81. Ton
yes elena, thank you… you’ve broken through an over-emphasis on “feel-good” obfuscation and distraction represented by the “we are the world – we are one” mentality, and you’ve come around to a seemingly simple, basic and yet essential philosophical, moral, and ethical question… this essential question may be obvious and basic but it’s a very deep and complex issue because it involves human nature in all of it’s complexity — it has to do with how “we” as a species actually (in reality) manifest on the planet as compared with what “we” as a species COULD be, or what might be called the possibilities suggested by “human potential.” the question is directly linked to the greed-driven, ruthless, mechanized plunder of Mother Earth for “natural resources” and the treatment of HER as a lifeless object, rather than as the living being she is…. the question links to an “en masse” effect of “we” humans, which is mostly a mindless / careless destruction of the living biota. and of course this essential question raises the issue that you and i have “discussed” here regarding the individual in relation to the collective, and visa versa, etc. the essential question asked here is not examined often enough or deeply enough because “we” tend to take the answers for granted, or prefer simply not to think about it… it’s a question the by the way, which i’ve brought up repeatedly here and elsewhere in no uncertain terms, and also by implication i’ve brought up the question in many of my musings… and yet it’s been ignored here in favor of other “issues” — such as… oh never mind, let’s not go there again, as for these other favorite issues which divert from this essential question, you know what i’m talking about anyway…. “let sleeping dogs rest.”
the essential question is, what does it mean to be human ? put another way: what does being human have to do with what is implied in the best sense of the word “humanity” ? where is the disconnect between being human and what is implied by the word “humanity” – i.e. compassionate / humane behavior…. and why the disconnect ? etc. maybe you have answers, maybe not, but it is an important question and worth careful consideration…
83. Elena
Hi Ton,
Glad you are also wondering about these things. It is always good to share the exploration.
You write:
the question is directly linked to the greed-driven, ruthless, mechanized plunder of Mother Earth for “natural resources” and the treatment of HER as a lifeless object, rather than as the living being she is…. the question links to an “en masse” effect of “we” humans, which is mostly a mindless / careless destruction of the living biota
And that certainly seems to be one of the problems but almost a symptom rather than the cause as if like teenagers we had to exploit every resource before it runs out without bothering to replace it for others, too young to understand the carelessness.
It's a sobering experience to realize that one's body has been abused too much by the cigarette or the food, the excesses and the absences and that if one wants to live a half way decent end of the day it’s necessary to put the house back in order.
I don’t think our human drama is too different from the individual one only that we each have to grow our self into realizing that we are One Human Being with aspects of our self in China, Nigeria and the North and South Pole and that if we give our selves the time, the love and the necessary care, actually getting to know our selves will be the greatest journey in the Universe. To realize that we can get to know each other before we kill each other is simple good manners!!
If we were under an attack from another planet, we would probably work together to protect our selves. We’ve been destroying each other as if we were enemies and when one looks at each culture deeply, the human values in each one of them are the same. We observe how each culture lives their own values, how in “universalizing” our selves, the abuses of people on each other surface more clearly and the longing to reach higher standards, that others have accomplished, takes place.
The price the developed nations have paid for progress is too high to look for that same form of progress for all nations. There is no progress at the cost of humanity or its home.
Wouldn’t you agree that some of the things that need quick attention to are:
Protecting what still hasn’t been damaged:
Native people still strongly connected to nature and its secrets
The Amazons, the poles, African fauna and all other natural treasures?
Healing what’s been hurt:
The people in the first world who’ve been submitted to inhuman forms of work without creativity, sucking out their sense of their own humanity
The physical landscapes that have been unscrupulously exploited in third world nations.
The Old people who’ve been abandoned in the first world because they are no longer productive and are looking for that future in third world nations.
The Children everywhere who are being abandoned so that adults can indulge in conscious less productivity, satiating their own fallacies trying to prove themselves in the market… like whores.
The adults everywhere who are serving the status quo without actually understanding or considering what they are doing to themselves and others.
The men who’ve been running a world to prove their manhood without considering that less manhood and more caring would make the world much more livable.
The women who’ve given up their femininity to play male roles desperately trying to overcome their submission in a world that is trying to make a slave of creativity in every realm of human life.
Art that is a quality of each human being that has been chained to the classes with education as if anyone could claim its private property.
Science, Physical and social sciences and religion that have all been divorced from each other as if a human being could separate his legs from his heart and his head from his arms and his head and arms from his heart and legs and not digest each day with the whole of his being.
And before we dare forget, we should first of all take care of the people in prison and in asylums who’ve placed themselves as the first victims of the ignominy of a world that didn’t have the being to avoid their crimes, for crime is only what has turned against our selves and what has turned against our selves is what we did not care for enough.
There is much work to do if we are ever to accomplish such altruistic ideals. There is much that we need to tackle to find the thread that will let us untangle the mess we’ve placed our selves in. I believe we are already beginning a cancerigenous process on a human scale and that cults are its worst expression, we must look to fortify people’s sense of their own humanity before millions continue to join cults and strengthen the tendency to act like automatons. I’ve been studying cancer today, maybe I’ll post some of the interesting findings here soon. Our social life doesn’t function too differently to our physical bodies, the laws tend to be the same, that is why understanding the process in one realm should help us understand it in the other.
Thank you Ton for raising these questions.
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