I was reading Elizabeth Gilberts latest book Big Magic in which she refers to we humans as the creative ape. She is refering to our ability to create and make things. True, we are creative, we have made many things for function and for beauty.
I would ad that we are also the Justifying Ape. Meaning we are very good at justifying our behavior or someone elses behavior. We can justify our behavior to serve us in ways that may be helpful and kind or destructive and not kind- to ourselves, each other, the environment.
The challenge is to wake up, stay awake to our own thoughts, which lead to our emotions, which lead to our behavior. Then we won’t need to justify our behavior, we recognize our source.