We are not angels, we are merely sophisticated apes. Yet we feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, craving transcendence and all the time trying to spread our wings and fly off, and it's really a very odd predicament to be in, if you think about it.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the human condition, highlighting our complex nature as both primal beings and aspirational souls.
The quote by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran delves into the duality of human existence, suggesting that while we possess advanced cognitive abilities akin to angels, we are still fundamentally biological creatures, akin to apes. This paradox evokes a sense of longing for a higher state of being, as we continuously strive for transcendence despite our earthly limitations, thus encapsulating the peculiar and poignant struggle of being human.
In practice
In a speech about human evolution and aspirations, this quote highlights our unique position.
Even though its common knowledge these days, it never ceases to amaze me that all the richness of our mental life - all our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our ambitions, our love life, our religious sentiments and even what each of us regards us his own intimate private self - is simply the activity of these little specks of jelly in your head, in your brain. There is nothing else.
Yet as human beings we have to accept-with humility-that the question of ultimate origins will always remain with us, no matter how deeply we understand the brain and the cosmos that it creates.
Here is a neuron that fires when I reach and grab something, but it also fires when I watch Joe reaching and grabbing something. ... It's as though this neuron is adopting the other person's point of view.
Self-awareness is a trait that not only makes us human but also paradoxically makes us want to be more than merely human. As I said in my BBC Reith Lectures, “Science tells us we are merely beasts, but we don’t feel like that. We feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, forever craving transcendence
I would say any behavior that is not the status quo is interpreted as insanity, when, in fact, it might actually be enlightenment. Insanity is sorta in the eye of the beholder.
We have long become overgrown with calluses; we no longer hear people being killed. ("X")
These unwritten amenities have been in part responsible for giving our people the feeling of independence and self-confidence, the feeling of creativity. These amenities have dignified the right of dissent and have honored the right to be nonconformists and the right to defy submissiveness. They have encouraged lives of high spirits rather than hushed, suffocating silence.
[T]here is very little difference between one person and another, but what little difference ther eis, is very important.
If I have not been exposed and am not in any danger of pursuit. But I have been exposed, I am pursued - by myself! That is a pursuer that does not readily let go.
All that money can do is buy us some one else's work in exchange for our own.
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