Keep an Open Heart

"Optimistically," mother looked back at Phil, "you can view life as an experience and not a mere burden."

"Well, when it comes to doing the things I don't like, I'd rather take the pessimistic approach," joked Phil.

"Or to be realistic, there are both pros and cons to life, as all things in it." Sophie joins them with some lingulata juice at the table. "We went to the historical museum today, mom and the things we saw and learned about still have me shaking."

"What things did you see that interested you?" asked mother. Sophie illustrated symmetrical horizontal arches connected by an acute arch pointing upwards.

"Is it a heart?" questioned mother.

"Where do you see a heart, mother?" asked Phil.

"It's a simplified and conceptual form of a heart, right, mom?" Sophie seeks validation from their mother.

"Yes, Sophie, this symbol originated in the Indus Valley, Harappa. Its significance was prevalent in ideas of love."

"Why?" asked Phil, now invested. "What does the heart have to do with emotions? Doesn't the brain have more control over that, or even the stomach when you get queasy? Also, it looks nothing like the organ."

"Well, there were many things that people back then conceptualized. They used vast amounts of figurative language and symbolism." Mother went out of the room and came back with something behind her back after a couple of minutes. "Many beliefs, ideas, shared experience, and desires were alimented by validation of others, specifically those with more power." Mother joins the kids at the table and takes a gentle seat; the kid's eyes widened. Mother pressed on the middle of the warm metal; opening it, she explained, "It's a heart locket. People would put pictures of their loved ones here or would engrave them."

"Basically, items that showed affection," Sophie grabbed the necklace in awe. "It's interesting to learn how people created symbolism for many things, things that were at first abstract then created by man and made real, almost as if they created their own worlds and realities." Sophie pondered.

"Did it help them survive? Oops, that question was stupid; the A.W. would have never happened."

"Well, people then most predominantly focused on a micro perspective which limited them to see the macro." Explained mother.

"Like a survival mechanism." Added Sophie tilting her head slightly.

"You lost me there; how is a limited perspective of anthropocentrism, a 'survival mechanism,' ironically make a whole species go extinct?"

Mother smiles. "Yea, I guess I missed a part."

"You think?" Phil widens his eyes and leans forward. "Well, go ahead and tell us; it sounds like some sort of important history lesson. Although, hopefully, we can educate ourselves of the past without it being in vain; to repeat it as if we learned nothing."

"Okay, Phil, we get it; you're so much better," mocks Sophie. "Just because today we have a more empirical approach to cosmogony does not mean their beliefs were invalid."

"I'll try to explain some of it; of course, I cannot speak firsthand," inputs mother. It seems that love and the symbol of a heart were intertwined; there was a whole holiday for it too. These ideas brought them together."

Phil interrupts, "Valentine's Day, right? Oh, well, now it makes sense, so this 'heart' symbol is another capitalistic thing that kept the economy flowing to attain a functional society which in turn reinforces their purpose of existence as important?" asked Phil.

"Well, Phil, you kind of drifted to another subject there, but, yea, it was a belief that capitalism and economies, in general, kept society afloat, which in turn maintained and validated the idea of anthropocentrism."

"In what way," asked Phil.

"People believed that economies created more organization among themselves; this is the way they administered resources. Going back to the heart symbolism, these small ideas were as important as other bigger ideas because the more things that could support the notion of the human perspective, the more it made everything better. They could only firsthand see the world through their own eyes, their own subjectivity. In other words, it was presenting external evidence of the world to the abstract ideas in their thoughts."

"Personally, I never understood the hype of humans being so great; octopi, on the other hand, are on another level."

"Yes, but octopi have many capacities for defending themselves from predators such as ink and camouflage," Sophie stated. "Their average life span is three to five years. They are semelparous and die soon after mating. Their survival mechanisms are vastly different to humans; humans lacked many physical advantages," explained Sophie.

"Exactly, what do humans have that they thought made them superior? Humans were basically featherless bipeds with their weakest points exposed front and center. They thought their best attribute was their brains which could make inferences, imagine scenarios, reflect on thoughts that led to discoveries and inventions. At one point, they didn't worry about predators eating them anymore. Instead, they feared themselves; they were their own enemies. What was the purpose of war? Their beliefs were their predators; they wanted their own beliefs to be objective, the only truth, not being tolerant of differences, fighting for being at the top of the hierarchy, for dominance, governors of all." Phil tries to catch his breath but lets a heavy sigh and looks down in disappointment. "And it all ended in their own obliteration with the great and mighty Atomic War; for sure they were smart creatures alright."

"Woah there, Phil, are you okay?" inquired Sophie. "There is no use applying logic here."

"But because of them, we have to deal with all this radiation. We have to work harder to rebuild a planet that was full of life at one point, all because they could not handle seeing the bigger picture," bellowed Phil.

"Well, optimistically speaking, we still have the Ginkgo biloba," mother smirks. "And," she emphasizes, "at least we can grasp that we make mistakes, that life has had its falls. We are conscious of our flaws, and that is progress, don't you think? Maybe from here thereon we learn from humans to not limit ourselves to being at a fixed point of 'greatest,' but rather to progress and improve which in turn is not a destination but a journey."

"I do hope so." Phil gently grasps one of his mother's warm tentacles.