Animal
_I: If the Flora, the Vegetal world is the Consciousness of the world manifested in Network, what is the consciousness of the Fauna?
_AM: This is the group you belong to. Animalia. Fauna is known as all the creatures guarded by Faunus. Do you remember?
_I: The demigod Pan. The Faun with his playful and chaotic energy.
_AM: He was the representative of fertility, reproduction, inciting the pleasures of life. For this reason, he was considered the custodian of animal nature, since animals are those that are moved by these pleasures and basic needs of food, sleeping and reproduction. The attributes of the Faun represent the Animal Kingdom, the most primordial emotions, the need to satisfy basic pleasures, the continuity of existence through reproduction, the incessant search for food, and rest and leisure as play, the foundation of joy, but also, a chaotic spirit that lives from fear, terror. Although you usually relate all these elements with unconscious aspects, they also hide a conscious essence, and that is that everything mentioned makes up the Soul.
_I: Or put another way: the Anima.
_AM: Animal is the quality of having Anima, whose adjective is Animated, and its verb is Animate. Animated things are those that move, those that vibrate, those that breathe. The Soul, from the Latin “animae”, describes the quality of a living being that has to move in a space, to have active life. The quality of having a soul is to possess the gift of movement, something intrinsic to every living animal being, and which in religion was separated from the body as something external, trapped in the prison of matter.
_I: Of course, it was taken to mean that the soul is something celestial that enters a body, the prison of the soul, and that the soul's task is to free itself from it to return to Heaven.
_AM: This vision is not natural, but mental, and based on the belief that the essence comes from a higher plane, and that nature is nothing more than a world built as punishment, designed by the devil. Thus, the religions that seek to rise to the heavens by leaving this world have designed the tradition, the belief, that the soul must free itself from the body, when the soul is actually the movement of the body, it is the energy that enables it to be. what it is. The body does not trap the soul, it is the soul that gives meaning to the body, that constitutes it, because without a soul the atoms would never come together to form a structure.
_I: Sure… It makes sense. Seen this way, everything has movement, everything has soul...
_AM: Despite this, the ancients did not consider plants, minerals and fungi as beings with souls, since they did not move. Life in motion was known by the Greeks as “zoon”, which gives rise to the word zoology and zoo, which gives meaning to the word animal, or encompasses this group of living beings. But, you have to go to the first beings that began to move to recognize their function in the world.
_I: Who?
_AM: In the same way that cyanobacteria gave the content to eukaryotic cells to carry out their photosynthesis process, thus creating phytoplankton, other types of bacteria fed on this synthesized energy, and they evolved with certain mobile capabilities with the objective to reach the phytoplankton…
_I: That's how zooplankton emerged... right?
_AM: Exactly. Meaning “Wandering Animals” (Zoon-Planktós), because, just like microalgae, these tiny creatures move by currents being dragged in the ocean, traveling alongside the tiny algae.
_I: And eating them…
_AM: Zooplankton depends directly on phytoplankton, as it is its main source of energy. And beyond the fact that some began to phagocytize other beings from the “zoo” world, the initial energy always arises from the plants. Therefore, without plants, herbivores die, and without herbivores, carnivores die. For this reason, the first animals to exist in the oceans dedicated themselves to chasing aquatic plants. All forming part of a group called “Protozoa”. These constitute the basis and the original formations of single-celled eukaryotic organisms that are heterophagous, that is, they eat others. From them are born the rest of all the animal classifications, which in the first place will spread across the oceans, but in the second place, following the fate of the plants, will end up stranded on the dry coasts due to the low seas during the great glaciations. and droughts, which will lead to them having to adapt to new creatures that would populate the surface of the Earth, through a long and constant process called Evolution.
_I: “The Evolution of Species.” Anyway... not everyone believes in Darwin and his evolutionary theory.
_AM: Well… This is something to talk about. Because “believing” or “not believing” in evolution is already the big problem. Evolution is not a matter of belief, it is a matter of facts. The term Evolution comes from “ex-volvere-tio”, that is, the action of going out for a spin. Which implies the idea that organisms go beyond themselves by going through cycles that transform them. All living beings on the planet have developed through cycles of climate, growth, adaptation, and these are verifiable facts. Which does not mean that the theory is complete, since its bases allow us to follow a common thread of history, but they do not explain all the events that led a species to be what it is today. There may have been many factors not taken into account by Darwin's theory, but this does not rule out his entire discovery. It's like considering Newton's theory of Gravity to be irrelevant because of Einstein's theory of Relativity. They are complements that explain parts of reality, but do not go against it.
_I: I understand, it happens that today many people simply deny one position or another.
_AM: You always have to be open to possibilities, because knowing the absolute truth is impossible. The scientific method of trial and error helps to understand the logic of a truth, although it does not solve all its enigmas. Both science closing itself to a spiritual idea, and the spiritual closing itself to a scientific idea, denotes the inability of Animal Consciousness.
_I: What would that be like?
_AM: The Animal is movement, and its search is key: to survive by eating, sleeping and reproducing. That is the only trinity of him, and therefore, he is not closed to any option. There can always be a new way to achieve these results. Animal Consciousness shows us that movement, the soul, does not close itself to a single path, but rather, seeking the same objective, manages to find the beauty of existence. About 600 million years ago, animals began to populate the oceans, and then the land, and in each great Era, they went through mass extinctions, or were forced to adapt to new environments, depending on the temperature, the quantity of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the presence of water, whether fresh or salty, as well as the presence of plants or predators... All of this implied a constant struggle to adapt that made animals some of the most vulnerable creatures. variety of biology. To date, almost 954,000 species of animals have been catalogued, although it is believed that there are actually about 7.77 million species.
_I: Much to discover yet…
_AM: Especially in the oceans and jungles, places that are difficult to access.
_I: What is the tree of animal life?
_AM: It is a very complex tree, but we could summarize it as follows. They are all part of the Animalia group. This group of living beings are eukaryotic, multicellular, heterotrophic organisms (since they do not have a chloroplast to carry out photosynthesis), and generally tissue organisms (with tissue). They do not have a cell wall, and they reproduce through embryonic development or metamorphosis. Remember that the Fungi Kingdom is very close to the Animal Kingdom, more than the Plant Kingdom, although they form their own separate kingdom. First of all, we can make a very basic classification of animals.
_I: I suppose because of Vertebrates and Invertebrates, the typical stuff that is learned in school.
_AM: That's right, those who have a spinal column with marrow, and those who do not have a spine. But there are also other groups, such as Annelids (worms), Mollusks, Poriferae (sponges), Cnidarians (jellyfish and corals), Echinoderms (starfish), Nematodes and Platyhelminths (types of worms), among others.
_I: Lots of variety.
_AM: But if we want to follow an organizational line of this tree to which we belong, we have to be aware of other names and groups where those mentioned are incorporated. It all begins with Animalia, the general group, from which an extinct animal branch called Vendobionta emerged, and on the other hand, two fundamental branches: on the one hand the Porifera (where you find the Sea Sponges, who do not have tissues, but are fixed structures that filter water by absorbing particles) and on the other the Eumetazoa branch, which incorporates all the other branches that extend to today. From the Eumetazoa, arises the Ctenofora branch (similar to jellyfish but are bioluminescent and feed on zooplankton, their bodies are like bags that devour their prey by enveloping them), and the Parahoxazoa branch, which contains the Cnidarians ( jellyfish, polyps). , corals, anemones and hydras) and Placozoa; and on the other hand the branch of the Bilateria, which is divided between the Protostomia and the Deuterostomia, groups differentiated by generating anus and mouth equally in the first, while in the second case the anus is formed first and in a next stage mouth. These two families contain many branches but in short, the Protostomia give rise to the Spiralia families (Annelida, Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Chaetognatha, Cycliophora, Entoprocta, Gastrotricha, Gnathostomulida, Micrognathazoa, Mollusca, Nemertea, Phoronida, Platyhelminthes, Rotifera and Rhombozoa) , and on the other hand the Ecdysozoa (Arthropoda, Kinorhyncha, Loricifera, Nematoda, Nematomorpha, Onychophora, Priapulida and Tardigrada)
_I: God... What is all that?
_AM: These are the families that include worms, insects, snails, mollusks, bacteria, arachnids, flies, and many others. As you will see, most of the animals that exist are microscopic or tiny, impossible to know with the naked eye or to remember their names, but they represent the basis that keeps the world functioning, since they consume waste and promote organic decomposition to generate compost. and nutrients. To see the largest animals, we have to go to the last of the branches, the Deuterostomia.
_I: It's funny to me that we are part of the living organisms where before we have a brain, we are 100% an asshole.
_AM: Ironies of life. These constitute Xenambulacraria, where the families of Echinodermata (starfish), Hemicordata and Xenacoelomorpha (types of worms) are found, and on the other hand, the famous Chordata.
_I: Famous?
_AM: Where all large animals and all those that have a cord are incorporated, that is, a central nervous system connected by a cord. In the Chordata there are Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish, while in the other families you can find centipedes, arachnids, insects, crabs, snails, octopuses, worms, worms, jellyfish and corals, and in a third and away group to the sponges, as we said.
_I: It is a very complex kingdom.
_AM: Of which you are part. As we said, Animal Consciousness is what drives you to adapt, to evolve, to move through time and space, to develop different attitudes that nourish your spirit. The Animal Kingdom fills a mind in need of living with experiences.
_I: But... We usually relate the animal with the instincts that must be transcended, that must be left behind.
_AM: It is one thing to talk about the instinct based on Animal Unconsciousness, which leads us to live from impulses and needs, and another thing is to talk about the pulse based on Animal Consciousness, which is the will to discover, to move forward, to know and never close yourself to any possibility. It is essential that you understand the reason for the unconscious instincts of your animal part, those regulated by the most mechanical brain, the reptilian brain, which seeks to satisfy pleasures through the nervous system. That level keeps everyone living in an animal reality, but it does not mean that the animal kingdom is only unconscious. Many animal species, such as cetaceans, apes and hominids, have abilities beyond basic needs. Playing, sharing, falling in love, singing, laughing, inventing, dreaming, are not in the list of unconscious needs of the animal, but in the awakening of animal consciousness: inquire, search, discover, know...
_I: So those are not human attributes, but animal ones, but from the plane of consciousness. Wow.
_AM: Therefore, you cannot be a Conscious Human if you have not even integrated your Animal Consciousness, rejecting it, believing yourself superior to the kingdom to which you belong.
_I: I understand better now that within the Animal kingdom there is also Unconsciousness and Consciousness. The first seeks to survive with emotions of fear and rage, satisfying hunger, sleep and libido, while the second seeks to live with feelings of love and fulfillment, expanding in sharing, dreaming and loving.
_AM: Animal Consciousness unites the World as a Great Family.
_I: This makes me think… Should we be vegan?
_AM: Veganism is a philosophical concept from Vegetarianism (VEGetariAN), in which conscious humans interpret that the consumption, use or commercialization of any animal or derived product is considered slavery. Unlike vegetarianism, in which a person is defined as someone who consumes vegetables or dairy products but does not eat animals, or anything that has involved death, Veganism works for the rights of animals to not be forced to work, such as, for example, forcing the chickens to lay eggs or the cow to be milked. This is mainly due to the abuse carried out by human companies on these animals, treated as products and not as living beings. Veganism is a culture of Human Consciousness about the Fundamental Rights of all Living Beings, not about a dietary diet.
_I: And… Do we have to be?
_AM: You should never be something. This is something that is reached by social consensus, like having decided to abolish slavery or apartheid. Eventually most humans will see that treating animals as objects is demeaning and against what it means to be human, and animal rights will become equal to those of humans. This doesn't mean you can't eat animals. Many human bodies still need to feed on animal products for many reasons, which go beyond nutritional, but doing this directly from nature, as other animals do, instead of turning it into a business, will be one of the necessary conversations to have out, since they become part of human nature, and not a frivolous business.
_I: I understand… I still consume animal products, because I feel like I need them. But I am convinced that there are other ways to consume them that do not require animal suffering or slavery, and I intend to do what I can to allow these things to change one day.
_AM: Well, whoever recognizes his brothers in life, becomes a great family for the world. Anchor this concept, and hold that world.
_I: I Am the Root of the World. I am a Conscious Animal.
_AM: Awaken the true animal in you, the Faun who enjoys nature, and enjoy the Great Family of which you are part.
_I: The Big Family called Animalia.