HGP: When We Asked Why

The Day Humans First Peopled

I have a saying “Humans are gonna people.” Humans may be what we are but people is what we do when we start straying from the campfire.

We had purpose once, natural survival and all things associated drove our actions until the day we asked why.

“Why am I working my ass off for someone else?” Okay, maybe not. Maybe that question was asked thousands of years after we first thought Why. The first why was likely something tool related, food related, or shelter related. Why don’t I cook this? Why do I live in a damp cave? I’m sure it was something like that. Whatever the Why was whenever that moment was one thing occurred our species has never done; we questioned. At that moment we essentially attained free will and equally lost our purpose.

Personally, I hypothesize our purpose was to be protectors of life; Custodians.

As an aside—I use the word purpose as a place holder for an in-depth analytical explanation into my thoughts on the evolution of, well, thought. I do not believe in destiny or pre-determination, by purpose I mean what we ‘should’ have done with our intellect.

Custodians of life; that is who we should have been. Instead we asked Why and looked outside ourselves and our natural world for answers, created gods and devils, and worst of all…Kings. Instead of following the unpredictable path biochemistry set in motion for all life our species had an epiphany moment and the course of natural history changed forever. We have since paved over our natural path with hardened ego towards self destruction.

Evolution does have a way of testing life. As events affect other events while we drift along the river of time bumping into variations and variety as obstacles emerge, as those obstacles emerge life evolves or drowns out of existence. When we asked Why our natural course was affected and our natural path, guided by the process of evolution, now leads us towards extinction. When we asked Why our species trigged a cause and effect loop we have followed to the precipice we found ourselves at now.

Evolution will save life one way or another by which ever course we set for ourselves but we need to again ask…Why?

Why not? Why not become the custodians? The planet is not at stake, our species is. Without humans the rest of nature will get along just fine. Maybe the next time a species asks Why their path will take them towards guardianship. It isn’t to late to become the custodians we should have been. I mean, why not?

Thank you for reading! Your time is precious and I hope I didn’t waste it.