A Defining Moment
Posted: Monday, November 30, 2009
by Dianne Lehmann
Artisan Jewelry from SyZyGy
We all have them from time to time. We'll be sitting quietly and bam; we're hit with a sudden profound realization that quite possibly changes forever how we look at the world. Or maybe they are not quite that dramatic. The cause can be something unexpected in a comedian's routine or a Hallmark card commercial on television. I say this to illustrate that it isn't necessarily important what engenders the moment because my most recent one came of watching a science fiction movie. I've experienced a small amount of shame over my addiction to anything sci-fi for most of my life. I was born in 1952, when there wasn't much interest in science fiction in the general public and females mostly were not supposed to be interested in it at all. At any rate, what is important, in my thinking, is that we have them.
Dr. Calvin is preparing the syringe of nanites that will disrupt Sonny's neural pathways when Sonny asks if it will hurt. He makes it plain to Dr. Calvin that he does not want to die and is afraid. She takes Sonny's hand in hers and says that she is sorry and expressed compassion for his plight. It was just then that the feeling I had just witnessed something profound rolled right through me and I missed some of what happened next.
I wish that I could convey all the feelings and thoughts that came over me in that moment. Several thoughts occurred to me all at once and I felt that I had realized something amazing. To be compassionate is to make no distinction in where our love and caring is placed or given. To be compassionate seems to me to be the essence of being human. It defines us our capacity to care beyond ourselves. I was overcome by an extreme feeling of love for all of humankind that we could share ourselves in this way.
In reality, it's only a story. And the robot was human-form, still it was a machine; made by a man to serve humankind. Yet Dr. Calvin comforted him just as she would another human being.
Sometimes when I look at our cat, Winnie, I don't exactly see a cat. I'm not sure I could describe what it is that I perceive, but for sure it is a person looking back at me. I wonder what it is she sees when she looks at me. I joke that I am that funny looking, tailless cat, way too large, walking on only two legs and possessing no decent fur to speak of that brings her food and rubs her belly. But really, I do sometimes wonder how I fit into her world.
Do animals experience compassion? Much as I might like to think they do and as much as this has been romanticized in books and films over the years, I am not sure that they can. Not being Dr. Doolittle I can't talk to them and I've yet to master the Vulcan mind meld. You probably have to be Vulcan to do that. But that doesn't stop me feeling compassion for them or giving them my love and care. It is such an easy thing to do. They have no egos to get in the way or conflict with ours. And they are always truthful.
So then why do we seem to find it so hard to have compassion for humans of different cultures when they have so much more in common with us than robots might or animals do? If compassion defines us and we act without compassion toward other human beings, what does that make us?
So what is the point of this article? There is no point to it really, any more than there is a point to life. Except that is, to increase the total happiness in the universe (that's my current working hypothesis). No, it's just about another afternoon in the life of someone who thinks she is constantly right on the verge of understanding it all, but who really hasn't a clue. I've more questions than answers and apparently way too much time to think. I'll say this one thing though, it's much easier for me to believe an animal is innocent of doing wrong or duplicitousness than it is to believe such of a human. Maybe that's the whole problem.
This Article has been viewed 2,070 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Dianne~ This is beautifully written and profoundly touching. I know the movie (I've seen it a bunch of times too) and I know the moment you speak of. Yes, it was profound for me too! You pose lots of terrific questions here. In response to the one about animals having compassion: think about all the 'mama' critters who nurse babies that are not of their own genus. Is this not compassion? Is this not an innate sense of caring that ALL creatures must possess? I believe it IS. I believe that ALL beings have this innate compassion. Difference between humans and the rest? We often have it snuffed out of us...by lots of people, circumstances and experiences. The secret is to 'tap back in' to what is our birth right. Compassion is THE KEY to peace. Once the rest of the planet gets THAT part, war will end. As will poverty and all the other ickiness that humans and creatures now experience.Thank you for writing this.CamilleHi Camille.I had forgotten that! I love stories about mamma dogs nursing piglets and the like! Thanks for the reminder. You're right. It is just what I said ... the capacity to care about the life of another different from you. And you might say that cynicism is the bane of humankind.Thanks so much for reading and for commenting.Hugs,Dianne
I understand what you're saying Dianne. I look at my dog Casey, much the same as you've looked at your cat. This will sound strange, but Casey understands me. I can tell by her actions that she knows when I'm sad, sick or upset. If people are having a discussion in a loud tone, she'll bark. She's very intune with the emotions of people around her. As for humans, I am fascinated by people who show extreme compassion towards animals but not towards other humans, it doesn't make sense to me. So, like you said about your article... What's the point to my comment? None really. Just I think I understand what you're trying to say, and you said it very well by the way. :)Hi Brianna.And does anything really ever have to have a point anyway? :) Our cat is pretty in tune too. Sometimes, I think she can read our minds. Just this evening my husband was thinking about opening a tin of sardines and Winnie appeared out of nowhere and started meowing. He hadn't even opened it yet!Thanks a bunch!Dianne
There's no such thing as having too much time to think. We humans have to spend so much of our lives just thinking about how to survive that we have little time to think of anything else. Getting the time and opportunity to do this is a gift. YOU JUST PUT ANOTHER NOTCH ON YOUR KARMA BELT. That evidently was one of the things you needed to realize- what compassion really is. Congratulations!Hi Ella.The whole thing has really got me thinking and I've got another article about compassion in the works that I will probably submit next week. We'll see how that one does.Thanks so much for your kind comment.Dianne
Hi Dianne,Great article. Like you, I too am a SF fan, have been all my life, as far back as I can remember. I ROBOT was a GREAT movie. The book was written by Ray Bradberry, I believe. The author of The Martian Chronicles.... which I absolutely enjoyed.Compassion... I believe it is special. Whether or not it is unique to humans, I am not so sure. It would seem that many animals show more compassion that people do. I'm thinking of cases where animals have rescued endangered children, dragging drowning victims out of water, and infants from burning buildings. Or... just snuggling up close to someone.I enjoyed your article. It gives one a lot to think about.Nanoo Nanoo, live long and prosper, and all that good stuff!MarkHi Mark.Actually, it was written by another great author, Isaac Asimov. The Martian Chronicles are as brilliant as the Robot series.I actually do think that animals express compassion ... it's just that there is this questioning side to me ... it's the part that has a hard time with religious faith. But it is definitely undeniable that non-human animals appear to express compassion (there I go again, qualifying statements), and seem to do so with more grace.Thanks for reading and commenting and I wish also that you live long and prosper.Dianne
Very nice. Robots, like animals, seem to be more innocent and so we tend to care for them more and show more compassion. We see a stray dog on the side of the road and feel bad for it, yet we see a stray human holding a sign on a street corner and become suspicious as to his intent. You are on the verge of something here, and your article is a step in the right direction. Those great two words, 'if only', seem appropriate somehow. Well done.Hi Michael.You always seem to get what I am trying to say better than I do. If only we could have that same, immediate, unencumbered desire to help a human as we have with an animal, I think then we'd me making some real progress as a species. Sadly, I can't say as I am there yet.Thanks for reading and for your sage comments.Dianne
Another great article with the right balance of the philosophical, emotional and cerebral --- I would have loved to have you as a student.Thanks for your insights Dianne.Hi Edward.With age comes wisdom, and while I was quiet and obedient to my teachers as a child, I don't know how much enjoyment I gave them. But thanks for the thought.I seem to go through my life trying to find the balance that you think my article has. It's just the way I am made. I consider myself lucky when I can manage to put it into words that someone else can understand.Thank you for reading and for your kind comments.Dianne
hi dianne,this was a great article.the part about thinking your cat is human, is exactly how i feel about my little maltipoo. your cats face is bigger than his, and he looks at me so intently sometines, i wonder if he is trying to send me brain signals. maybe-since i always know what he wants, water, to go out, a treat, or to play ball. i think animals feel compassion. i've never witnessed an animal birth, but my son has with his cat, and he said it was unbelievable, and then, within minutes, the mom is grooming her babies.thanks for a good read,my best to you,sueHi Sue.Somehow, I knew you would feel the same way about your dog. I've spent enough time now with this one particular herd of horses, that I've started seeing them more as people. I don't just see their horse shapes anymore; I see their personalities. Bernd jokingly calls them horsenalities, but I do think of them as persons.Thanks for stopping by and hugs to you,Dianne
Dianne, what a ..... article. Can't seem to come up with a word that adequately expresses how I feel. I think the "point" to all this, to life, lies in all that you've stated in this article. We need LOTS more people like you on the planet, and somehow, I have to believe that is happening. Maybe just not as rapidly as we'd like. Keep up the good work.Hi Joyce.Thanks so much. I feel so inadequate much of the time so I really appreciate your comment.It's my hope that it is indeed as Eckhart Tolle asserts. That the more of us who change and/or maintain (I'll call them "better" for lack of a more defining word right now) our healthier (?) attitudes, makes it easier for others to change and/or maintain theirs as well.I believe (possibly irrationally) that there is a huge human species general kind of psyche; a mindfield, and that all of us who dedicate ourselves to the "light side of the force" help improve all life on planet earth.Well, anyway, thanks for reading and I always appreciate your comments.Dianne
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.