What makes you different than an animal?

My dog is looking at me, and I’m telling you, she is trying to tell me something.

She has that dopey look in her eyes as she stares into mine. Her bone is hanging out of her mouth. And she seems to be saying to me, “Friend, let’s play. Could you please take this bone and throw it so that we can have some fun? That’s my purpose in life.”

Ok, maybe I have an unhealthy connection with my dog.

But sometimes she sees so, well, human.

Although we might be tempted to elevate our animals to our status, psychologists and scientists have been working to lower humans down to the level of mammals for more than 100 years.

Sigmund Freud, the father and founder of much of modern psychology, and his disciples, such as Alfred Adler and B.F. Skinner, all came from a Darwinian perspective. Freud emphasized that humans were motivated by gratifying our desires, something he called “the pleasure principle.” While Adler and Skinner reduced human motivation to power, conditioning, or survival.

In contrast, Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and Holocaust survivor, challenged those ideas, claiming that humans are more than animals and our motivations and desires go deeper than our biological urges. Something he called a “will to meaning.” He believed and taught that humans were meaning-making, purpose-driven creatures. And if we had a why then we would be able to endure most situations.

Frankl’s perspective is a doorway into good, Biblical theology. Namely, that humans are made in the image of God, in his likeness. We are motivated by our ability and desire to plan, make decisions, change the world around us, and make sense of the challenges we face. One of our deepest psychological and spiritual longings is to find our place in God’s grand narrative.  

Some takeaways:

·         You are more than a mere animal, driven by power or pleasure or procreation.

·         God designed you for a purpose.

·         With God’s help, live out your purpose by reflecting God as you serve one another in love.

·         Let your deepest sense of meaning motivate you to godly action.