Is one animal or human based on the decisions we make?
My past psychology class has taught me a lot about the human brain. It is the driving force of hunger, pain, sexual desire, emotions, and logic. Animals rely on instinct to survive. Humans can choose to ignore instinct in order to survive. If anyone has read the book "Dune" by Frank Herbert, you know that Paul Atredies was tested to see if he was human or animal. The Reverend mother placed his hand in a box and induced extreme pain. The animal instinct was to remove his hand from the box. He knew if he removed his hand, he would die and therefore be called an animal.
Humans have the power to control instincts if they wish. The most difficult instinct to overcome is sexual desire. We all know sex makes us feel good, but why do we have these feelings? It's to breed.
We don't breed with every person that walks down the street that we know is in heat. We choose who we want to share sex. Of course I'm not talking about those sluts, whores, and rapists out there. They are clearly animals.
Early in my life, I chose to wait until marriage to have sex. I broke that promise with myself because I was naive and I thought I was in love. Does that make me an animal?
I'm not sure.
So, again I vowed to myself, wait until marriage. So I did. Does that make me human?