Sentience or “Consciousness” exists upon a Spectrum. Throughout the course of life and everyday, a being may move Up or Down that continuum. Raw feral instinct in the lower end, deep thought in the middle center, and, what the Buddhists call “Great Compassion,” at the higher end of the spectrum. Human beings exists upon a Spectrum and, like the rest of us, it is never static. One can move up or down the Spectrum of Consciousness: full of empathic understanding one day, a callous ape man the next. Up and down we’re able to go, down and up again, maybe further than before, maybe not.

Consider an animal, any animal, fighting for mere survival. Now, consider that animal satiated, safe, and loved. Removed from base concerns, its capacity for empathy, and ultimately comprehension, expands. It has been elevated Up the Spectrum of Consciousness. Such are the conditions that encourage Deep Thought, and Deep Thought, philosophy, may lead to great compassion, holistic understanding, and even cross species communication.

But toss that animal back into chaos and cruelty, and it may revert to old survival habits, moving back down the spectrum or not! Perhaps it retains some of its enlightenment, perhaps it brings those lessons with it, illuminating the darkness of base survival with the light of Reason. Perhaps it is even great enough to spread Compassion.

Although most readily perceptible in humans due to our capacity for conceptual language, other species of being are just as capable of moving up the spectrum, especially once liberated from the primitive Darwinian survival struggle of the food chain. It is why dogs can live with and love cats, why cats can live with and love rats, and why rats, despite all our species attempts to exterminate them, can live with and love humans.

We humans are only partly rational; Imperfect evolution has meant that our biological bodies (as opposed to our conceptual selves) have prefrontal lobes that are too small and adrenal glands that are too big. Our consciousness, therefore, not just our brains (those imperfect machines that enable it), are our most reliable source for self-improvement; our continuing slippery journey to greater awareness of ourselves, the world we live in, and those we share it with.

Remember, nobody is interested in talking philosophy while they’re freezing or while their children are starving to death. Therefore, before we may reach someone on ethical grounds, we must first free them from the survival struggle by giving them food, shelter, and love.

Logic, Reason, Empiricism: these are not ends in themselves; they are tools. Perspective is what makes the difference. If one is in the throes of self-aggrandizement, one may reason to justify the most base of atrocities far beyond simple survival, but if one combines pragmatic utilitarianism with compassion it becomes clear that such a being should accomplish things great beyond the mere survival of the self, actions which benefit not only the few but the Many. Love shared is not divided; love shared is love multiplied, so too with knowledge and comprehension.

However, improvement is not a natural given. Cancers, defects, diseases, and bad ideas keep us sliding back to our more primitive, more tribalistic communicative states. It is a microcosmic example of the forces of entropy and deconstruction subtracting from our existence, but our higher intellect, our empathy, and our creativity are always pushing forward, making the arduous climb both individually and collectively as a species again and again. Like king Sisyphus, this can seem a frustrating, even cruel and impossible fate. So long as we individually and collectively try to improve, we will keep the beckoning darkness of ignorance at bay. If we continue to stubbornly climb that spectrum of consciousness, where might we be in another 13,000 years?