The Human Condition

[Granth]

Now let's make this quite clear.

The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human. It is a condition that obstructs us from the ability to experience ourselves as Human. It is a condition that obstructs our potential to realize Humanity as an actuality.

And while we are afflicted with this "condition", we are essentially mammals. While afflicted, we are yet to be fully human.

So what does it take to overcome this condition?

[Quotidian]

A profound question. Allow me to provide a quote from Einstein on the matter.

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Granth, what you mean by "experience ourselves as human"?

Quotidian, thanks for posting that awesome Einstein quote!

[Unsay]

Scott,

Granth is questioning that the condition of being a human is an inaccessible concept that we are unable to question, for we are limited to a system that is limited to what we can observe and manifest without going too far down the helix of our intellect.

[Quotidian]

Granth seems to be off enjoying the 'human condition' somewhere.

My take on the general question, is that it refers to the 'The Fall', as 'the fall of man', 'man's fallen state', and so on. Western Christianity has a particular formulation of this idea, originating with the Augustinian doctrine of 'original sin', redemption of which is only possible through belief in Christ. But this is not the only formulation of the idea. It is one of the great themes in philosophy - think, for example, of Rosseau's famous 'Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains', which was one of the seminal ideas of the Romantic movement.

In Eastern religions, humans are bound to samsara or maya, a state of delusion and suffering, driven by craving, and characterised by endless re-birth in various realms, of which this human world is only one. So 'the sage' (or Deity) is one who has transcended the human condition.

I personally accept that the notion of the human condition represents a reality - but I don't think it has much of an analogue in post-Darwinian thinking. With the rejection of Christianity, we have also rejected many of the deep images and symbols which had become incorporated into it, such as 'fall and redemption'.

Here is another quote - this one from an obscure Russian philosopher (actually more a theosophist) which I think captures the idea well:

"As long as the dark foundation of our nature, grim in its all-encompassing egoism, mad in its drive to make that egoism into reality, to devour everything and to define everything by itself, as long as that foundation is visible, as long as this truly original sin exists within us, we have no business here and there is no logical answer to our existence. Imagine a group of people who are all blind, deaf and slightly demented and suddenly someone in the crowd asks, "What are we to do?" The only possible answer is, "Look for a cure". Until you are cured, there is nothing you can do. And since you don't believe you are sick, there can be no cure."

Vladimir Solovyov

[Spectrum]

Now let's make this quite clear.

The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human. It is a condition that obstructs us from the ability to experience ourselves as Human. It is a condition that obstructs our potential to realize Humanity as an actuality.

And while we are afflicted with this "condition", we are essentially mammals. While afflicted, we are yet to be fully human.

So what does it take to overcome this condition?

There is no teleological meaning and purpose of life.

As such humans must create their own purpose and meaning.
To ensure a meaningful life, the individual and humanity must ensure the terms and definition of the deliberated meaning of life be effective via 'know thyself' and knowing the universe.

The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human.
This seems odd and not effective for a meaningful life.
I would say,
The "Human Condition" IS a condition that comes as a result of being human and it is conditioned by the "Animal Condition" within as crudely presented below;



The reptillian and mammalian parts of the brain will always (maybe disappear in 1 billion years?) be embedded within the human conditions.

Before one can maintain an effectively meaningful life, the individual and the majority of humans would need to continuously activate more neurons in the higher human brain and synchronize them optimally with other parts of the brain.

[Granth]

Granth, what you mean by "experience ourselves as human"?

Quotidian, thanks for posting that awesome Einstein quote!

Because every experience is Human. As every experience (therefore every-thing) is Human, the imposition of a "you" is a condition of mind that potentially distracts one from every moment of experience. "You" is a story which normally impedes the Whole story, or impedes understanding of oneself as all.

[Quotidian]

You might appreciate this essay, by Zen teacher Norman Fischer, on the human condition (in relation to terrorism, actually, but makes a general point): The Violence of Oneness.

I found this a very illuminating piece of work.

[Granth]

You might appreciate this essay, by Zen teacher Norman Fischer, on the human condition (in relation to terrorism, actually, but makes a general point): The Violence of Oneness.

I found this a very illuminating piece of work.

Yes I did appreciate it, thank you.

[Nick_A]

Now let's make this quite clear.

The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human. It is a condition that obstructs us from the ability to experience ourselves as Human. It is a condition that obstructs our potential to realize Humanity as an actuality.

And while we are afflicted with this "condition", we are essentially mammals. While afflicted, we are yet to be fully human.

So what does it take to overcome this condition?

This an essential question that is usually ignored. We consider ourselves fully human so it appears as a foolish question. Beore giving my ideas I'm curious as to what you think a fully human being would be.

-- Updated Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:06 pm to add the following --

Granth seems to be off enjoying the 'human condition' somewhere.

My take on the general question, is that it refers to the 'The Fall', as 'the fall of man', 'man's fallen state', and so on. Western Christianity has a particular formulation of this idea, originating with the Augustinian doctrine of 'original sin', redemption of which is only possible through belief in Christ. But this is not the only formulation of the idea. It is one of the great themes in philosophy - think, for example, of Rosseau's famous 'Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains', which was one of the seminal ideas of the Romantic movement.

In Eastern religions, humans are bound to samsara or maya, a state of delusion and suffering, driven by craving, and characterised by endless re-birth in various realms, of which this human world is only one. So 'the sage' (or Deity) is one who has transcended the human condition.

I personally accept that the notion of the human condition represents a reality - but I don't think it has much of an analogue in post-Darwinian thinking. With the rejection of Christianity, we have also rejected many of the deep images and symbols which had become incorporated into it, such as 'fall and redemption'.

Here is another quote - this one from an obscure Russian philosopher (actually more a theosophist) which I think captures the idea well:

"As long as the dark foundation of our nature, grim in its all-encompassing egoism, mad in its drive to make that egoism into reality, to devour everything and to define everything by itself, as long as that foundation is visible, as long as this truly original sin exists within us, we have no business here and there is no logical answer to our existence. Imagine a group of people who are all blind, deaf and slightly demented and suddenly someone in the crowd asks, "What are we to do?" The only possible answer is, "Look for a cure". Until you are cured, there is nothing you can do. And since you don't believe you are sick, there can be no cure."

Vladimir Solovyov

I agree that the human condition is an essential question that is being lost in post Darwinian thinking. I like this quote by Solovyov including

"What are we to do?" The only possible answer is, "Look for a cure". Until you are cured, there is nothing you can do. And since you don't believe you are sick, there can be no cure.".

We don't "Know Thyself" so cannot appreciate the human condition.

Nietzsche referred to the overman as a highly developed creature of the earth.

http://www.pitt.edu/~wbcurry/nietzsche/nuber.html

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment...
Behold, I teach you the overman. The overman is the meaning of the earth.Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go....................

What is the greatest experience you can have? It is the hour of the great contempt. The hour when your happiness, too, arouses your disgust, and even your reason and your virtue.
The hour when you say, 'What matters my happiness? It is poverty and filth and wretched contentment. But my happiness ought to justify existence itself.'
The hour when you say, 'What matters my reason? Does it crave knowledge as the lion his food? It is poverty and filth and wretched contentment.'
The hour when you say, 'What matters my virtue? As yet it has not made me rage. How weary I am of my good and my evil! All that is poverty and filth and wretched contentment.'
"Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss...
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under...

"I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have chaos in yourselves.

So much for the dreams of peace, love and contentment offered by Plato's cave and the coming Utopian paradise. "wretched contentment" for the overman.

But the question is if fully developed animal man as the ultimate creature of the earth is the end of Man's evolution. What of the potential for Man's conscious evolution and the possiblity of the overman becoming the new Man referred to in Christianity?

Matthew 4: 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[e]”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

The choice. The overman can rule the world or at least a good part of it. He has the physical presence, will, charisma, and knowledge to do it without being burdened by foolish fears and insecurities which support continuing existence in Plato's cave. Should Jesus with the horned helper dominate Man and bend him to his will or should he admit his nothingness in relation to the Father and serve universal purpose? Jesus chose to be more than the ultimate animal man but rather to reveal the inner path which leads to the New Man: the transition of the overman into the New man no longer a creature of the earth. Is it possible for a resident of Plato's cave to grow in the direction of the overman and acquire the ability to become the New man. Who knows?

[Dark Matter]

This is an interesting question, but I'm not sure "Ethics and Morality" is the proper forum since any answer requires an ontology. Even so, I believe there would be a lack of participation even in the metaphysics forum because -- let's face it -- there is a poverty of insight with respect to the things that really matter.


“God is the circle of infinity whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." If true, every thing, every where, every when and their every possibility converge at the very core of our being -- they are the core of our being. If true, "Ye are gods" and "sons of God" carries a lot more meaning than Christians generally believe. The author of the OP is right is therefore correct in saying: "The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human. It is a condition that obstructs us from the ability to experience ourselves as Human. It is a condition that obstructs our potential to realize Humanity as an actuality."

So what does it take to overcome this condition?

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We have to fully realize that we are individuated beings but not individual beings. To overcome the beastial condition in which we find ourselves, the beast must die. The literal-minded are sure to be confused by this, but it's just another way of saying the illusory self, the individual self, must yield to the unity of the Whole.

"Mystics" of every persuasion generally have better answers than academics and philosophers. The Buddha had some good answers to this question, too, but his ship dropped anchor just outside safe harbor by failing to recognize a Summum Bonum -- a final Good from which all other good is derived.

[Nick_A]

This is an interesting question, but I'm not sure "Ethics and Morality" is the proper forum since any answer requires an ontology. Even so, I believe there would be a lack of participation even in the metaphysics forum because -- let's face it -- there is a poverty of insight with respect to the things that really matter.


“God is the circle of infinity whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." If true, every thing, every where, every when and their every possibility converge at the very core of our being -- they are the core of our being. If true, "Ye are gods" and "sons of God" carries a lot more meaning than Christians generally believe. The author of the OP is right is therefore correct in saying: "The "Human Condition" is not a condition that comes as a result of being human. It is a condition that obstructs us from the ability to experience ourselves as Human. It is a condition that obstructs our potential to realize Humanity as an actuality."

So what does it take to overcome this condition?

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We have to fully realize that we are individuated beings but not individual beings. To overcome the beastial condition in which we find ourselves, the beast must die. The literal-minded are sure to be confused by this, but it's just another way of saying the illusory self, the individual self, must yield to the unity of the Whole.

"Mystics" of every persuasion generally have better answers than academics and philosophers. The Buddha had some good answers to this question, too, but his ship dropped anchor just outside safe harbor by failing to recognize a Summum Bonum -- a final Good from which all other good is derived.

How do we know what to overcome if we don't "know thyself?" I see that I can verify that I am the wretched man as described by St. Paul in Romans 7. I live in opposition with myself. I have a higher part that sometimes awakens to experience the lower parts of my collective soul or essence. Usually my unconscious parts are dominant. It seems that the fallen human condition has turned me upside down. Where the higher should be dominant it is now dominated by the lower. Where the body should serve consciousness, literal thought now serves the body. Where the middle or the emotional should connect consciousness with bodily mechanics now these emotions just seem to justify an imaginary egoism. If this is the human condition, how does a person become right side up again in the denying presence of this imaginary egoistic creation which perverts the potential for the conscious connection between above and below in the human essence allowing for the objective awareness of my connection to Summum Bonum?

[Dark Matter]

Stay tuned. You pose an interesting situation that deserves more of an answer than I can supply off the top of my head.

[Dolphin42]

My twopenneth: Try to stop being a slave to what your repressed society tells you is "high" and "low", so you can then stop regarding masturbation as "low" and talking nonsense about vertical and horizontal thoughts as "high", then go out and try to solve some normal real-world problems with real people. Help your kids learn to ride bikes, complain about how your local sports team isn't doing very well and do some charity work. That's my advice.

[Nick_A]

My twopenneth: Try to stop being a slave to what your repressed society tells you is "high" and "low", so you can then stop regarding masturbation as "low" and talking nonsense about vertical and horizontal thoughts as "high", then go out and try to solve some normal real-world problems with real people. Help your kids learn to ride bikes, complain about how your local sports team isn't doing very well and do some charity work. That's my advice.

Real world problems are the natural result of what we are raising the obvious question: what are we? What is our objective meaning and purpose and how do our subjective conceptions of meaning and purpose relate to it?