Human Paradox

[coberst]

Human Paradox

The human paradox might correctly be said to be: Humans are the one member of the animal kingdom wherein many members consider themselves to be also a member of a supernatural kingdom.

I define a paradox here to mean a common sense view of reality that is a logical contradiction, which presents a problem that cannot be solved but only ameliorated in some way through the process of our comprehending its nature.

Because most, but not all, humans are possessed by this paradoxical world view we pay a heavy price due to our constant effort to preserve this “fantastic ambition” rather than understanding its source and making corrections accordingly.

As a member of the animal kingdom we consume to live. We have an appetite and in feeding that appetite we often kill and consume other animals. We feel good after we consume and we will do whatever is necessary to continue to consume and to live. We have an absolute attraction to Eros, i.e. we have a consuming desire to do what is necessary to preserve our life.

Good is that which promotes our life and evil is that which threatens our life.

Eros drives us to a desire to live forever. Our brain has developed to the point at which we recognize that we will die but we are driven by the urge not to die.

“Man transcends death not only by continuing to feed his appetites, but especially by finding a meaning for his life, some kind of larger scheme into which he fits…the “immortal self” can take very spiritual forms, and spirituality is not a simple reflex of hunger and fear. It is an expression of the will to live, the burning desire of the creature to count, to make a difference on the planet because he has lived, has emerged from it, and has worked, suffered, and died.”

Many humans express this common sense view of belonging to a supernatural world through their religious belief; however, even those who are not religious are often captives of the mind/body dichotomy that is so prevalent in Western philosophy.

I think that to deal effectively with this paradox we must become sophisticated enough to comprehend its source and to modify it at that point or not at all.

What do you think?

Quotes from “Escape from Evil” by Ernest Becker

[blazeofglory]

I subscribe to these words of wisdom in point of fact.

[Judas130]

Eros drives us to a desire to live forever. Our brain has developed to the point at which we recognize that we will die but we are driven by the urge not to die.

But we are also driven by the urge of aggression, an urge for destruction. Originally thought to oppose eros as eros is for unity and cohesion, the 'Death Drive/Instinct' is "an urge inherent in all organic life to restore an earlier state of things" - in other words, the desire of death, destruction and non-existence.
However, Wilfred Bion claimed that "instinctual aggression [is] the greatest impediment to civilization, which is in the service of Eros", as mankind would not wish to give up their institutions for their anger, directing their anger elsewhere to other groups or things or keeping it inward and just instinct.


Lovely Article, your thoughts are never wasted

[alestar89]

The options would have to be:

1. Become immortal
2. Forget death
3. Accept death

However, 1. is completely unlikely even with extreme scientific advancements (in fact, more likely is that we should all die due to a nuclear explosion of some sort than anything else). Our level of consciousness will not allow 2 to occur. We're too advanced in awareness to return to pure survival instincts that assume death as a part of life. 3 is the ultimate answer. Yet, enlightenment is not for everyone. That is to say, not everyone reaches it (it would, frankly, be self-defeating if it did).

[blazeofglory]

Human beings are funny beings. Unlike the rest of other beings, human beings have so many gods, goddesses, supernatural things, heaven, hell.

Human beings, his physical confinement and pettiness notwithstanding feel they are infinite
Man is not bound by time and space. Keeps track of time, immemorial pasts, and unknown futures.

Man is really a very different creature. Out of mutation in evolution he appears differently.

Man has invented things that amaze himself also.

[coberst]

The great truth of the nineteenth century was that produced by William Dilthey, which was the answer to the question “what do humans constantly strive for?” “It was “meaning” said Dilthey, meaning is the great truth about human nature.

“Everything that lives, lives by drawing together strands of experience as a basis for its action; to live is to act, to move forward into the world of experience…Meaning is the relationship between parts of experience.”

Man does not do this drawing together on the basis of simple experience but on the basis of concepts. Sapiens impose symbolic categories of thought on raw experience. Her conception of life determines the manner in which s/he values all of its parts.

Concludes Dilthey, meaning “is the comprehensive category through which life becomes comprehensible…Man is the meaning-creating animal.”

What are some of the fundamental considerations we must focus upon when we speak of creating meaning?

Meaning is an abstract concept. What is an abstract concept? Webster informs me that concept is defined as “an abstract or generic idea generalized from particular instances”. I would say that there are two types of ideas, i.e. concepts: concrete (generic) and abstract.

A concrete concept is the neural network that is created in the brain when we have a physical experience. An abstract concept is constructed, often unconsciously, by one or more concrete concepts. An abstract idea might usefully be thought of as similar to a molecule. The molecule is made up of one or more atoms and the abstract concept is made up of one or more concrete concepts. That is to say the conceptual and inference structure of a concrete concept is mapped into the “mental space” containing the abstract concept.

The concrete concept is an “objective” concept while the abstract concept is a “subjective concept”.

Examples of objective concepts becoming part of subjective concepts:

Infant feeling warm when held mapping into subjective concept of affection.
Sensing a foul smell into abstract idea of a movie “that stinks”.
Sensing the rise of milk while pouring into a measuring cup leading to a subjective judgment that prices are too high.

We are meaning creating creatures. We are creatures who create abstract ideas about which we live, die, and kill. Our task is to comprehend this fact and through the sophistication thus achieved we may be able to create abstract concepts suitable to permit our survival for a few more centuries.