machina animata; a Metaphysical Problem

Nevermind their extraordinary funeral rites, in which the corpse of a dead elephant will be 

visited not just by immediate friends and relatives but by many distant tribes of wiser

and dimmer elephants alike. Nevermind the way all of them will mourn together 

standing solemnly over the corpse of a perfect stranger and well after the hour 

of its death; that they will share perhaps – or attempt to share – what this

particular elephant might have done with his life to distinguish himself 

from the other elephants. Nevermind that it’s possible for an elephant –

and not very many people are aware of this – to lift all four of its feet

from the ground at once. I know that the human body has given 

me what I’m supposed to be satisfied with…The fact is I 

feel ashamed that I, a mere bi-ped, cannot 

remember the last time I raised my 

whole body from the earth, 

even just for a

moment

.