All The Godly Creatures- Hirak Dasgupta

(A commentary on the human tendency to appraise and possess)

First, there was a bunch of dogs. Then came the pigeons, and now there’s a cow. Rain or shine, they all come to see me in the mornings.

Biscuits for the dogs. Leftover vegetables for the cow. And the pigeons are particularly fond of mustard. If you give them more than their daily quota, they’ll eat. If you give them less, they won’t complain.

They’ll just walk away without showing a hint of disappointment. I have come to believe that animals are incapable of feeling disappointed. They do feel love and anger and pain. Even sorrow. Like one mother dog cried all day after losing her pups to a tragic accident. But I’ve never seen even one of them show displeasure at the absence of food or a warm shelter. 

Attaching value to things is a very human thing. We attach value to aid and gifts and judge the givers based on how pricey their charity is. Like I remember this one incident where I scavenged a few coins from my empty pocket for someone who needed them more than me.

And he was clearly displeased at my effort. I was a pauper at the time, but the man wouldn’t believe me. And then I was in his shoes one day, finding myself utterly disgusted by a friend who had wired me less money than he had promised to salvage my situation. He didn’t need to send me the money. He was merely trying to help. But I thought to myself, “What a prick! Could he not have sent more?” 

Most of the things we possess or covet have instrumental value. We hoard cash and gold thinking them to be valuable. But if you can’t spend them, they become worthless.

Think of what becomes of banknotes in the event of demonetization. Some denominations might be rendered obsolete, and the hoarders left with mere pieces of elaborately printed paper.

But we will keep hoarding. Why, even art has become a currency of the rich. Why is a Chagall more expensive than say a Scott Kahn painting? 

I have never seen animals hoarding food although scientists identify some rodents, moles, birds, and even crabs and ants as what they call scatter-hoarders. They’ll carry more than they can eat and hide it in different places around their nests for future consumption.

I have seen plenty of mother cats and dogs carry food to their kids. But such behavior is either caregiving or preparing for a food shortage.

Our species will, however, try to hoard cash for their children and grandchildren and so on. The Waltons, Mars, Al Sauds, and so many like them plan so far ahead that they have already stockpiled enough cash and gold for the coming ten generations. 

Jesus apparently said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” But this message is intrinsically self-defeating. You are asking people to relinquish their possessions in one house for more expensive things in another. 

Epictetus says, “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” How can you dial down your desires if you can’t help yourself from attaching instrumental value to things? 

I remember watching Star Trek as a kid and then as a young adult. While the cool gizmos and visual effects caught my imagination during childhood, one overarching Star Trek theme did keep me hooked in adulthood – money has no meaning in the Star Trek universe.

How cool! Everyone shares resources, knowledge, and technology freely. There’s no competition, and the bad guys are those who still stick to the archaic practice of hoarding wealth or authority. And I began to think,

“Is it so difficult to achieve a society without competition?” Then I watched Enemy at the Gates, and the answer was right there, staring at me, in one monologue.

“I’ve been such a fool, Vassili. Man will always be a man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there’d be nothing to envy your neighbor. But there’s always something to envy. A smile, a friendship, something you don’t have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor.

Rich in gifts, poor in gifts. Rich in love, poor in love.” This is what Commissar Danilov says right before giving his life in one last act of bravery. 

The barter system began in Mesopotamia 8 millennia ago, giving rise to trade and commerce. The other tribes of the ancient world quickly picked it up as a means of hoarding stuff, and then envy turned hoarding into an addiction. If you observe chimpanzees, you will notice many typical human traits.

There’s envy, murder, rape, pillaging, annexation, and whatnot. Such behavior begs the question, is an evolved brain violent because of avarice? And is avarice a direct consequence of a highly evolved neural network’s tendency to appraise things? I say, yes.

What starts as preparing for food shortage in the less evolved species transforms into putting price tags on everything in the more evolved species. 

Be a worthy son. Be a worthy king. Be a worthy husband. It is the pursuit of worth that has driven man to conquer lands and unleash inexplicable cruelty on each other. The godly creatures, however, reside all around us. They are rich because they don’t appraise what Nature affords them. I love my dogs and pigeons and the stubborn cow. They might compete for mates, but they’ll never take more than they can eat. 

About the author

Hirak is an author, columnist, and activist from Durgapur, West Bengal.