Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens

What makes a human human cannot be defined in set of black and white characteristics. The concept, definition and parameters of what constitutes a species is hard to define. Nature is messy and we seek to categorise it to make sense of it.

There are a number species in addition to ourselves that are probably self-aware e.g. elephants, great apes and dolphins.
Another step down the sentiency ladder animals such as crows, wolves, monkeys, parrots, whales etc. have the same traits to a lesser extent, they may not be fully conscious and aware of others in the same way but aren't far off.

We have emerged from the messy chemistry lab of life and are the only animal on this planet that at least have the potential to be fully in control of our lives, understand the laws of the universe and use them to our advantage.

Humans are observers, like all animals we are a bag of chemicals, our personalities are a mix of environment and genetics. We observe to learn and hold together our societies and at the same time are very suggestible. Though the saying, "A certain level of hypocrisy is necessary to civilised life" (Anne Whitehead) rings true it is because it is so easy for us in our complex modern societies to become disjointed from the natural world and our human rationality in turn not necessarily coinciding with reality, i.e. chopping down tropical rainforests for short term profit.

We are now entering what has been labelled the ‘anthropocene’, where for the first time one species dominates the face of the earth and has the ability to fundamentally change life on earth. Our problem is that we’re remarkably knowledgeable these days but not very wise with the use of that knowledge. We seem to spend the bulk of our time using it to gain power over one another.

We have the ability to fundamentally change this planet and to wipe ourselves out, our future is in our hands. The key thing we need to concede is humility, it would appear to me that the greatest human flaw is pride. Pride prevents us from acknowledging our mistakes, from reconciliation and in turn increases our propensity to war and war is the enemy of nature and of man.

Will all we have died for, fought for and accomplished be destroyed by our flaws or will it be saved and grown so that one day we can truly touch the face of god? Will this day come, can we do this? We got rid of slavery, we brought down Rome, hell we built the roman empire, we have split atoms, understood the language of life, can harness the natural world to our own ends....

The one thing we can all agree on is caring for the environment; it is unlikely that the whole of humanity will ever be in total agreement about everything and it would make life less interesting if we did.
All it takes is a little humility personally and that step to understand the other.

"Faith is not certainty, it is the courage to live with uncertainty" - Jonathan Sachs