I’m realizing that for me, for many of us, the richness and most rewarding aspect of writing is the internal / psychological journey that it can take us on.

If we walk through the life of our story in the shoes of our characters, and see their world (a world which we created) through their eyes; we also allow them (and ourselves) to see our world through our eyes.

As a result: “Fiction” is never purely fiction; “reality” becomes more than a 3 dimensional experience; and life becomes the journey that it should be.

“Love” is the only word in the English language that has a different definition for each and every one of us.

“Love” is also the only word whose definition can be both perpetual, and ever-changing.

The love you have for someone or something is permanent. Once you give love to, or receive love from others it can not be taken back or given back, regardless of the circumstances under which it was given or received.

That’s why love is our most precious gift.

Today’s love, and yesterday’s love are permanent, but that doesn’t restrict us from changing or expanding our definition of love tomorrow.

If you love someone today, you don’t neccessarily have to love them tomorrow.

If you don’t particularly care for someone or something today, that doesn’t mean you can’t love them tomorrow.

You may even decide that your feelings or acts of the past were those of love, even if you didn’t recognize love in the moment. You can always love; even retroactively. But, you can never revoke love given in the past.

Love is life’s greatest pleasure.

Love is life’s greatest pain.

Treasure it in the present, in memory, and in anticipation of its future return and the pleasure will far outweigh the pain.

If we learn to embrace both love’s permanence and it’s flexibility, we’ve learned one of life’s most important lessons.

But, there is one more lesson, and for many of us it’s the most powerful and important of all: Often our definition of love changes subconsciously. We don’t even realize that it is happening, or has happened.

If you think that you’ve forgotten love’s definition, take heart.

Love is still with you.

You just haven’t discovered its new definition yet.

#love #loveis

I think that any discussion related to the fundemental principles of life, existence, the meaning of life, etc., etc., should start with a closer look at what it means to be human.

Humans are animals.

By this I mean we are not elements (like hydrogen or carbon) and we are not plants (like moss or a dandelion).

Humans are animals.

All animals think. With thinking, comes memory.

All animals are capable of thought. Plants might think too. But, I can’t go there now. Let’s focus on the animal kingdom and the question of (if there is a question) whether we humans are animals, and not some higher being.

My dog Archie can think. He can be very creative in his quests for treats. He also remembers which methods were successful in the past, and which methods were not.

The same can be said for Oreo and Snowball, our Guinea Pigs. Once they learned that the cute little squeaking noise that they are capable of making brought us running with treats, they started making that noise every time we passed by their home.

The guppies in the fish tank all school at the surface of the water for much of the same reason.

All animals think. With thinking, comes memory.

Human beings are animals. We are not alone in our ability to think, or to remember. All animals think and are capable of memory.

#existence #human #philosophy

Animals dream when they sleep.

Humans are not the only animals that dream.

My dog Archie dreams. His legs twitch and he barks as he chases dream squirrels.

My research is thin in this area but, I can say that every dog I've ever lived with has dreamed.

I'm going to take a bit of a leap and assume that there is nothing special about the canine brain in regard to the ability to dream.

Animals dream when they sleep.

Animals feel and express emotions.

Fear is an essential emotion for the survival of many species of animals.

Oreo and Snowball demonstrate fear daily. They boldly step forward to accept slices of apple that I give them. But, they immediately run for the cave when I attempt to pick them up.

Guinea Pigs express joy and sorrow as well. They express their fear, joy, and sorrow through a language of chirps purs, and squeals.

Animals feel and express emotions.

Animals communicate within their own species, and to other species using language.

I will rely on my previous Guinea Pig language example here. We can add the wagging tail of the dog and the dog's bark as examples of cross-species communication.

Animals communicate within their own species, and to other species using language.

Each living creature is unique and free-thinking. Each has its own animality.

Though animals form flocks, packs, Schools, and herds for protection, survival of the species, and presumably the desire not to be alone; each individual animal has its own thoughts and reaction to stimuli when approached individually.

My daughter has taken up horse-back riding. She can tell you the disposition of every horse in the stable.

Each living creature is unique and free-thinking. Each has its own animality.

Based on the above, we humans should feel at home within the animal kingdom.

Other animals (perhaps all) share our ability to dream, feel / share emotions, and communicate with each other. Animals communicate with species other than their own (Including the human species).

Though all animal species have inherent traits and instincts, each individual animal has its own individual ability to respond to stimuli and its own disposition, or animality.

#Existence #human #philosophy

All animals have physical senses by which we perceive our surroundings. We use those senses to our benefit: To find food, avoid danger, and to survive.

Though the abilities of various species to see, hear, and smell varies greatly; We all use our physical senses to gather information about our surroundings.

Sharks have an amazing sense of smell! They can sense a few drops of blood in the water from great distances. They use that information to find food.

All animals have physical senses by which we perceive our surroundings. We use those senses to our benefit: To find food, avoid danger, and to survive.

There are many animals that have physical senses that are far superior to those of the human animal.

In addition to the shark example above I’ll add:

Birds of prey have incredible long distance eyesight. They can see the tiniest prey from high in the sky.

Dogs have both a sense of hearing and smell that are far superior to the senses of humans.

There are many animals that have physical senses that are far superior to those of the human animal.

Other animals (but not all) fear humans, but other animals do not revere humans.

Many animals fear humans, as they would fear any predator. This fear is not universal throughout the animal kingdom. The polar bear will actively hunt humans.

Swim with the crocodiles, and we will quickly become meat.

Because of our superior intellect we often, egotistically, set ourselves above all other animals. That reverence is not shared by the other members of the animal kingdom.

Other animals (but not all) fear humans, but other animals do not revere humans.

Through our superior intellect we have the privilege of considering ourselves superior to all of the other animals. However, there are plenty of examples from within the animal kingdom of animals that have physical senses and abilities that are far, far superior to our own physical capabilities.

Egotistically, many of us humans revere ourselves and place our species on a pedestal high above the other members of the animal kingdom.

Other members of the animal kingdom do not share our reverence for the human species.

We are easily defeated in a multitude of circumstances where intellect is not a factor.

#Existence

So far I have talked about humans as part of the animal kingdom, and the many commonalities between humans and other animals.

If we accept that humans are part of the animal kingdom; If we agree that we are not physically different in ways that would cause us to consider ourselves higher beings; Then, the next step is to examine how we differ from other animals.

I'm assuming that we all agree on this one:

Humans are the most intelligent members of the animal kingdom.

Intelligence comes at a price. With intelligence, comes curiosity. With curiosity, comes anxiety (when we encounter things that we can not understand):

Other animals instinctually take precautions to avoid death. Oreo and Snowball still think that I intend to eat them. They scurry for cover as soon as I approach, even though I've given them countless slices of apple.

But, I don't think that they spend a whole lot of time worrying about the actual event of their death, and what is to follow.

Humans are conscious of our own mortality.

Humans spend a great deal of their time seeking the answers to seemingly unanswerable quesitons:

- What is the meaning of life?

- Is there life after death?

- Is there a higher being (God)?

Humans seek answers to existencial questions.

We conduct research, we experiment, and we explore to further our knowledge. We know a great deal about the scientific basis of existence, the building blocks of life, reproduction, cloning, etc.

Humans have science.

We have used huge telescopes to see far away planets and stars.

Here are a couple of stunning facts from our own solar system:

Our sun is about 1,000,000 times the size of earth.

Mars, our neighbor in the solar system, is over 99 million miles away from earth.

Our solar system is just one, of many within our galaxy. There are countless galaxies in the universe.

Humans have some basic comprehension of the incomprehensible vastness of the universe.

I bit off a great big chunk in this chapter!

Here's the executive summary:

Humans often forget that we are animals. Reminder: We are simply highly intelligent apes!

Our intellect comes at a price though. We become aware of our own mortality at an early age. From that point forward, much of our life is spent worrying about death, wondering about what will happen to us after we die, and doing what we can to postpone our death as long as possible.

When we're not worrying ourselves to death, many of us are learning. We are either learning skills, life's lessons, or learning about our world, or our universe.

Our superior intellect can often give a false sense of superiority.

However, the more that we learn, the more we realize how insignificant we are. We learn that our planet is just a tiny speck of dust within our gallaxy, and that our gallaxy is one of countless galaxies in the universe!