Human Separation from Nature

We gained our separation from the animal world, or our ascendance to the top of the Life pyramid, through the development of our mind.  Very specifically, this was accomplished by the acquisition of speech and the cognitive skills derived from it.  We are aware of our mind and the consciousness we experience, but how does our consciousness differ from that of animals? 

The feature that most distinctly separates humans from animals is language.  Humans have a complex speech pattern and ability to hear and receive meaning in the spoken word.  Some animals are also able to verbally converse with one another.  Elephants, monkeys, dolphins and birds, among others, are able to distinguish the sounds made by other animals – especially those of their own species.  Pet owners also know that dogs can distinguish some human words.  However, no animals come close to communicating verbally in the same manner as humans. 

Because animals do not have speech, they cannot have thoughts in the same sense that humans do.  Animals can’t think the way humans do.  Humans have a rich speech pattern that enables us to think inside our heads.  Animals cannot possibly have thoughts in their head the way that we do.  They are not able to communicate verbally the way that we do and therefore cannot think such thoughts in their head.

Since animals do not have speech, and cannot think in the manner that we do, they also cannot have the highly developed skills of deduction and logic that are cognitively based upon the sense of hearing and language.  Language and the thinking skills based upon language are what most clearly differentiate humans from animals.

Thinking is a very large part of our consciousness, therefore consciousness must feel very different to animals.   Animals can only be aware; thoughts are not part of their consciousness.  We humans can be both aware and think.  Or, as stated by Gerald Edelman MD, PhD, we are aware that we are aware.  Through introspection about our consciousness, we can be aware that we are aware.  This is our left brain being aware of the right brain awareness.  Our left brain can verbalize and have thoughts; the right brain cannot. 

When humans emerged from Nature, we emerged from a vision-based world that we shared with animals.  Certainly sounds were important, but not nearly as important as vision in establishing the reality of the world around us.  The sense of vision was essential for all navigation within the environment, and for identifying all of the essentials for living and survival such as finding food, avoiding danger, and identifying a mate. The left brain thoughts of humans became mapped on top of the right brain world from which we came; and which had previously completely represented the reality of the world in which we had always survived.  The thoughts came from within – they came from and represented the “self” from the right brain.  The left brain awareness of the right brain awareness of “self”, has become the human ego.  Animals don’t have an ego, they only have an awareness of “self”.

Figure. The mapping of the left brain thinking (“Ego”) on top of the right brain concept of “Self”.  The deepest sense of “self” comes from the non-verbal and visually based cognition.  Our thinking “ego” is the verbal overlay on the pre-existing visual sense of “self”.

The Story of Adam and Eve

It is tempting to think of the “moment” when humans first developed thinking ability and our advanced human ego.  Of course, it must have happened over a long period of time instead of instantly.  We also have very little hard evidence to document events at the time of our separation from the animals. However, we have the famous story of Adam and Eve which provides a description of human separation from the animal world. It is a description of the development of language and thinking.

The story of Adam and Eve has almost certainly been passed down to us from as far back into our history as oral tradition extends and the earliest writers could record.  Many human cultures have long histories of verbal tales that are passed from generation to generation.  Chinese and Polynesian peoples have passed chants along many generations, often chronicling and adding an individual from each generation.  This is also evident in the New Testament where lineage is documented as a long listing of people each of whom “begat” the next.  It is also likely that the early Greek writings were written from long-standing chants passed down from earlier times.  The story of Adam and Eve certainly originated long ago – when we were considerably closer to our roots than we are today.  It is likely a tale that lingered in the folklore of human civilization at the time of some of the first writers.

The story of Adam and Eve, perhaps the oldest coming from our past, seems incredibly insightful about the development of our thinking mind and our emergence from Nature.  

The story of Adam and Eve begins in the Garden of Eden, where we are at one with nature.  There are two named trees in the garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We can eat freely from the Tree of Life.  At this point, we are harmonious with nature in a visually based world without words.  Up until this point in time we have not developed thinking ability or human ego and do not see ourselves as separate from the environment around us.  This was almost certainly the state of living things prior to development of human speech.  Adam could eat freely from the Tree of Life and continue to be in harmony with and a part of nature.  He could walk without clothes and not be ashamed – he could not “think” about the fact he was naked.  In nature, prior to thinking and human ego, there was no judgment of good or bad.  In nature, everything just exists.  Thinking and human ego must be present in order to make judgment. 

Before thinking and human ego, we were harmonious with nature and lived freely, equally and non-judgmentally with all other living things.

When we were part of nature, we did not make judgments between good and bad.  However, as soon as we ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we separated ourselves from nature.  Prior to the development of human ego (i.e. eating the fruit) there was no right or wrong.  There is no right or wrong in nature – things just are.

Only humans are able to think and therefore to judge – and this is a major attribute that separates us from the animals.  Development of judgment coincided with development of human thinking consciousness and ego.  The ability to judge, or the Knowledge of Good and Evil which we obtained by eating the fruit, is a trait that gave us the ability of God:   “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil”, Gen 3: 22.

And, what is the penalty that comes along with this God-like Knowledge of Good and Evil (or ability to Judge)? It is death!

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17.

The creatures in nature do not have thinking consciousness or ego – hence they do not understand or fear death.  Life just IS.  Animals will do everything possible to avoid death because of the survival instinct, but they do not know that they will die some day and they cannot think about it.  Humans fear death because we have thinking ability and an ego that separates us from nature.  Our thinking ability and human ego are so strong that they necessarily lead us to a knowledge that we will die.  The knowledge that we will die is terrifying to our ego, because our ego feels so palpable and permanent to us.

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Gen. 3:7.

“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever:  Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life.” Gen 3: 22-24.

In nature there is little concept of life and death.  Living things just exist – without human ego there is no sense of a beginning or end to life.  Life just is.  When in the Garden of Eden, we could eat freely of the Tree of Life.  But when we developed thinking and human ego we became separated from nature.  We could no longer eat of the Tree of Life – we became aware of our own mortality and were forevermore banned from experiencing life without death.  Life was no longer harmonious.

Interestingly, in the Story of Adam and Eve, God keeps the secret to life (the Tree of Life).  We were once a harmonious part of nature and life, but when we acquired the knowledge of good and evil, we no longer could be part of the “way of the Tree of Life”. Even today, the origins and meaning of life are our greatest mysteries.
The tale of Adam and Eve seems very insightful; however we must accept the fact that it is an allegory.  The allegory focuses on a particular moment when Man became separated from Nature – when in fact the transformation occurred over a relatively longer period of time. 

The story of Adam and Eve is part of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings.