Sunday, September 3, 2023

Animalia is the theme of the 2023 Burning man Festival

Begin partial quote from: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nevada-desert-burning-man-weather-rain-09-03-23/index.html

The festival’s 2023 theme is “Animalia,” which the Burning Man website explains, “will celebrate the animal world and our place in it — animals real and imagined, mythic and remembered — and explore the curious mental constructs that allow us to believe that imagined animals are real, real animals are imagined, and that somehow, despite all evidence to the contrary, mankind is somehow not part of the animal kingdom.”

end quote.

In studying anthropology myself one cannot but at some point realize that humans are only domesticated animals. And just like animals overtrained in various ways humans also can have mental problems when their training or disciplines take them in directions counterproductive to their long term survival (like being trained as a soldier to die in battle). This often causes PTSD during and after battle skirmishes and shortens many people's lives considerably.

But, the basic Idea that we are all a part of the animal kingdom here on earth is an important one if you are realistic about what it is to actually be a human being alive here on earth at this time.

As humans we either create or destroy the ecological balance for all other creatures on earth. So, seeing ourselves as an animal who is often too smart for his or her own good might be a useful way to start thinking about all this. 

However, for me, believing in God is not a problem if I also see myself as one of the many animal species who lives here on earth. For me, this doesn't change my relationship with the whole universe and God.

In fact, it tends to make me elevate animals and the creatures of the earth to be more like sisters and brothers in the ecology of earth that I want to protect along with my friends and relatives who are human.

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