All Our Relations

National Geographic

Man is so ready to ask in his infinite pride: “Am I not greatly superior to the animal?” But he would also do well to ask: “In what respect have I remained behind the animal?” Then he would find that he has remained behind the animal in respect of many faculties — faculties which are innate in the animal, but which man, if he is to develop them himself, has to acquire and master by dint of effort. — Rudolf Steiner

Live dangerously and you live right. — Goethe

We are disoriented to some degree because we are cut loose from the instincts of our organs, unlike animals. We therefore have imagination, and can take stupid chances that could kill us. Unmoored from the wisdom of inherited bodily knowledge, we may easily get lost in life and not know what to do. We have to learn how to listen to inner urgings and take them seriously.

A combination of factors — my Puritan upbringing and a severe bodily injury — put me at some distance from myself at an early age. In my youth, I simply didn’t have a good estimation of who I was and what I was made for. I spent over forty years trying on partners and lifestyles that never fit. I’m lucky I was determined to keep trying until I got it right, which I finally did by stint of persistence and acceptance of the obvious when I could see I had screwed up once again.