The Apes' Survey (4): At The Bear's Den

“So it was not possible
To reach the whole truth,
Because the half person who entered
Always brought the profile of half a truth "
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade)

The cold of the mountain kept terrible surprises in the pocket. And as twilight approached, he drew them with the most perfidious intentions. By five in the afternoon, a paralyzing wind began to blow with such force that Potsherd feared for the whole group. Who could bail – he thought – that the discoverers of the Mammoth and Man, by irony or coincidence, tomorrow would not become the discovery of others: a cube of water with four objects, that the spell of time would make more valuable than the rock they had found?
Potsherd had already thought of it, but when the north wind howled on the glacier, could not help reviewing his ideas of dropout. However, this time he did it in a light that made them irresistible as a mermaid and her singing in the ears of a castaway. So that he thought it definitely better to go back into the forest than to perish from cold there. Glass, however, uncovered his thoughts:
- Cheer up, cheer! said he with the rest of his strength and more to himself than to his companion. The love of truth has moved us to this inquiry. We can’t finish it by a waiver.
- Love, love! Potsherd exclaimed. The most inspiring and the highest of feelings, yet how faint reflections it casts on the will, simian or human! How often the next day of love comes to be disillusionment and betrayal! Only an oracle ironic, a contradictory decree of heaven may have determined that the noblest of feelings gave birth to the poorest of volitions!
- Potsherd, no! Monkey Glass said horrified. The commitment we contracted and made firm by an oath cannot be betrayed now! Let us join valour to love, and confidence to valour, brother. Let us go!
These words of Glass expressed more fidelity than wisdom, more constancy than true reason. They were imbued with the ineffable, which has the magic power to trim the burnt wicks and to rekindle, one by one, the extinguished torches of faith. It could be said that an invisible constellation thus lit, glowed with renewed ardor in the firmament of each one’s soul and was responsible for the restoration of that supremacy of the spirit over circumstances that leads to impossible winnings.

That burning allowed them to resume walking, although downwards, which means off the glacier. As they descended, a growing relief cheered them, but so slowly that seemed to trickle in their souls. Half way down, when the full moon bathed the way with its rays, they heard a hoarse loud sound coming from the sparse vegetation, and the silhouette of a Bear of swarthy fur emerged from the bushes.

Meeting with a Bear at that time and that place was the height of bad luck, Potsherd thought, cruelty of Fortune, conspiracy of unloved Muses or whatever else but chance. Earthenware froze with fear when the Bear finished out of the woods and looked at the four guys with hunger. Desperate, he jumped around as Apes do in a multitude of situations. But seeing that the dramatic acting neither shook the Bear, nor inspired the group to confront him, Ware sat down and covered his eyes with his fingers, not to see the enormous beast attend his supper.
With more presence of mind, Tile risked the strategy of camaraderie. Undaunted, he went to the newcomer:
- Good night, Mr. Bear!
- Good evening, Simian, replied the brute.
- Where are you going at this hour?
- I'm going to play. And you?
– Seek the shelter we slept last night, but have not found it.
- Humm... did the Bear. Would you join me? I live in a spacious cave. There is straw enough for five beds. And also food. I was quite successful in hunting these days.
Upon hearing the last sentence, Ware froze again. Potsherd was more resigned, Glass had reservations, but Tile thought: "Won’t escape, if he wants us as a delicacy. We’d better accept his invitation.” And he did it immediately, on behalf of the whole group. So they went to the Bear's den.
In the shelter, as they talked, the four felt increasing confidence in their host. Helped them the discovery that the Bear was actually in possession of a vast supply of meat, that the low temperatures kept from the worms. So that they ended up regaining confidence, when the owner of the meat packing plant (for the deposit of mangled animals inside the den was no less than that) began to offer them all kinds of meats, accompanied by herbs of various qualities and colors. Only Ware continued to distrust. He thought: "What if he's a serial killer?" But as metabolism is capable of prodigies, along the feast he also relaxed.
After having regaled themselves with delicacies or interrupted dinner, according to the case (or the stomach size), the guests began to talk excitedly. Spoke about mild things and, in the end, the Bear asked his guests:
- What are you doing in so cold a place? Don’t you prefer the heat of the foot of the mountain?
- In terms of preference, we are inclined to the forest, responded Tile. But we were given a mission. That's why we're here.
- Mission? asked the Bear. Of what kind?
– One of a special kind: research of the origin of species.
– Humm... did the Bear intrigued. I understand. What do you think about Darwin's ideas on this subject?
- Ingenious, responded Tile. But we reserve thinking about the matter in a less pretentious manner, so to speak. We don’t have the intention to find an evolutionary explanation valid for all beings from the abiotic to Bears, Apes and Men.
There was flattery in that response. Tile continued:
- Take the case of the origin of life. Neodarwinism proposes that the first living being formed by spontaneous binding of molecules within a primitive broth. The explanation goes for the whole spectrum of life. According to scientists, all living things come from that spontaneous origin. I suspect an explanation of that broad scope is outside the realm of science. The greatest empirical discovery of all time could not rule it out.
The Bear owned a cryptic wisdom. Shortly speaking, he listened much and reflected even more. From time to time, he provoked the participants of the dialogue with shrewd questions. After listening attentively to Tile’s reasoning, he said:
– In the last four centuries, Men have noised the visible sky is much more miniaturized than they had thought. The actual size of the objects on its frame is much greater, because the distances that separate them are incalculable. I wonder if life started countless times in that cosmic scale.
A lot more at ease, Earthenware intervened:
- No doubt. If life was often engendered in many ways and on so vast a scale, why the spontaneous origin of it, which science describes, and its divine creation, proposed by religions, can’t be simultaneously true? I ask myself if, when acknowledging the immensity and eternity of the cosmos, scientists have not established the very premises that lead to the consequence of the divine origin of life.
- Theoretical physicists increasingly suggest the possibility of the universe being a multiverse, namely a concert of worlds, of which ours is just one, interrupted the Bear. Most think that these multiple universes are governed by different sets of natural laws, some more others less conducive to the formation of life as we know it.
- Let's lengthen the views of our intellect, said Ware, let’s lengthen them greatly, and we will clearly see that in a timeless multiverse, everything can happen. Therefore, if life can arise in various ways, all these different beginnings must have occurred. The divine origin of life is one of the possibilities: how not to take it seriously?
- Humm, did the Bear, prolonging the sound at the end a little further. The theme of the eternal universe reminds us of the ancient Greek philosophers, doesn’t it?
- Humm, Monkey Ware muttered, mimicking his caller without noticing. Unfortunately, it became common to mutilate the tradition of philosophers, when trying to retake it. The ancient Greeks thought the universe was eternal, but invariably found room for the divine within it. It's not what happens today. Man’s current obsession about deleting gods from the world somehow challenges the logical foundation of their science. After all, if the multiverse is eternal, a level of divine beings must have formed inside it.
And he inlaid in the speech the closing of anguish:
- To be or not to be: that's the question! To be or not to be like humans is the question! If we follow our human relatives, the investigation in which we engaged will have a direction and a conclusion. We will be seen by our community as little more than humanized Monkeys. If we divert them, the end of our investigation will be quite another. And we will finish as authentic Apes. We have our feet planted at this crossroad.
On the Bear’s mind, the discussion seemed to help the digestion of the appetizer. But he found the conversation much for little food. To the Monkeys it seemed little for much food. So, they continued to talk, while the Bear completed his meal. When all were satisfied, they went to the soft beds of straw that the Bear had provided.
The cold in the cave punished more the Apes than the Bear.