The Hubris of Mankind: Our Survival Might Rely on the Secrets and techniques We Can Study From the Animals

Hubris is a Greek phrase that initially meant defiance of the gods, almost all the time leading to divine retribution. Its trendy which means is “excessive conceitedness, a mix of silly satisfaction and harmful self-confidence. It aptly describes mankind’s perspective in direction of the pure world.”

Jan Bee Landman, Editor-in-Chief, of Aftermath journal says,

We people have all the time had a massively inflated opinion of ourselves. Our means to outsmart different animals made us imagine that we have been distinctive, superior to all different beings, not certain by the legal guidelines of nature however free to do something we needed. We imagined that we have been supernatural, the middle of the universe, pinnacle of creation, darlings of our imagined gods, destined for everlasting life, partly divine and generally even completely so. This delusion of grandeur blinded us to the grave errors that marked our reign, the worst–and now seemingly deadly–error being our disregard for nature.

Prosanta Chakrabarty explores the roots of our dis-ease and calls us to reconnect with the pure world. Dr. Chakrabarty is among the world’s main consultants on ecology, evolution, and, curiously, fish. He says,

I’ve described 15 new species of fishes from virtually as many international locations and I’ve been fortunate sufficient to have labored in additional than 35 international locations doing pure historical past analysis.

He was a Program Director for the Nationwide Science Basis and is a TED Senior Fellow. He teaches one of many largest evolutionary biology courses in america the place he dispels many myths about evolution and the place of people in the neighborhood of life.

We’ve all seen photos like this one which purport to summarize the trail of evolution with trendy people being the final stage of our advance from monkey to trendy man.

In his highly effective and vital TED speak, “4 Billion Years of Evolution in Six Minutes,” Dr. Chakrabarty begins with a provocative query.

If we advanced from monkeys, why are there nonetheless monkeys?

His reply is much more stunning.

As a result of we’re not monkeys, we’re fish.

In his 5 minute and 41 second speak, he dispels some hardwired myths about evolution, encouraging us to keep in mind that we’re a small a part of a posh, four-billion-year course of, and never the tip of the road.

We’re not the objective of evolution,

Chakrabarty says.

Consider us all as younger leaves on this historic and gigantic tree of life — related by invisible branches not simply to one another, however to our extinct kinfolk and our evolutionary ancestors.

Animal Secrets and techniques: Nature’s Classes For a Lengthy and Completely happy Life

One other man with a novel perspective on human wellbeing is David B. Agus, M.D. Dr. Agus is the creator of the worldwide bestsellers The Finish of Sickness, A Quick Information to a Lengthy Life, and The Fortunate Years. He’s a professor of medication and engineering on the College of Southern California and founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Drugs.

He’s additionally the creator of the brand new ebook, Animal Secrets and techniques: Nature’s Classes for a Lengthy and Completely happy Life. There’s a fantasy that Homo sapiens (Latin: “clever man”) are the tip product of evolution. This fantasy, he believes, blinds us to the truth that reasonably than being the head of evolutionary progress, we’re a really younger, outlier, species, at risk of being blown off the tree of life like a diseased leaf except we get up and study from our elders.

Within the Introduction to Animal Secrets and techniques, Dr. Agus quotes Albert Einstein:

Look deep into nature, after which you’ll perceive all the things.

He goes on to pose a number of hopeful health-related questions:

What if, for the remainder of your life, your physique might be ten to fifteen years youthful than your beginning certificates says? What should you might safely edit your genes to keep away from getting Alzheimer’s or coronary heart illness that notoriously runs in your loved ones? What if I might guarantee you that you simply’d by no means develop most cancers or some uncommon, abominable sickness with no significant remedy? What should you might know precisely which weight loss plan and train routine to comply with to remain lean and match? What should you might keep away from ever feeling depressed, achy, foggy, and ‘previous’?

I feel most of us would pay a great deal of cash if we might get optimistic solutions to even one among these questions. We’d most likely pay much more if we didn’t have to attend in line to enroll in some high-tech scientific research testing a brand new drug that had been not too long ago found after billions of {dollars} invested by a multi-national pharmaceutical firm with a doubtful popularity.

What if we might get launched to those healthcare miracles from an skilled that lives very near us?

Seventy-eight million households in America,” say Dr. Agus, “have four-legged, fleecy relations. My household is one among them.

In his chapter, “Oh My Canine! Extra Than Man’s Greatest Good friend,” Dr. Agus offers us the primary of many tales within the ebook that gives knowledge to create a lifetime of well being from our evolutionary elders within the animal kingdom.

I grew up in a household with dysfunctional mother and father. My father had grow to be more and more confused and depressed when he couldn’t discover work. He took an overdose of sleeping capsules and was dedicated to the state psychological hospital. My mom misplaced her personal father when she was younger and had grow to be obsessive about loss of life ever since. She was satisfied she would die quickly and purchased life insurance coverage insurance policies she couldn’t afford in order that I’d have cash when she died. Once I was 5 years previous she purchased life insurance coverage insurance policies on me “so your loved ones can have cash in case you die.”

My refuge from the craziness of life was with my canine Spotty. He was playful, filled with vitality, liked me unconditionally, and was all the time prepared for romp within the yard. At night time he would sleep on the foot of my mattress. He was my buddy and companion and the one being I felt I might belief. Dr. Agus says that domesticated canines have been discovered with human teams that return a minimum of 130,000 years into our hunter-gatherer previous, lengthy earlier than we domesticated different animals like sheep, goats, and cattle.

Dr. Agus describes many ways in which canines contribute to our well being, not the least of which is their means to heal our emotional wounds.

A pet pooch,” says Dr. Agus, “offers consolation, cuddles, and unconditional love. And since canines know solely methods to dwell within the current, they may also help us all deal with the now, generally arduous to do. Even the bond we really feel once we play with our canines and luxuriate in these virtually inevitable licks is like remedy on the mind and the nervous system.

I’ve spent some huge cash on remedy in my very own life, and as a psychotherapist provided my care and help to hundreds of males, girls, and kids, however I’ve by no means forgotten the nice therapeutic that comes from animals.

There are numerous different animal secrets and techniques the great physician shares with us. These embrace head-bobbing pigeons that supply artistic methods for preserving our recollections and averting dementia, daring squirrels and pigs that harbor secrets and techniques for managing continual ache, elephants that assist unlock insights into stopping most cancers, giraffes who supply options to cardiovascular points, and plenty of animal secrets and techniques that present health-promoting knowledge we will all use.

People have been on planet Earth a relatively quick time. Our animal elders have been right here for much longer. We might do effectively to take heed to what they will educate us and cease pretending that we have now nothing to study from the animal companions who’re with us in the neighborhood of life. Because the cultural historian and spiritual scholar Thomas Berry so eloquently warned us:

We by no means knew sufficient. Nor have been we sufficiently intimate with all our cousins within the nice household of the earth. Nor might we take heed to the assorted creatures of the earth, every telling its personal story. The time has now come, nonetheless, once we will pay attention or we’ll die.

You possibly can study extra about David B. Agus, M.D. and his work right here.

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This put up was beforehand printed on menalive.com.

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Picture credit score: iStock