How Unique You Are! - Conclusion of Memory and More!

Nonetheless, each of us experiences consciousness. For example, our vivid memories of past events are not mere stored facts, like computer bits of information. We can reflect on our experiences, draw lessons from them, and use them to shape our future.  We are able to consider several future scenarios and evaluate the possible effects of each. We have the capacity to analyze, create, appreciate, and love.  We can enjoy pleasant conversations about the past, present and future.  We have ethical values about behavior and can  use them in making decisions that may or may not be of immediate benefit.  We are attracted  to beauty in art and morals. In our mind we can mold and refine our ideas and guess how other people will react if we carry these out.

Such factors produce and awareness that sets humans apart from other life-forms on earth.  A dog, a cat, or a bird looks in a mirror and responds as if seeing another of its kind. But when you look in a mirror, you are conscious of yourself as a being with the capacities just mentioned.  You can reflect on dilemmas, such as:  'Why do some turtles live 150 years and some trees live over 1,000 years, but an intelligent human  makes the news if he reaches 100?'  Dr. Richard Restak states:  "The human brain, and the human brain alone, has the capacity to step back, survey its own operation, and thus achieve some degree of transcendence. Indeed, our capacity for rewriting our own script and redefining ourselves in the world is what distinguishes us from all other creatures in the world."

Man's consciousness baffles some.  The book Life Ascending, while favoring a mere biological explanation, admits:  "When we ask how a process  [evolution] that resembles  a game of chance, with dreadful penalties  for the losers, could have generated such qualities as love of beauty and truth, compassion, freedom, and above all, the expansiveness of the human spirit, we are perplexed.  The more we ponder our spiritual resources, the more our wonder deepens." Very true.  Thus, we might round out our view of human uniqueness by a few evidences of our consciousness that illustrate why many are convinced  that there must be an intelligent Designer, a Creator, who cares for us.

Next time: How Unique You Are! - Art and Beauty

From the book Is There a Creator That Cares About You?