Of Human Nature
"There is nothing more awful than the mere fact of life as mystery when that fact first rushes fully into consciousness. Out of unknown darkness we rise a moment into sunlight, look about us, rejoice and suffer, pass on the vibration of our being to other beings, and fall back again into darkness. So a wave rises, catches the light, transmits its motion, and sinks back into sea. So a plant ascends from clay, unfolds its leaves to light and air, flowers, seeds, and becomes clay again. Only the wave has no knowledge; the plant has no perceptions. Each human life seems no more than a parabolic curve of motion out of earth and back to earth; but in that brief interval of change it perceives the universe. The awfulness of the phenomenon is that nobody knows anything about it. No mortal can explain this most common, yet most incomprehensible of all facts, - life in itself; yet every mortal who can think has been obliged betimes to think about it in relation to self.Who knows, and who can know? This was written by Lafcadio Hearn, published originally in 1896. A thoughtful man, philosophical by nature, doing his utmost to try to understand the simply unfathomable. Queries to which no one has answers. Scientific gains have been made in those one hundred years, of unbelievable magnitude, but they have brought us no closer to understanding life in the universe and our place in the scheme of its totality. We are seen by some to have been an accident of arrival, and a disaster in survival - and one wonders, for how much longer.
"I come out of mystery; - I see the sky and the land, men and women and their works; and I know that I must return to mystery; - and merely what this means not even the greatest of philosphers can tell me. We are all of us riddles to ourselves and riddles to each other; and space and motion and time are riddles; and matter is a riddle. About the before and the after neither the newly-born nor the dead have any message for us. the child is dumb; the skull only grins. Nature has no consolation for us. Out of her formlessness issue forms which return to formlessness, - that is all. the plant becomes clay; the clay becomes a plant. when the plant turns to clay, what becomes of the vibration which was its life? Does it go on existing viewlessly, like the forces that shape spectres of frondage in the frost upon a window pane?"
We are such an insignificant part of the universe we humbly inhabit, we are as nothing in the greater scheme of the universe. A mere afterthought of nature. An accident of accidental birth. But if there are no other accidents out there whose inherited intelligence can be greater than ours, none others who might challenge our weak primacy, how will we ever know? And if we are but an accident and an exceedingly rare one at that, and we have been given by some kind of divine intervention or quirk of nature, the opportunity to live in a hospitable environment, why do we not express our everlasting appreciation for that privilege?
We have the brains wherewith to contemplate, to think, to evaluate, to assess and analyze. Scant few of us do, and why is that? Why is it that we regard one another with suspicion, seek out the differences and criticize them rather than celebrate them for an indication of our mighty diversity? Why do we not marvel at the intricate nature of our being, our physical makeup, our cerebral functioning, our universal human traits and aspirations, emotions and celebrations, our special place in nature?
Lafcadio Hearn's words have a special relevance, they echo with an especial resonance today. Despite our great strides in scientific discovery, technical advancement, philosophical gleanings, medical understanding, all made in the wake of ancestral humans' earlier discoveries and growing knowledge base of the world we inhabit, not an awful lot has changed. We remain as we are, as we appear to always be destined to remain; friable and frail.
We understand the immensity of the universe which surrounds us, of which our galaxy is an inestimably insignificant portion, our earth a minuscule geological formation. And we, teeming humans upon its skin going about our daily lives within the element we call time. In attempting to understand our place on this earth man advanced a brilliant theory called the-one-who-created us - and for whatever purpose, we cannot truly divine.
But believing in this universal deity had a salutary, life-affirming effect on its fervent believers, frightened by the immensity of their place, and their lack of understanding of it. Like infants, taking comfort in the belief of the presence of an all-seeing, all-compassionate overseer. One to whom we are as children. On the other hand, this device permitted mankind to formulate a code of behaviour, sanctioned by the One On High. To do His will, to behave as he would have us do, became the ongoing chastisement and goal.
Without the vision of a god who kindly overlooks mankind's activities and gives protection and encouragement, there is an alternative, an expression of what humankind can, should and must aspire to. There were two commands handed down to humankind through the ages, independent of the thought of Deity, but voiced as through that Deity, and entertwined with the constructs and demands of Deity.
- The Golden Mean: The ancient Greeks wrote of "The Golden Mean" as an expression of the middle way; halfway between excess and deficiency, leading to harmony. This was related to music, art, architecture, mathematics - and philosophy, and it is the philosophical aspect that should concern us in this discussion. The ancient Greek Philosopher Plato wrote that if we disregard due proportion by giving anything what is too much for it; "too much canvas to a boat; too much nutriment to a body; too much authority to a soul, the consequence is always shipwreck". Therefore, seek the middle way, avoid excess, seek moderation in all things. Steer the middle course to achieve reasonableness.
- The Golden Rule: This is described as the ethic of reciprocity. Be nice to me, I'll be nice to you. This is a fundamental moral principle found in the major world religions and cultures, a way in which people learn to live together in mutual tolerance and acceptance: "Treat others as you want them to treat you". Makes eminently good sense. The reverse is to fall into the decay of suspicion, aggression, rejection - doing no one any good.
- Love your neighbour as yourself - Moses, Torah - ca. 1525 - 1405 BCE
- What you do not want others to do to you do not do to others - Confucious - ca. 551 - 479 BCE
- What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man - Hillel - ca.50 BCE - 10 CE
- Do to others as you would have them do unto you - Jesus - ca. 5BCE - 33 CE
- Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you - Muhammad - ca.571 0- 632 CE
This would have been an imperative once a sufficient population established itself into early settlements after the hunter-gatherer society succumbed to town-dwelling and agriculture. Without these basic understandings, anarchy would have reigned supreme. There would always have been a benevolent dictator, or an outright brutal dictator to take command of populations, and among them would ultimately have developed the vision that would lead to gatherings of individuals learning to live together in harmony.
Which of course means that among the dross of human population there bloomed an individual of leadership abilities who foresaw a better, more humane and intelligent role for humans, and strove to indoctrinate his underlings with this value, to live in harmony with one another. There was always, of course the true "others" those not of the community, the culture, the tradition, and direct geographic location and one supposes life and death was always an open game and gambit with them.
We haven't come very far from those early days, those early admonitions that we learn to live in harmony and grace with one another, have we? We did learn to live reasonably well within our recognizably own communities, where we looked physically similar to one another, had similar values and backgrounds, but this rarely extended to outside communities where there appeared to be constant strife and challenges for scarce resources.
That was then, this is now, and we still spurn the opportunity given us by enlightenment and sufficient goods of the earth to share, to live in amicability with one another. We unhesitatingly, passionately, embrace any opportunities to despoil our own nests, to bypass the potential of living together in any state resembling forbearance, harmony, understanding, compassion, and helpfulness to others.
We are truly fatally learning-disabled.
- Lesson never learned.
- We can do better.
- Do we but try.
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, September 07, 2006
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