Replies to post #136851 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

very good point. I have had several retrievers that were as obsessed with bringing back things as telemarketers are with credit card scams. Those dogs were dedicated to nothing else in life and i couldn't have changed that fact if i had thrown grenades for them to retrieve. Many animals have species imperatives and pursue them with as much zeal as a football player on prom night. But the leap to whether drive equals religion is a bridge too far for me.

[kozuh]

fuagf, re: Religion and Animals ...

I can only give you many honest and sincere
observations on the realities we both have
experienced. If you have come to different
conclusions than me, one of us is wrong;
maybe BOTH of us are wrong ... .

My position is simple: Normal, healthy Humans
engage in a life-long, relentless ... SEARCH
FOR MEANING. This search results in the
formulation of a ... RELIGION ... by each person.
Yes, some Religions involve a belief in the Super-
Natural, but most do NOT.

I have never met a Dog or Cat or Rat who is
Searching for the MEANING of LIFE and
Existence and Dog-hood or Cat-Hood or
Rat-hood. Yes, they have amazing Brains and
love their babies, but they never Search for
MEANING ... they NEVER build Churches or
Buddhist Temples or Synagogs or Mosques.
For example, Ant colonies have nurseries and
cemeteries ... BUT NEVER ANY PLACES OF
WORSHIP or MEDITATION ... .