Thursday, March 10, 2016

Weekly Quick Collage: Being Human


Being Human
The bottom line is: We must be working on arriving at the destination for which we were put on this planet. Yehuda Berg
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html
collage, 7.5 x 5.5 inches
The bottom line is: We must be working on arriving at the destination for which we were put on this planet. Yehuda Berg
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html
The bottom line is: We must be working on arriving at the destination for which we were put on this planet. Yehuda Berg
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html
The bottom line is: We must be working on arriving at the destination for which we were put on this planet. Yehuda Berg
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html
The bottom line is: We must be working on arriving at the destination for which we were put on this planet. Yehuda Berg
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html
Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination. Diane Sawyer
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/destination_2.html



Lately, I started thinking about what it means to be human. It's one of those questions that just seems to bring up more questions than answers. If we look to our DNA to find the answer, we find that it is 98.4% identical to that of a chimpanzee.  In fact, some scientists believe that all life originated from the same one-celled organism, based on the fact that, "All species in all three domains share 23 universal proteins, though the proteins' DNA sequences—instructions written in the As, Cs, Gs, and Ts of DNA bases—differ slightly among the three domains." (All Species Evolved From Single Cell, Study Finds", by Ker Than, for National Geographic News). It seems clear that we are only one of the many life forms on this planet, and are somehow deeply connected to them all.  We are of this Earth.

"Experiencing our full humanity requires us to attenuate our self-centeredness by enfolding it within a much wider sense of self in which we experience genuine love and compassion for all beings, both living and non-living. There are many names for this wider, deeper self, which is our deepest level of consciousness. My preference is for Arne Naess’s term ecological self because it suggests that the wider self is not some insubstantial, ethereal intellectualization, but rather deeply rooted in the very materiality of our planet—in its teeming biodiversity, its ancient crumpled continents, its swirling atmosphere, and the depths and shallows of its lakes, rivers, and oceans. Thus, the ecological self is not only the human self—it is also the Self or soul of the world, the anima mundi, that awakens us to our full humanity when we know, palpably, in our very bones, that there is a selfhood far vaster than our own in which we live and have our being, and to which we are ultimately accountable. C.G. Jung succinctly gives us a taste of this when he says that 'At times I feel as if I am spread over the landscape and inside things, and am myself living in every tree, in the splashing of the waves, in the clouds and the animals that come and go, in the procession of the seasons.'" (What Does it Mean to be Human? by Stephan Harding)

So what makes humans different from our fellow beings? It was once widely accepted that only humans used language, though it now appears that that's not the case. Are we the only animals with self awareness? The only ones with emotions? It seems that's not true either; I'm not going to bore you with more scientific articles, but experiments appear to prove that elephants, dolphins, primates and some birds are self-aware, and many would argue that they indeed experience emotions.

 “It still hurts, but life is supposed to hurt. Too many people think life is supposed to be easy and perfect all the time. But there is always some hurt. It's part of being alive. You have to accept it's a piece that every single person carries. It's what makes us human.”
― Katie Kacvinski, Still point

I really didn't know where to begin to answer this question. Obviously, there are many answers, depending on one's focus and point of view.  In my research, I found that there really is no one theory that is generally agreed upon; rather, of course, it's more of a philosophical question.  Is it spiritual awareness that makes us human? Our ability to use symbols and think abstractly? To be creative? Our capacity to look at the big picture and see beyond ourselves?  Or is it the ability to think within the moral framework of "right" and "wrong"?

“Every age has its own way of mythmaking. Ancient Egypt had its myths, the Sumerians and the Assyrians, the Christians and the Muslims, the North and the South -- the style of creating myths always varies. What myths are being created as a shelter even in the chaotic atmosphere of today! Until doomsday humanity will create these shelters. What else could people do when they come from one darkness and travel to another? And with so much deprivation? Man remains man so long as he dreams.”
― Yasar Kamal

This whole exploration has left me with a lot to ponder. For me, I feel I can better express what I feel about being human visually than I can in words, because the whole question goes beyond words into a realm even more symbolic and abstract. I hope my ramblings and collage give you something to think about, or resonate with you in some way.






Best wishes and love to you all, my fellow humans, and to all beings that share this planet with us.






6 comments:

  1. Great post... Lots to chew on....My Italian grandmother would say that what makes us different is that we cook.... 😉

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    1. Thanks, Cat! Your grandmother may have a point there, though I really don't like to cook...

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  2. In "Why We Garden- Cultivating a Sense of Place" Jim Nollman puts this round of change into an interesting perspective, that we are moving into a biocentric world view- a life centred point of view, to quote,
    "We are starting to sense that human beings are no longer at the centre of the Earth's purpose. Our species is, rather, one integral aspect of the greater interdependent network of nature." (p101)
    In Europe in the 17th C (the Age of Enlightenment) there was a consciousness shift from a god centred point of view where our life on Earth was seen as a form of punishment to an anthropocentric world view where the world appeared to be made just for humans who were made in God's image & everything in Nature appeared to be made for human use and accommodation.
    This thought is behind the economic rationalism that is causing so much planetary destruction of forests, oceans & loss of species at this time.
    By moving into a biocentric world view where the whole planet is sentient we have to look after our planet not exploit her! 
    Another interesting thought this book puts forward is if we could only make every decision like the Iroquois tribal governments did we wouldn't have nearly so many problems, to quote again,
    "Whenever the six nations of the Iroquois confederacy held a council meeting, they first took a moment to invoke the presence of the seventh future generation. Thereafter, any vote among the living council members also included an equal vote cast for the needs and dignity of those who would live a hundred and fifty years to two hundred years in the future. To the Iroquois the rights of future generations never became an issue of policy because they were, instead, the actual context of policy. As Onondaga elder Oren Lyons has observed,
    'When we walk upon Mother Earth we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground.' "
    I interpret this idea of the future generations as not only the human generations but all the animals, plants, rocks, soil, insects, etc.. in other words we simply must consider the future of all the "10,000 things" that make up life on earth & just maybe if we make our decisions as the Iroquois did we really could see paradise on earth!

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    1. Mo, I agree that the world view in which God gave man "dominion over the earth" is at the root of many of the environmental problems we now face. Unfortunately, a great many people, particularly fundamentalist Christians, still hold this view. It seems to be deeply entrenched in our culture. Getting Western civilization to see the earth as a sentient being will be a long uphill slog, if it ever happens. It may, even now, be too late.
      I really like the Iroquois idea of invocation of the seventh future generation, and that they are "looking up at us from beneath the ground". If only we could get our politicians and leaders to see things this way!
      Thanks for sharing this with me.

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  3. Great post and your collage is a perfect!

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  4. Thank you so much Judy; I'm glad you enjoyed my ramblings...

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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I'm happy to reply here, but may not always have time for individual emails.