This was the dignity and worth of man’s soul by nature at his first creation, which thou hadst in Adam before the first sin. But when Adam sinned, choosing love and delight in himself and in the creatures, he lost all his excellency and dignity, and thou, also, in him, and fell from that Blessed Trinity into a foul, dark, wretched trinity; that is to say, into forgetting of God and ignorance of himself, and into a beastly love and liking of himself, and all this he did wittingly and willingly. For, as David saith in the Psalter: Man being in honour understood it not, and, therefore, he lost it, and became like a beast. (John Climacus)

I do not perceive that humans are fallen creatures.

Rather I perceive we are ascending creatures.

The notion of a perfect past, while common to so many cultures, does not conform to my understanding.

But we do seem to be endowed with a remarkable potential for generousity, compassion, and love.

Few of us fulfill this potential. But there are examples, even from moments in our own lives. This is not beastly.