Man cannot survive on the perceptual level of his consciousness; his senses
do not provide him with an automatic guidance, they do not give him the
knowledge he needs, only the material of knowledge, which his mind has to
integrate. Man is the only living species who has to perceive reality—which
means: to be conscious—by choice. But he shares with other species the
penalty of unconsciousness: destruction. For an animal, the question of
survival is primarily physical; for man, primarily epistemological.
Man’s unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting
themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to
himself. If a drought strikes them, animals perish—man builds irrigation
canals; if a flood strikes them, animals perish—man builds dams; if a
carnivorous pack attacks them animals perish—man writes the Constitution of
the United States. But one does not obtain food, safety or freedom—by
instinct.