Man is not just a 'sentient' being... he is more than that. If we are sentients at all. Given that we are information housed and executed in/from the locus of the mind - Charles H. Cooley. As information we are the biggest consumers of information, selected on the basis of what it means to us, not by our senses...though our senses are an aspect of our being. The most amazing aspect of the social imagination is that it is curious, not just a 'responder' to elements. We are able to contemplate the cosmos which is information and we exchange that information which gives us meaning about who we are and our position in the universe. We are information and we exchange information, freely. This is the full understanding of the 'social imagination'. The exchange of information and what it means to us has a greater impact on our senses as it shapes and changes what/ how we see, smell and taste!
Man is a composition of information. That effectively makes him an avatar, information in the flesh but not to be controlled by it. Yes, that is man's problem. He thinks more of the flesh than the kingdom within. He is more than a sentient being, a creature that perceives the world through senses. And, what are they? Means of taking information. Yes and no. How much of what is taken in is actually what it seems to be at 'face value'. An apple or orange is just an object until it is smelled, it is touched and tasted. But, even then what does it mean. It may only mean food to the mere animal but to man it means much more. The way it smells, feels and tastes - the entire experience of it for the man provides meaning in time and space.
Man also remembers the experience of consumption differently from the mere animal. For example, he may have had his first smell, tough and taste with a friend on a sunny day from his grandmother's tree or while walking along a country road in the late fall. Many foods have become symbols for circulating information that has nothing to do with the object as a thing to be consumed. The apple is a symbol of fertility, a symbol of intellect and curiosity. For that reason, as a symbol, it has sold a lot of merchandise. Animals, other kinds of 'sentient' beings don't have such experience with food that we as humans could ever understand. We might assume they have some preferences when it comes to taste, sweet or sour but likely that is all.
Man has yet to realize his potential. He keeps looking to the cosmos of outer space and fails to look inwards and within his sphere of interaction ~ the social imagination. Within that alone, there is an enormous quantum field of potentiality. Man is far more than a sentient being, he is no mere animal.
*In this illustration, there is no intent to denigrate sentient beings... only to recognize man's uniqueness.
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