to keep our kind alive and growing.
When this concept is proposed to someone that has avoided its consideration, we are met with severe push back, especially of the religious kind. There is no way that we should be taking the responsibility away from us and excusing some of our behaviors through unintentional and instinctive ways. We are created in God’s image and so we are free and able to decide to do what we decide to do in every single situation freely and responsibly. Everything else is, of course, poppycock; myths designed to take away man further and further from God.
The big problem with that belief is that it makes us ignore our true nature. And when we ignore the stuff that we are really made of, then the chances we have of molding and shaping ourselves for the better become almost impossible. Its like trying to do surgery on a person with screwdrivers and wrenches made for mechanic work. You might get lucky one or twice and find a comparable use in humans, but most of the time you are simply running into a dead end, which then results in what we see everywhere today:
The infinite range of excuses utilized to defend human behavior.
