Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tl00102)

In message <199708030313.XAA26558@newman.concentric.net>, "A. Safron"
<safron@concentric.net> writes
>Although animals, IMHO, do not have the consciousness of evolved
>humans, they do sometimes show glimpses of something more.

They do not, IMHO, have the consciousness of humans - "evolved" does not
seem to be part of the equation.
>
>Recently, there was a news story about a cat who went into a burning
>building 5 times, each times being burned, to rescue her kittens.
>
>On a more spectacular scale, a toddler visiting Brookfield Zoo in Chicago fell
>into the Gorilla Pit.  Injured and unconscious, it lay there for a while till
>a female gorilla picked it up and carried it to the door where
>the zookeeper comes out. She waited there till someone came out and took
>the child from her.
>
>This made every newscast in Chicago, always with the question: How
>could a gorilla have such compassion and common sense?  One person
>answered that she was just doing what she would have done for her
>own child.

My own perception of animal consciouness (insofar as I have been able to
share it) is that the creatures (including birds) appear to have a
"given" recognition of the connectedness of all life, and *unless they
believe themselves to be under threat* behave as though compassion and
common sense were the same thing.  I talk to all the local life around
here, including the humans occasionally. :-)

Alan