“Man is the only playful animal . . .”   Eric Hoffer

Man’s two basic characteristics – playfulness and hesitation – are his prime movers. Those traits of consciousness are rarely mentioned in all of the musings from Plato to Freud to explain basic human nature.  Man is rarely homo sapien – the wise ape, nor is he initially competent as homo habilis – the tool-making ape or “handy man.”  And his hesitation, his haltering, his doubtfulness has never warranted a fancy latin name, but his characteristic breach between thought and action shows that his innate instincts do not rule his waking consciousness.  He is rather, homo ludens – the playful ape.  Lazy and smart, playful and fickle, his key characteristics are neither bad enough nor good enough for the great thinkers in history to have paid much heed.  Their goals were always to look for the angel and devil in man . . .

 PROSAIC attempts to describe the arc of human behavior that is rooted in man’s playfulness and hesitation.  Man’s basic nature is only slightly different from his closest primate relative, the chimpanzee, so they say.  Genetic differences are a mere 2%, so they say.   Man is a primate from earth only slightly different from his primate cousins, so they say.  But the differences are significant in how man interacts in the world.  But man’s description as an animal can proceed as it would with any animal from earth: what is his basic nature, how does he spend its days, and what unique characteristics does he possess that are marvelous and remarkable?

 There is no god or demon in man.  He is an animal from earth that is territorial, acquisitive, aggressive, emotional, fragile, fecund and curious.  He is smart, creative, and imaginative.  He is monogamous, polygamous, and sexually ambiguous.  His god, were he created from one, is the Demiurge, the god of the material universe.  His moralist, had he one, would be the deviant and amoral Pan.  His demon, were he to fall to one, would be himself on a bad day, or his closest companion that convinces him to exploit others.

 It is an unfortunate fact that even in the early 21^st century, most discussions about man continue to be couched in terms created by religionists and moralists from centuries past.  The last 150 years have demonstrated the prosaic nature of human life, a life of daily material existence that is marked by the striving to create new art, determine greater scientific knowledge, develop more technological competence, and make a more comfortable material environment.  Man seeks, above all, a better day, every day.  This is the most significant fact that is routinely ignored by the thinkers that continue to seek the devil and the angel in man.  They should start over, and with this easy and unremarkable fact as the starting point: Man is the playful and lazy animal from Earth.