Well, here we are again in the midst of chaos. You’ll notice that I used the first person plural “we.” We’re in quite a predicament as of late, huh (!)? Throughout this post I will be emphasizing how important it is to understand humanity in the sense of its plural reference “we,” proposing that understanding what it means to be human is a shared task. I ask that you consider the implications of “we” …it turns out the world we live in is actually up to “us.”
First, please consider that human beings are the most social creature on planet earth, a few examples include: 1) Our various and complex forms of coded communication. Contrary to what many often propose, there is no such thing as a private language; there is no such thing as only self-expression, as communication (verbal or non-verbal) always involves other participants. 2) Our young take longer than any other species to mature on account of the training required befitting to our complex social make-up. 3) The human brain is unique within the animal kingdom to facilitate its particularly complex life.
In short, what I am proposing is that our sociality is as basic to our biology as breathing, which also indicates that all knowledge is inseparably linked to, and determined by, relationship. Thus, to understand what it means to be human cannot be explained apart from sociality, which also, always entails a certain sense of emergence through time. Understanding what it means to be human will never be a completed task. Rather, understanding begins with the double-admission of not having it all figured out and needing others and is aimed at gaining greater competence through time.
Second, please consider that what it means to be human is to understand the dynamic nature of lived identity, insofar that there is no individual without a group and no group without the individual (or, more boldly, no “me” without “we” and no “we” without “me”). In fact, so interconnected are the concepts of the individual and the group that they cannot be understood without (at least indirect) reference to each other. As a result, human identity emerges through time as it is constructed provisionally through its structuring in lived experience. In this sense, identity is always in process and is never static or fully complete.
Third, consider the premise that the social world is far more interconnected than how it is often explained. Western society is ironic in attempts to be united around its fundamental core: the absolute right of the individual. This ideology falls short in many instances, because it works from dissonance, that is: it places us at odds with one another. An aggregated society of individuals does not make for a healthy functioning whole (!).
Now, here it is important to stop for a moment to recognize that a “shared conceptualization” of humanity does not mean to jettison commitment to other informing values and principles that compose belief. Rather, what it does mean is that all values and principles are organized around and accountable to how they facilitate human thriving. A shared conceptualization of humanity calls for the deepening of every value and principle to reckon with its concrete implications …humanity is not just a “thing” arbitrarily described or measured, but a “something” full of desire, vision, heart and dreams that flourishes through mutually nourishing relationships. This leads to the point of this posting…
How someone answers what it means to be human constructs the social world. Therefore, each of us has the important task to take the greatest care of our particular sphere of influence because it affects all others. Hence, if you find yourself inclined (as many westerners often are) to answer the question what it means to be human by first citing the things you want to do or goals you want to accomplish, please consider that you may be verging on creating a dissonant world, as your account of who you want to be lacks sufficient interconnection to others. It needlessly limits what can be discovered and who you can become by imposing limits on others through how they serve your world. There is no growth apart from relationship, because it is a shared world. We need each other to simply be ourselves.
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