Forms of Consciousness
That’s one, I guess, though Darwin
probably did not know
that one’s awareness
and the organism’s ability to survive
were so much in tune.
And is this true, as well, with plants;
Trees for example, killing weeds
within their area’s purview;
Or the deciduous ones,
hibernating through the winter,
just like polar bears?
Or something like the Venus Fly Trap:
Did it have to wait ‘til bugs came along
to be what it was?
And how did it decide?
Don’t tell me it’s all only a matter of chance,
this survival stuff.
We say, well, we’re people.
We think.
We decide what’s best,
then make our choices.
And that’s because we’re conscious,
that we know how to put two and two together
to get a four instead of five.
Pretty arrogant, Huh!
You imagine that that’s how we got brains
in the first place.
We sat down together
while we were still like paramecia,
and made the decision
that a higher order of intelligence
would be the best way
of taking on the competition,
that simple was out, and complexity,
along with puffed out heads,
was the right road to take.
So that was how it happened, I suppose.
A bunch of guys and gals
just made a mish-mash of their gene pool,
redirected their stem cells,
so we’ve got this funny nose and these ears that stick out at one end,
and those silly useless toes at the other.
That’s why climbing trees now is so much trouble.