What is unique about man? How is he different from other animals?
The mind. That is what is different. Man – the very word says it. Man is a thinking animal. Animals have only the physical dimension. They are predominantly biological and to a certain extent influenced by the environmental history. It is man, who inherits thousands of years of mental acheivements of his ancestors and enriches it every day.
The purpose of education is to convert the biological animal into the thinking man. The parents give the genes. It is the education that hands over the mental heritage. Unless man has the heritage of science, technology, history, arts, economics, politics, philosophy and the like from the earlier generations, he is not complete. Evolution of animals is through the genes. Evolution of the human species continues through education.
Religion and spirituality goes one more step further. Just as education brings out the man from the animal, religion brings out the God from the man. Religion continues where education stops. Education establishes the self-identity of man as a mental entity. Religion establishes the self-identity of man as a spiritual entity. Religion takes man beyond the limitations of the mind. If man has evolved from an animal into what he is today, religion holds the key to evolve further into the future.
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