Skip to main content

Animals and Humans




Walt Whitman longed to be an animal.  “They are so placid and self-contain’d,” he argued.  He found a lot of qualities that make animals superior to human beings.  

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another…

Walt Whitman
Poetry is not to be taken literally.  Whitman was not glorifying animals really.  He was just using them to highlight our own pathetic condition.  Whitman’s original religion, Christianity, laid much emphasis on man’s sinfulness.  Christianity believes that man is an evil creature unless redeemed by Jesus Christ.  Christianity instils a terrible sense of sinfulness in the soul of the believers.  So ‘good’ Christians are condemned “to lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.”

But all that weeping has produced no visible effect on the human soul.  That’s the real problem.  If people really felt sorry for their sins, they would liberate themselves from the sins.  What’s the use if you beat your chest any number of times before your god and then come out and beat the hell out of other people?  Such religion is absolutely meaningless.  That’s why it made Whitman sick. 

Whitman lived in the 19th century.  The situation has only become worse after his death.  What people do in the name of religion today is far more disgusting than in Whitman’s time.  Any thinking man is left wondering why people still continue to put their trust in god(s) and yet remain worse than animals at heart.

Comments

  1. Pranju chakrapaniJuly 10, 2017 at 9:31 PM

    Religion is essentially sugar cubes which are loved by donkeys so much. The fact that people in Christianity are considered as sinners makes me puke my iota of sensibility left inside after looking at such self derogatory tragedy. That's why people with some intelligence and courage are moving away from conventional religion gradually. Do you think people would eventually accept critical thinking as the alternative?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 11, 2017 at 5:57 AM

      No, I don't foresee critical thinking emerging as an alternative at all. As I wrote earlier majority of people are mediocre and critical thinking is out of their intellectual capacities. Religion is the right thing for them as far as intellectual potential is concerned.

      Delete
  2. sunaina sharmaJuly 10, 2017 at 10:33 PM

    Humans have used their brain too much for the 'supposed' betterment of 'others'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 11, 2017 at 5:58 AM

      Yes and they continue to do the same. See what's happening in India now.

      By the way, I'm happy to see you back here after a long time.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Randeep the melody

Many people in this pic have made their presence in this A2Z series A phone call came from an unknown number the other day. “Is it okay to talk to you now, Sir?” The caller asked. The typical start of a conversation by an influencer. “What’s it about?” My usual response looking forward to something like: “I am so-and-so from such-and-such business firm…” And I would cut the call. But there was a surprise this time. “I am Randeep…” I recognised him instantly. His voice rang like a gentle music in my heart. Randeep was a student from the last class 12 batch of Sawan. One of my favourites. He is unforgettable. Both Maggie and I taught him at Sawan where he was a student from class 4 to 12. Nine years in a residential school create deep bonds between people, even between staff and students. Randeep was an ideal student. Good at everything yet very humble and spontaneous. He was a top sportsman and a prefect with eminent leadership. He had certain peculiar problems with academics. Ans
25 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
37 comments
Read more

Sanjay and other loyalists

AI-generated illustration Some people, especially those in politics, behave as if they are too great to have any contact with the ordinary folk. And they can get on with whoever comes to power on top irrespective of their ideologies and principles. Sanjay was one such person. He occupied some high places in Sawan school [see previous posts, especially P and Q ] merely because he knew how to play his cards more dexterously than ordinary politicians. Whoever came as principal, Sanjay would be there in the elite circle. He seemed to hold most people in contempt. His respect was reserved for the gentry. I belonged to the margins of Sawan society, in Sanjay’s assessment. So we hardly talked to each other. Looking back, I find it quite ludicrous to realise that Sanjay and I lived on the same campus 24x7 for a decade and a half without ever talking to each other except for official purposes.      Towards the end of our coexistence, Sawan had become a veritable hell. Power supply to the
12 comments
Read more

Thomas the Saint

AI-generated image His full name was Thomas Augustine. He was a Catholic priest. I knew him for a rather short period of my life. When I lived one whole year in the same institution with him, I was just 15 years old. I was a trainee for priesthood and he was many years my senior. We both lived in Don Bosco school and seminary at a place called Tirupattur in Tamil Nadu. He was in charge of a group of boys like me. Thomas had little to do with me directly as I was under the care of another in-charge. But his self-effacing ways and angelic smile drew me to him. He was a living saint all the years I knew him later. When he became a priest and was in charge of a section of a Don Bosco institution in Kochi, I met him again and his ways hadn’t changed an iota. You’d think he was a reincarnation of Jesus if you met him personally. You won’t be able to meet him anymore. He passed away a few years ago. One of the persons whom I won’t ever forget, can’t forget as long as the neurons continu
16 comments
Read more

Pranita a perverted genius

Bulldozer begins its work at Sawan Pranita was a perverted genius. She had Machiavelli’s brain, Octavian’s relentlessness, and Levin’s intellectual calibre. She could have worked wonders if she wanted. She could have created a beautiful world around her. She had the potential. Yet she chose to be a ruthless exterminator. She came to Sawan Public School just to kill it. A religious cult called Radha Soami Satsang Beas [RSSB] had taken over the school from its owner who had never visited the school for over 20 years. This owner, a prominent entrepreneur with a gargantuan ego, had come to the conclusion that the morality of the school’s staff was deviating from the wavelengths determined by him. Moreover, his one foot was inching towards the grave. I was also told that there were some domestic noises which were grating against his patriarchal sensibilities. One holy solution for all these was to hand over the school and its enormous campus (nearly 20 acres of land on the outskirts
13 comments
Read more