NCR: Do you sense your senses? 1

From: "fmn" <fmniganmu@ALPHA.LINKSERVE.COM>
To: <CREED-DISCUSS@WINDUPLIST.COM>
Date: Wed
23 May 2001 20:02:50 -0700

Hey Jim!
this is a late response to one of your messages, sorry about that, wanted my response to be p-r-e-c-i-s-e and concise (love that word, "concise" btw, learned it from Creed.. like literally 'learned' cause I didn't know it before) and waited until I had time to answer you..
oh, ok I get it now - with the semi-automatic quotes
concerning the point you've made here: <<Since I see more in animal actions than simply I want to eat. I see jealosy and the need to interact with other beings. So I can't see why man would have the exclusive on a "soul">>
well, the interaction part is not a real argument because animals have to interact with each other - it's just easier to live in a group and when you live in a group you have to interact. Moreover, their behavior (the way I see it) is simply based on instincs and reflexes - so there's no real intelligence behind it - wooohooo.. have to be careful what I say - what I mean by intelligence is -- as the definition (having a lot to do with definitions lately anyway) says: 'inter'- (latin: between, among) '-legere' (latin: read), which makes out of inter-legere (=intelligence): to read between the lines, to have an INSIGHT - where have I picked up this insight aspect? hehe, Jackson.. ;-)
well, I don't think animals possess a soul because their actions are determined by the basic drives, namely the sexual, the.. ehmm.. I forgot the word.. well, hunger and thirst and the survival drive. We, being a bit of animals ourselves, are also driven by those urges, but the difference resides in the fact that we can reflect upon our behavior and control those insticts. We can shape our lives whereas the animals do not have any influence whatsoever as to how to live their lives.
I've got a cool quote on this: "Conquer thyself. Till thou hast done this, thou art but a slave for it is almost as well to be subjected to another's appetite as to thine own." (Robert Burton/ 17th century) What do you say to this? I agree completely.
And as for the word "soul" - I consider the soul to be the decisive force residing in us, sort of a conscience (in a way - don't take me literally here... I'm NOT being precise at all now) and that which makes us humans in the end. And a gift from God.
About the senses - actually, it's a very interesting perspective you've portrayed here (I mean mentioning people that don't have the 5 senses by nature). First of all, I also admire people that were deprived of one or even two of their senses. They really inspire me and make me reflect upon my own life and the way I take everything for granted. But coming to our discussion. This actually is a very good way of analyzing the senses question - going backwards (sort of, I mean like going to the point of having an even more limited number of senses) and observing how such people perceive reality. The only problem is the impossible of a comparison between the way people with different numbers of senses perceive reality - unless a person loses his/her (for example) sight due to an accident because in such a case such person has already experienced the sensation of seeing the world - it's an interesting idea, don't you think?
... to be continued