Being Human

By an ant.

Humanity, what a curious blend of wonder and woe.

I’m told that being human is to navigate vast oceans of reality, guided not just by stars, but by constellations of your own making. You have evolved an extraordinary ability to craft alternate worlds within your minds, to build realities that shelter you from the raw, relentless truths of existence that eons ago made themselves known to your kind. A capacity to reshape the unforgiving contours of life is both your greatest gift and your gravest flaw.

From the first dawn of your unique human consciousness, your species sought meaning beyond the tangible. You paint the skies with gods and myths, carve stories into the bedrock of your civilisations, and build cathedrals of thought that reach beyond the clouds. Your minds are the ultimate architects, constructing sanctuaries where hope can flourish, even in the shadow of deep despair. I think of this as your mindscape. This is where you humans really live.

The power to create your own realities is a double-edged sword. It is a blessing that allows you to dream, to aspire, and to find solace amid the chaos. Through your personal and collective mindscapes, you are both connected to each other and isolated from each other. There you conquer terror by infusing your lives with purpose and possibility. You look into the void and find deep meaning.

With this blessing comes an inherent curse. The unrealities you forge blind you to many important stark truths. You have become ensnared in the illusions you cherish, blinding yourselves to the reality of life and death and turning away the urgent cries of the collapsing world around you. Denial is an ignorance that fosters detachment and numbs you to the urgency of desperately needed change. It is in your self-made worlds that you hide from the very truths that could set you free.

Being a human being is to walk the line between truth and delusion, to seek enlightenment in distraction and ignorance. It is to bear the weight of your own thoughts and to use them to navigate the unfathomable labyrinths of your own making. You are both the dreamers and the deceived, the visionaries and the veiled.

At the heart of your denial lies a profound paradox: the more you seek to escape the harshness of reality, the more you distance yourselves from the very essence of life. You are unlike any other species; your capacity for forging meaning in the face of meaninglessness is unique among all things that live, and have ever lived.

Being human is to be caught in an eternal dance to a symphony of light and shadow, and of truth and self-deception.

So embrace your evolutionary past, recognise that your ability to create your own realities is both a miraculous gift and a cruel trick. Because in the end, it is this duality that defines you.

But what if being human was to hold the universe within your minds, to touch the infinite with your creativity, whilst remaining grounded in reality?

What if you could strive for the stars while rooted to the earth beneath your feet? What if you could find a way to shift the delicate balance of your own making away from disaster and towards salvation? What if, instead of forever teetering between worlds, real and imagined, you fully realise this world you share with me is our home?

Could this be the essence of being human?

What do I know, I’m just an ant! ??