The power of myth once united the sapiens to greater heights. The same power of myth also divides the sapiens and may delete them from the face of earth. Then Humans will be the shortest living species in the history of evolution.
R. K. mahapatra
Most animals can communicate among them. Barking of one single dog brings in a pack of dogs from nowhere. a bunch of Monkeys go on chattering incessantly. Is it a meaningful conversation ? Parrots can mimic whatever they listen.
Scientists have been able to decipher few of monkeys’ chatters into language and have recorded them. Two of them are well established.
- “Look, Eagle.”
- “Look, Lion.”
When the first record is played to a group of monkeys, they would simply look up at the sky.
When the second record is played to the same monkeys, they would immediately climb up the tree to the top most branch and look down.
Every animal can talk about the present and guide his group against a common threat or direction about food. Ants have a signalling system and bees have also. All these communications are limited to present only
But we humans.
We believe in abstracts.
Our stories can start from events in Mahabharat, Bible in past to imaginations in the future. We can conceive some abstract idea and then convince millions and make them follow one idea.
An animal can remember his past experience, he can warn his colleague at present about it. But he cannot carry forward the story to its future generations. Animals do not have myths and epics. When we put both banana and money in front of a monkey, it chooses banana over money.
We believe in make believes.
Money, God, Religion are mere concepts. They do not mean anything to a monkey. A monkey will throw away a thousand dollar note for one banana. But the intelligent humankind can massacre half of his likes for the sake of religion or some abstract concept like idealism.
We do more back biting than animals.
What do the top doctors talk during the coffee break during a WHO conference ? Do you sincerely believe that during the dinner or over the coffee they discuss about delta variant ? Yes, they bitch about their colleagues just lie the workers of a dhobi ghat bitch about their colleagues. No animal talks about another animal behind his back. Because they are incapable of back biting. They may fight the opponent till the end.
Money, God, Religion, idealism are myths created by us. The sky is not blue. But we believe the sky to be blue and compose volumes of poem basing on such a myth . We also destroy another human who doesn’t subscribe to our set of myths. While the animal world is based on reality, the human world thrives on such myths.
With the power of myth, the animal Homo Sapien pulled ahead of his rivals equipped with sabre teeth and brute power. The power of myth once united the sapiens to greater heights.
The same power of myth also divides the sapiens and make them fight each other.
If a myth can be able to annihilate this species from the face of earth, then the Sapiens will be the shortest living species in the history of evolution.
Dr Ramakanta's Ideas 