joy and aspirations

Over the years, I have heard dozens of things that are the "one difference between animals and humans".  Most of them left me wondering if there was any difference.  But then I hear "the one thing humans do that other species do not is aspire". 
All my life I have heard we humans are not animals.  Since I have always loved animals and was raised by 2 parents that also loved them, I never understood why that differentiation was even necessary.  Apparently, it is needed when treating them like assets and resources.  "Don't name farm animals, it makes it hard to eat them."

I have heard farmers and hunters and mean little boys, that animals don't feel pain "like we do" and they don't get scared 'like we do".  I have also heard from those same people that it is best to not chase something right before you kill it as it makes it taste "gamey".  Translate this, its pumping out adrenaline and that copper-penny taste in your mouth when you are terrified, that goes all through the meat.  Sounds a lot like fear.

I have heard religious leaders go on and on about God giving us stewardship of the planet and use of all the planets and animals of the earth.  That only the humans have souls so using the animals is not bad.  It is what god made them for.  Those same leaders have gone through shifts in thinking and also determined that women (that didn't have souls before) have souls and people of other cultures (what would have been called "savages" in less politically correct times--read "not like us") have souls.  I'm thinking that those soul experts may not have much more idea about all that than the average 3 year old--or turkey.

I have heard scientists complain about soft-hearted animal lovers anthropomorphizing animals, giving them attributes of love, caring for their young, having friends, playing, mourning their dead, communicating and being emotionally ill--depressed, sad, happy, confused.  I have heard later studies that showed that those same attributes, while ascribed to instinct in the animal, were then considered to be present due to the change from dissection to understanding animals to observation to understand animals.  And while memories were though to be decidedly human, we have all seen dogs responding to their missing human returning after a long time, elephants recognizing a specific elephant from years before. 

So that leaves us with our human search for god, our soul, and aspirations.

I don't know why humans search for god, or seek answers to why we exist or think we have a soul.  None of those three things are knowable about animals because we can't really know anything about them with humans.  We humans speak to each other, but not to animals.  The old assumption that people that didn't speak our language therefore they were not smart, did not know god or have souls was long ago proven to be a case of poor communication.

I do know animals feel joy.  I have seen it in their faces, watched it in their movements, or maybe I'm just anthropomorphizing.  I have seen birds sitting in a ray of sunlight after it has rained for days, and they have their heads up and their eyes closed and a look of pure peace.  I have seen a dog that is not a very good dog so seldom out to run, take off running like a maniac, grinning like a fiend and tail flying while he runs fast and hard and comes back around repeatedly.  I have seen a cat that settles down after alone all day, snuggles in, purrs and rubs  and kneads whatever is close.  I have seen joy on the faces of elephants in videos and joy on the faces of big cats when the person that raised them comes to visit.  I have seen it when an animal that used to always be next door comes for a visit.  It is hard to describe but I know it when I see it---it looks like more than happiness, it looks transcendant.

But Aspirations.  A strong desire to achieve.  Not just people-pleasing.  NOT just attention-seeking, and Not just trying to become rich and famous, but the desire to actually achieve a thing that has not been achieved before--either personally and/or by mankind.  Animals can like attention and treats and pats on the head, can be competitive (prey and predators are both competitive).  But the aspiration to get humanity into space, to build a tower to heaven, to see an atom, to create world peace, to end poverty---to aspire--that is something I have not seen in other species.

Joy is good.  Joy is great.  But to aspire to something that moves us all to a better place in history.
That would give us all joy.