I've been thinking about this question for a while now. It seems obvious what separates a human being from the rest of creation on the Earth - we have the ability to think - but how does this truly manifest itself? It can be argued that we feel emotions that other animals do not or cannot, yet how can we be sure this is the case? It isn't like plants or animals can vocalize their experiences...
Maybe that's the key, the experiences. When I was much younger I remember my perspective on the world. It was vastly different than it is now. I grew up as essentially a different person than who I am today because my perceptions, my experiences were different, and so it likely is with the rest of creation.
I would argue that the difference between mankind and the rest of creation is our intellect and therefore our ability to experience the world in a vastly different way than anything else. Our ability to think and our specific cognizance defines our experiences and thus is an expression of our individuality... Well, that seems like it's pretty common sense doesn't it?
Yes, but this same principle can be extended in the opposite direction. If we are different from other parts of creation by virtue of our ability to experience the world in a way that other creatures cannot, then it must be asked if there are experiences more complete than what our own intellect provides? Maybe our experience of our lives represents only a small fragment of what there is to experience... Maybe there is a perspective - a super-perspective if you will - that enables a more complete view.
I believe that is our ultimate destiny, if we exist for a reason, that reason may be the extension of our intellect into the realm of the spiritual. When we gain a super-perspective, we become "enlightened," we understand more of creation and the Creator. We become as the spiritual masters of the past, as Rumi, as Shams, as Al-Hallaj or as countless others. We become One.
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