Difference Between Human Beings and Other Animals

The difference between us humans and other animals is that we have internal eyes and potential power over our own humanity.  We are creatures who have a say in our own lives.  Unlike all other animals, we can choose not to eat, even though we may be hungry. 

Like flowing water, the paths human beings take in life are free yet determined by what comes before.  Unlike other animals whose behaviour is predictable, human beings are both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. 

Our internal eyes also give us a sense of supernatural importance whereby our own history takes on a meaning.  Some have distinguished human beings from other animals primarily through art.  Unlike all other animals on earth our art (drawing and writing) has been inscribed into the very earth we occupy for future generations to read and discover.  This need to communicate with history and struggle with our understanding of it has been with us since we lived in caves.  All our ancestors had it.  Art, in all its forms and expression, is also a distinctive feature of human beings that is not present in animals, and it is closely associated with our spiritual essence.  

Unlike all other animals, we are the only ones who are able to recognise the very spiritual essence of the life which sustains us.  We are spiritual creatures.  Religion (in all its forms) has tried to capture insights into our spiritual essence and carry the knowledge and good news throughout the ages (often through art).  Religion is also something we humans have that is distinct from all other animals.