Two men walked along the rocky shore of a beach on a grey, somewhat windy day. The air was just cold enough to be uncomfortable—Bearable, but uncomfortable. One of them loved the weather. It kept his mind sharp. He had lived here his entire life, and had seen many, many days like this. His reddish-brown, curled hair flew in the wind and a black scarf trailed behind him from his black jacket. The other couldn’t stand it—He was from a place where it was always warm and wet. He had made the mistake of wearing a simple set of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt and was paying the price. As the wind swept around his brown hair, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight as Roman pillars.
The first man picked up a round stone, turning it over in his hand and said, simply, “Next month I’m going to begin my novel.”
The second smiled and said “Duane, you’re always writing something. You know, I’ve been thinking of a novella to begin myself. I want to write about a fictional drug—I’ve been thinking the street name for it will be “Flood”.
Duane tossed the stone into the cold, black waves and paid deep attention to the sound as it made contact with the water.
“It sends you into throes of euphoria at first, like most drugs… but after you come down, you lose memory of taking it in the first place.”
“I like that. Tell me more, Kai.”
Kai went on, gazing into the grey sheet of rainclouds separating the sky from the earth. It wasn’t raining yet, but the air itself seemed to be holding its breath like a wind orchestra before the conductor’s baton falls.
“Well, my narrator obviously doesn’t remember anything after the fact… But Flood acts as a gateway for him to another world, one that’s more colorful and one that almost forces him to be more philosophical and reflective in nature. The real world would be much more dull and cynical, with colors not unlike today.”
Kai withdrew a cigarette from his breast pocket and pressed it to his lips, but kept it unlit. “A recurring theme I want to include is the concept of Faith… specifically, blind faith.”
“I see. I like that. The other day I was discussing the idea of how Faith and Belief are two different concepts; it effectively boiled down to the notion that Beliefs can be rational, such as the belief that policemen show up when you call 9-1-1. This is in stark contrast to Faith, which, by definition, is irrational: The faith that drinking a Jewish Zombie’s blood removes all wrongdoings from your conscience. We took it one step further to say that Beliefs are even necessary for rational thinking.” Duane readjusted his fingerless gloves as he finished the sentence, having momentarily forgotten that he wasn’t alone.
“Well”, responded Kai slowly, “I agree that there’s a difference between Faith and Belief. I don’t know, however, if it’s completely irrational to have Faith.”
“Isn’t that what it is by definition, though? Growing up in a Christian school, all I heard was ‘Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’” Duane’s hazel eyes met Kai’s brown irises and showed a curious look.
“I suppose Faith itself is irrational, but what I really mean is that I don’t know if we should act by reason alone.” Kai finally lit his cigarette, and took a long drag from it. “Cold, hard logic seems like an almost inhuman thing to base your entire life on.”
“I’m with you there. I’d even say that sometimes it’s beneficial not just to act irrationally, but antirationally—That is, to do something just because you logically shouldn’t. The Chinese Daoists Laozi and Zhuangzi were all about it. ” Duane stared back out onto the waves of the lake. It was so big that you couldn’t see the opposite shore. It looked as though the lake fell off the edge of the world. “I mean, all I’m saying is that I think a little bit of faith is necessary. Everyone needs faith in something, even if they just have faith for the sake of having faith.”
“Duane, you just nailed the theme of my novella. ’It’ll all work out. How do I know? I don’t! It just will.’” Kai took another drag before crushing the half-smoked cig onto a rock, and slipping it back into his case.
“You know, that’s why a lot of Jews don’t call themselves secular, but they don’t believe in God either. That’s fascinating to me, because if they don’t believe in God, where does the motivation for morality come from? If you ask one, he might say ‘I just have faith in Faith.’”
“Well, Duane, now we’re talking about two different issues now: Faith and morality. They’re related, but not the same. It’s a big question for a Jew, a gentile, a ginger, what have you: Where does morality come from?”
Duane sighed as he readjusted his square-rimmed glasses. “I don't think Morality comes from God, I just don't know where it comes from, because I am not entirely sure that morality is COMPLETELY a social construct. Everything is pointing to the fact that it is, but... I can't shake the feeling that even if there's no such thing as ‘evil’, there is such a thing as ‘good’.”
“Morality for me is a product of cultural, social and historical context. We have morals because we live in a society that is "civilized". Where we lack morals is when we were savage. I usually prefer to think animals as equals to humans, but I must ask, do animals have morals? Perhaps they are free of all constructs, to do whatever they want. Humans on the other hand imposed a system on them, that in order to work must have morals.” Kai nodded as he thought on, forgetting the frigid temperature that seemed to be dropping further.
“Well, that brings up a few questions. Firstly, is it inherently "bad" when we're savage? In other words, should we value civilization as heavily as we do? Secondly, even if animals don't have morals, say they have beliefs, have rational thoughts, such as crows. Do we then grant them personhood, seeing as what constitutes a "person" (at least where I’m from) is the capacity for rational thought. Thirdly (and this is a question to humor my curiosity), Do animals act solely on instinct, or is there ration, or even EMOTION?” Duane seemed quite anxious to get to the crux of the issues, without realizing that they had gone almost completely off topic. He picked up another rounded stone and held it up to his eye level, inspecting it as though it could contain gold.
Kai didn’t hesitate. “Well, I think we’re freer when we’re being savage. For me, civilization is this big mess that we're stuck in that seems hard to escape. I think the Greeks valued civilization just because they thought it was “obviously better” than being one of the “barbarians”. For me, civilization is a necessary evil—Or should I say necessary limitation?”
Duane nodded contemplatively as Kai went on.
“As for your second and third questions, I don’t really know. I think a lot of humans have this superiority complex that humans are intrinsically superior to animals, because they don't understand animals. I think animals have rationality and emotions, but in a totally different way. They needn't be granted our idea of "personhood" because they are rational and emotional "beings" in their own way. In fact, there's no need to personify other beings because that's just assuming that animals need to adopt rational thought and emotions like ours to reach our level.”
Duane interjected. “So the main issue isn’t personhood, it’s anthrocentrism?”
Kai nodded firmly. “Exactly. Humans have the tendency to assume their form to be the center of everything. It's easy to make that assumption, since you see and feel everything from your own body. The Greeks thought their polis was the center of the flat world. Christians thought we were above animals and right below Angels, but in a way we are even above the Angels because we've got Free Will! Even the monotheistic religions assume that God must take a form resembling the human form in some way!”
Duane and Kai continued their conversation all the way up the shore, until they reached a place where the shore kissed the edges of town. A small coffee shop looked inviting to the both of them, so they went inside and warmed themselves alongside tall mugs of rich, aromatic coffee.
“I mean, if you locked a grizzly bear, a Bengal tiger, and the average human male in a room, we know who won’t be walking out of there. We should have respect for animals of any kind, even if it’s a carnal, visceral respect.” Duane sipped his drink thoughtfully.
“Ever since humans have developed the capacity to kill animals without an amazing feat of strength, we’ve lost respect for them.” Kai stared out the window as rain began to tap against the window impatiently. “The invention of the gun probably did more harm than good for the human race.”
Duane smiled proudly. “If I were to ever travel, the only thing I’d carry with me for protection would be a simple bowie knife. And even then, it would mainly be for utility’s sake! Who do you think should own guns?”
Kai made a face as though he had swallowed something rotten. “No one. Why are they necessary? Even in the case of a military—Hell, if I had my way there’d be no such thing—but I don’t think even police or other officials should have guns. Judo seems more effective anyway!” He half-joked as he swallowed half of his coffee.
The rest of their meeting was passed in silence. Kai left soon after, calling a taxi to get back to his apartment. Duane sat in the corner of the shop, contemplating all they had discussed. He drained the rest of his drink as he meditated on all of the ideas.
“Are you done with this extra mug, here?”
Duane was shocked out of his thought by the sudden question. “Uhm… oh! Yes. Thank you.”
The girl was cute, a short redhead. As she turned around, Duane couldn't help but laugh as he caught sight of her green nametag.
