Are Animals Superior To Humans?

I have long wondered whether animals have feeling: feelings of pain, sorrow, happiness, and grief? Do the animals mourn their dead? These questions have gone unanswered to my palest surprise. Scientists and psychologists have attempted to analyze and come to an answer albeit their answers are highly dubitable. Do I have an answer? Sometime ago I tried to unravel this mystery of animal feelings, particularly when animals mourn their dead through an example of crow mourning over a dead crow or a monkey shedding tears out of sadness or pain. However, I am not sure whether they really feelings because my cognitive perception of animal kingdom is limited. All the more, I am no psychologist or scientist to make a laboratory experiments which might give a precise result but with due benefit of doubt or exception.

My curiosity and search in regards to feelings of animals towards themselves and towards humans was aroused when I was watching a nail biting documentary, “Ocean Giants, Deep Thinkers” on BBC One on 20 June 2012. Their extraordinary and maiden revelation on feelings of humpback whales towards humans tantalized me to embark upon to the coast of Mexico. But sadly that would not be possible for now, however I can share the joy of the people who witness this extraordinary intimacy between these ocean giants and humans.

Two things stayed with me from the documentary; a) the unity and coordination of humpback whales to capture their prey. They have a unique way of hunting their prey. After swimming for 3000 miles, a few whales gather to hunt together with an absolute togetherness. They surround the shoal of herrings with a strategic tactic that allows the shoal of herrings to fall into their predator’s disk. Then with mouths wide open capture the herrings. Their mouths can contain nearly 500 kilos of herrings a day. What a wonderful example of unity, coordination and togetherness. The documentary makes it clear that these whales are no way connected because they had travelled from different parts of the ocean.

b) Humpback whales have awesome affinity towards humans. In the Mexican shores when I fisherman fishing found a huge humpback whales next to his boat seemed to his emerging to devour him. But to his pleasant and wildest surprise the whales just caressed his boat. He was completely taken aback by this gesture of the whale. He then stroked the whale and became friend with the whale. This shows that these mammoth ocean giants have feelings and they loved to be caressed and stroked. Scientists then experimented with these whales and come to know that these mysterious animals have feelings and possibly they would like to communicate to us but unfortunately our languages don’t match. Scientists have opined that these ocean creatures have spindle cells three times more than humans. Therefore their emotional awareness is much stronger than humans. Therefore they even can show their affinity and emotions to humans. Today scores of people go to this shore to witness these mesmerizing emotional activities of humpback whales.

Apart from elephants, dolphins are considered to be the most intelligent animal on the planet. There are instances where dolphins have helped people. When I went to watch the spectacle of dolphins performing unimaginable stunts at Duisburg in Germany, it occurred to me that dolphins are such a lovely creatures who can hear, understand, and act wisely according to the master’s requests (I am not using the word ‘command’, because in this show master was requesting the dolphins to perform a particular stunt). The aforementioned BBC documentary showed how dolphins could have a high level of awareness of them. They experimented through a mirror in which dolphins showcased their awareness just like humans. They looked at the mirror again and again with several angles. The scientists opined through this that dolphins have even higher-level awareness then us. They believe that in the future they would be able to communicate with us. How lovely dolphins speaking to me, ‘excuse me, or sorry or thanks.’

Finally, the documentary showed a remarkable group of Mexican grey whales, which seem able to empathize with humans and may even have a concept of forgiveness. Can it be true? Can they empathize with us? Can they have a concept of forgiveness? I am sure they do empathize with us like the fisherman caressed by the whale; a complete showcase of feeling with us. I am sure animal lovers would agree with me, that animals are violent as long as their hunger is quenched. Therefore, I think they don’t generally harm other creatures without a proper reason. This can even lead to have the concept of forgiveness. Scientists cannot know what exactly these mysterious creatures’ feelings.

Just to reflect on the God’s creation story a little bit: God, on the fifth day, created animals of all sorts. He blessed them and made them multiply and fill the earth. And on the sixth day, God created human. God gave human dominion over the other creatures but not domination; just a point to grasp, dominion is to take care of God’s creation not dominate it. But my point here is, God created human after he had created animals. Animals were created before man was created, God must have created them out of nothing: because God did not have any blueprint or a model to create the animals unlike the man, God created man in his likeness, hence God had a blueprint or a model for man. Therefore we can deduce from this above argument that God must have given animals some special attributes that were not in Himself, so He would have given them some kind of extra entities that were not given to humans. Now what are these special entities? I can presume that they are given some sort of powers or behavioral patters that make them tantamount to humans. Simple tangible example to elaborate this point is the shape and size of different animals is unique unlike humans who are generically looking alike. Here one can think that animals are superior to humans, but then, God created humans in His likeness. But why did God create animals before humans? This question remains a mystery for me. Dear reader do you have an answer for my question, scribble it. 

Actions speak louder than words

The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! For some men speak as their own character dictates, but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah: So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them, and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the Lord.

We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendor of the saints and to look upon the triune God.

(sermon given by St Antony of Padua)

Spilled Blood at Tower of London

Like most people I waited in the queue outside the Tower of London to get a glimpse of Kohinoor diamond which is believed to be arranged by the then governor General of India Lord Dalhousie to be given as gift to queen Victoria, the Empress of India in 1851 by Ranjith Singh’s successor Duleep Singh. As I was hoping to see it from a close range, I passed through many interesting places in the Tower. Interesting is not the right word because the appalling atrocities and torture done to the Catholic martyrs was almost echoing from the walls of the cold stone cells. It was like walking through the Death Valley where blood of the martyrs resonated the typical torture by the Tudor rulers. By now I had no more curiosity on the diamond but my history nerves were roused to know what happened to these martyrs?

First of all I was thrilled to know one among only two people to escape from the tower of London was a Jesuit priest John Gerard. A plaque at the mouth of moat leading to river Thames depicted the complicated and notorious escape from the high security Tower of London in 1599. It explained how the plan of escape was executed with the help of his Jesuit companions.

In 1594 John Gerard was captured with another Jesuit Brother Nicholas Owen and sent to notorious Tower of London. Both were questioned and tried with different methods of torture. John Gerard was mainly questioned and tortured in order to know the hiding whereabouts of Hendry Garnet, the then superior of Jesuits in Britain. John Gerard would not utter anything despite being tortured. It is said that, he was tortured so much that he was weak to slide in rope, which was used to escape through the river. I can only imagine how could he do it. It is like escaping from an ‘A’ grade prison in London.

Nicholas Owen was another incredible Jesuit who with his carpentry skills dug holes for the priests to hide from being arrested and executed. He dug secret holes up and down the country such a way that no authorities could trace them. It was remarkable and ingenious mind of a Jesuit who managed to sustain the Catholic faith in Britain. I think English Catholics should know about Nicholas Owen, because of whom they are Catholics today. Eventually he was captured and sent to Tower of London. March 02, 1606 he was tortured to death. One gruesome report stated that they tortured Owen ‘such in human ferocity’ that he became disemboweled. In fact he was instrumental in the escape of John Gerard.

I wonder how many of us know about it? It is worth noting that Jesuits have a great history in Britain particularly during the time of Tudors. When I walked those little cells in the Tower, I came across a tiny table on which sat a blank paper, candle and an orange. My curiosity ran wild to know what it meant? And to my surprise, I was told that John Gerard wrote a letter using orange peels on a blank paper, which actually remained blank unless it was read against the fire. This is how the escape was planned. This remained strong in my mind and heart.

William the Conqueror commissioned the Tower of London in 1078 intended to protect the city against the invaders. This became Britain’s most infamous prison where martyrs like Thomas More were tried and executed.

When I made my way into different cells of the Tower, it almost felt like the blood of those who were tortured cried out from the stonewalls. On the one hand I felt grateful to the Lord that we don’t have such atrocities but on the other hand my heart went out for those who are being tortured in different parts of the world, like Syria. It is appalling to know that our so called advanced world witnesses so much violence, it seems like the world is valley of blood crying out for help. These are my short reflections on the Tower of London and its connection to Jesuits. There are enough details of it available online. 

Philharmonia Orchestra

After sipping a white caffe mocha at Starbucks a pleasant surprise awaited me at the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was a gigantic theatre with its colourful arena that bewitched me at the first sight. It was a thrilling experience to barge into this really royal theatre. With less or no experience of concerts made me little bit apprehensive about the whole project of watching Philharmonia Orchestra in a jam packed theatre and a huge stage set for musicians. 

A huge number of musicians took to stage to the brim. Everyone doing their adjustments before the time. A violinist arrived to take the centre stage who greeted the musicians and the audience. He was Andrew Haveron who is the concert master. He looked small in stature but his violin expertise showed his glory and fame. Then there arrived a man in black suit with a little stick in his hand to a huge applause. Apparently it came as huge surprise to me that people knew this famous conductor called Daniele Gatti, an Italian artist. 

The first piece of music was from Wagner, prelude, Act I, "a good friday Music, Parsifal." This piece was taken from the artist Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) of Romantic age. The first piece of music was for about 30 minutes. Absolutely scintillating performance thrilled me and the fellow spectators. Knowledge about this kind of orchestra is very menial, so a special effort helped to grasp and cope with this mind blowing musical piece. 

The second piece of music was from Mahler, Symphony No. 5  for about 70 minutes. This piece was absolutely incredible with its intricate and complex intonations. This was a big challenge to cope with long haul of music which looked the same as the previous. I should caution you that this was because of the lack of musical knowledge particularly orchestra. 

A brief study made me to understand the intricacies this musical piece involved. Wagner's melodic musical arch rises, then slowly falls back to its starting point, intensely focused and glowing inwardly like a candle flame carried silently through the darkness. This is the same experience most of us have at this concert. Its incredibly strong to feel that one has moved miles listening to music.

A little bit about the conductor Daniele Gatti. His vigour and gusto in conducting these two pieces of music mesmerised most the spectators. This world renowned artist made us wonder in awe. His movements and body language was enormously depicted in the music he conducted. Without a piece of script he would conduct the orchestra for about 70 minutes at the stretch. This shows his expertise and his talent to music. It really baffled me that he could do this without any scrip and with enormous gusto and zest. 

In conclusion I would like to express my thanks to Philharmonia Orchestra who put up a splendid performance which made me who is musical cripple to admire this romantic music, I am sure musicians out there will admire much better than I. 

God's Wedding

Arnobius writes at the turn of fourth century about the marriage and gods. Presumably for him life styles of the pagan gods and mortals were no difference. He writes:

Do the gods have wives, and do they enter marriage convents (conuiugalia foedera) on terms previously arranged? Do they swear to each other the oaths (sacramenta) of the marriage couch by cohabitation (usu), by the wedding cake (farreo), or by the purchase price (emptione)? Do they have girl friends whom they hope to marry (speratas), or to whom they are engaged (pactas), or to whom they are espoused (sponsatas). 

Source: Adversus nationes 4, 20 (CSEL 4, 157, 16).

A Song for Friends

All time hit song in Hindi originally sung by Jagjith Singh, a well known Indian singer. I have tried to sing but I am sure you will enjoy the original. So please listen to the original too, to know the real voice of the song. The photos are from my archives and old album of my friends. There are still more good friends who are not on it. May be I shall do one more video for them too. Please do enjoy the song and the photos. Cheers. 

My all time favourite song (Konkani)

This song is one of my all time favourite song and have tried to sing with my hoarse voice. I am sure have done justice to the original artist. He is all the best. Photos in this video are from England just boost the song. Hope you enjoy it. Lol.