Elements of Human Nature

[Note: This post has been updated by a later post on a related topic.]

The most fundamental characteristic of what defines us as humans is our choices. That is, it’s not what we are, or what we do, but what drives us, things to which we are committed, things from which we cannot walk away. It is best understood as the process of human development.

We have a body. It makes lots of choices, since it is little more than a bundle of appetites. They are neither good nor evil, in themselves. That body is connected to a mind through the emotions. The other end of that connection is a tangled mess.

For purely academic purposes, we can distinguish certain things. Directly connected to the emotions is a large wad of memories. It’s not so much a record of the five senses, but a thin stream of five senses wrapped by a very fat coating of emotional reactions, impressions, values, etc. Critical to understanding this fat coating is unraveling the childhood psyche. For now, it’s enough to note various parts of how we interact with the world — the decisions we make — depend on the degree to which we finished the tasks of childhood development, and in what areas of our consciousness we are able to assume an adult role. It’s pretty messy, as I said.

Insofar as any part of us has reached an adult level of consciousness — a sense of taking responsibility for the self, a sense of proportion, etc. — we can exercise a certain amount of intellectual rationality. The space where conflicts are under control, as opposed to exerting control, that space is capable of reason and logic. We are thus capable of dispassionate evaluation, a measure of objectivity, of setting aside the demands of body-emotions channel. Please note: It is fully possible to form a highly intellectual awareness of logic without any ability to use it for choices.

It is critical to understand there is a human will, a core of decisiveness, which sets humans apart from simple rational animals. This capacity to choose, to commit the self to a course of action which forms a self-consistent thread, is what gives us character, identity, a sense of self. This is the part where we “get in touch with ourselves” — we discover those things which are essential to what we are.

Thus far, we are in the territory of Gods Laws for mankind. Every human on earth has the capacity to reach that stage of development without spiritual birth. Discussing the spirit is purely an academic exercise. That element of humanity is the most difficult to describe, since it exists in the place where words are insufficient to carry the load. In making decisions and commitments, the living spirit should overrule all other considerations. It is not irrational; it is super-rational. It is above the intellect, processing priorities and commitments which intellect cannot handle. It decides often in defiance of all logic, in defiance of life itself.

The spirit knows with an entirely different logic. We can discuss it academically, but our words cannot possibly describe it, only indicate it. We can say the logic is symbolic, indicative, given to paradox, builds out from assumptions which are beyond mere deductive analysis. It is totally beyond inductive analysis, because there is nothing of types and categories — everything is altogether singular, unique to the individual involved. There are common elements which can be recognized, but which can scarcely be vocalized.

This spirit cannot be awakened by any human effort at all. However, to envision some clear line of departure, some concrete threshold, would be missing the point. Humans can approach this thing by degrees, but it requires a tremendous success with the previous level of maturity. The path of approach is called all sorts of things, usually in an attempt to dismiss the importance. However, an accurate and popular term is “mysticism.” A lot of junk hides behind the term, but in a broad sense, without the ability to know things which cannot be handled by the intellect, there will ever be some things in this universe which will evade explanation. Fathom all the mysteries of life, the universe and everything with science; there will always be some things which cannot be reached that way, cannot possibly be explained fully.