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Happy Birthday man! Hope you have/had a great one!

For myself its all dependent on the context. Some issues I might have with artists are going to be greater than others. Their involvement in a product is also a factor, as well as how much they might benefit. There are so many variables, that I tend to take it on a case by case basis.

As phrased, putting aside the natural fact humans are animals, probably languages.

Speaking to isn't necessarily the same as communication, and there are so many animals with different ways of interaction with each other, that are so foreign and unique to how humans communicate... So even if we go with the more liberal interpretations of being able to speak to animals, in that we can communicate, and understand each other enough, on whatever level that may be, to make interactions meaningful... what does that mean? Are we going to acquire new pheromones and chemicals we can emit? Will our body change to accommodate new organs and body parts to pulsate, flash, vibrate or so on? Will be like Beast Boy mixed with Suneater? Some animals communicate with dung. Like there are all sorts of complexities and questions and clarifications that would need to be had with "speak to animals/communicate with animals".

However... if it were some sort of word of god type power, and or you got to change your physiology to command animals... you could do a lot with that, it would be the more powerful choice. On the flip side, at its more mundane, you would be able to confuse animals who don't understand what you are trying to tell them, and if they do understand they will ignore you, or try and take advantage of you, as they beg to you for more food.

Languages with other humans, is somewhere in the middle. The potential ramifications not as high, but its lowest application is higher than the lower ends of animal speaking. You could have a very satisfying life, being able to communicate with so many more different types of people, including those that might have rarer languages. You may even be able to save preserve history by helping document dying languages. It could get complicated though, potentially... is maths a language? What does knowing all of math even mean? Are you going to be able to advance science this way? In what ways? Do you know alien languages? Does this circumvent the rules, as aliens could count as animals? How is your brain coping with all this knowledge?

Third party collaboration. Not a bad idea, decent! Thanks.

Also does that mean that all the people in this thread, would be okay with someone random killing their loved ones, children, parents, partners, friends and so on... if the killer claimed God told them to do it? You would give approval?

You have sufficient expertise and understanding to verify that you aren't "crazy"?? Or do you mean to get verified by others?

What if the thing talking to you wasn't God and was just trying to trick you?

Thank you kindly. Sometimes I am a bit too longwinded, but usually because I have strong views and am too lazy to edit.

I agree with your sentiment about hope, its well said. If I had more time, I might have thought to phrase better, to emphasis on your own agency, but to also not put too much weight on the idea you are owed anything. When you cultivate relationships with people, the dynamic will change, in contrast, if you do not cultivate one...

Also alongside you can develop and grow as an individual yourself too. Which is good general advice for young people, who wish they had more friends and romantic partners. Make yourself an interesting person, with hobbies, and passions and strong views. When you like spending time with yourself, others will want to as well. Of course again its more complex than that too.

Thank you for the reply!

You don't have to seperate the two. I mean, its very natural for us to do so and ask such questions... but you can also ask yourself why? Why do I ask such questions, where I should question whether I should care for myself as an individual, more than those that are not myself? Both are interesting questions, and in pursuit of both you can learn a lot of interesting ideas from philosophy, science, religion, art, fiction etc

There is a similar philosophical debate some have over selfishness and selflessness, are there any true selfless acts? For examples people given, you can often find, some small tiny loophole, or motivation or sense of benefit of the self behind the act, that can be argued to be self motivated in some way, like ideologically, or ego, or empathy or so on. Then to others, the argument is silly, and gets hung up on the abstract too much. Actions have degrees of selfishness and selflessness and its the arrangement, dynamic and context of the situation that is more important. A person who goes out and does good deeds that benefit others, may have a warm feeling at night as they ready to rest, which could be argued to be a selfish feeling, but its silly to frame it such, or them as selfish and therefore such acts not more ideal than someone who spends each day making others lives worse.

If you have a best friend, best friends, an exclusive romantic sexual partner, parents, brothers and sisters, children, the line gets really blurry about how much you care about them versus how much you care about yourself. Even more complicated and blurry when you consider they will have those connections beyond just you as well.

Many people often care more about others than they care about themselves, but... even then, usually, that care they have for others, still reflects personal necessity, concern, importance, desire, so on. Oh and then imagine this? Imagine having a daughter or girlfriend that really really cares about you... but they are clinically depressed and not really feeling up to caring for themselves... so... you want them to care about themselves as much as they care about you...

Then more specifically towards OP, you can be a push over without caring about others. Caring about others doesn't make or mean you are a push over, depends on the context. Did you care about people by visiting homeless and talking to them about their issues? Volunteering at a domestic abuse shelter and putting yourself to physically protect vulnerable from abusers as an act of deterrence? Protested with people in acts of unity and support for the benefit of others? None of that would sound like a push over... However some people equate caring about others a different way, which is more about the reward of being passive, but then not being granted that reward or reimbursement... and that could potentially veer into being a push over... but it also doesn't really sound like helping people, not of your own agency anyway.

TL;DR, there are no dumb questions, but some questions are poorly constructed because as humans we tend to categorise abstract ideas around the self, and the external notions of others. Its a bit silly, because we are social animals who derive immense amounts of joy, validation, comfort and pleasure from each other, viewing yourself in a vacuum or not realising that your satisfaction is often tied to others. Its like asking, should you want your eyesight or mobility from legs more? Well both really, take both, care about yourself and care about others, care about others for yourself, and for yourself care about others (and hope that others care about you near as much as they care about themselves and that the ones you do care about, care about themselves as much as they care about you)

Depends on how you define Christianity OP, many Religions tend to be so resilient... well for a few reasons, but one is adaptability/borrowing. What about your more recent contemplations are at odds with Christianity as you define and view it?

For transparency sake I am not a Christian, also I think its great you are thinking and contemplating such ideas, but Religions tend to borrow from each other, and adapt, and borrow and fold in new ideas/old idea as well, from different sources, like philosophy/science. Like certain modern Religions (or sects) fold in scientific ideas, which can help them stay compatible and fresh and likelier to survive, than sects that don't. Then you also have to factor in how we as humans, experience, and attempt to articulate experiences and ideas, especially those of a more abstract nature. Spirituality and religious beliefs have existed for a long long time, before our more modern understandings of "West and East" or the connotations they might carry.