“We have given you, O Adam, no visage proper to yourself, nor endowment properly your own, in order that whatever place, whatever form, whatever gifts you may, with premeditation, select, these same you may have and possess through your own judgement and decision […] We have made you a creature neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer.”
Birds use feathers to fly, to keep warm and to communicate. Humans give them the same use. We improve the aerodynamics of arrows and badminton balls with feathers, fill quilts and down jackets and decorate ourselves and dress with plumes. We are plumiferous learners.
