Exceptionalism seems to be in the air these days.Most recently it’s become a plank in the Republican platform—America is God’s own chosen nation (despite what the Bible actually says).It’s also been a trait of nearly all human endeavors.Human exceptionalism, that is.The idea, whether admitted or not, is based on the Bible.Even those bespectacled scientists who make no time for religion insist that humans are different from other animals.Why?The Bible tells them so.Evolution certainly doesn’t.And so we go about thinking how superior we are to other lifeforms.And not only that, but to other humans in other geographical locations.It seems Homo sapiens sapiens could use an ego check every now and again.
Not only does our sense of superiority go downward over the animals, it also reaches to the very boundaries of this infinite but expanding universe.We are alone, scientists declare.The only intelligent life in a universe far beyond the ability of the human brain to comprehend.There can’t be any alien visitations with (laughably) superior beings crawling out of their flying saucers.No, we were the best that evolution could do.And we elected Donald Trump to be our president four years ago.What’s that about an ego check?Especially since we’ve learned that there is water on the moon.Almost certainly there was once liquid water on Mars.There may even be traces of life in the atmosphere of Venus (although the earthly jury is still out on that one). Only humans can make that declaration.
Photo credit: NASA
I have to wonder at this arrogance that comes along with consciousness.Do we believe we’re the best simply because we learned to apply the laws of rationality to our gray matter?Back when I was a seminarian the word “pantheism” was rather like a swear.To suggest a universal connectivity (literally) was an offense against the deity portrayed in the Bible.(I would hope that a God that big would encourage us to understand the implications of a universe so large.)We humans have our good points, of course.I love people and their foibles.Were we not so dangerous we might even look cute in the cosmic eyes above, as well as the inferior eyes of our pets.Exceptionalism, it seems to me, ought to be the dirty word.It seems far more human and humane to throw the gates open wide and consider the possibilities.I love people, but if we’re the best there is, the universe is in serious trouble.