THE HUMANS, Part 1
Ken Hurley
If you can read you are probably a human. F u cn rd ths, yr stll prbly hmn.
Polysemous as a definition for
'human' can be, for our purpose let's agree when we refer to a human or humans we refer to specimens of the biological species Homo sapiens, who straightened their spine and walked away from the established hominin lineage about 150,000 years ago. We're still walking.
Human life-form essentials include: Complex tool making, symbol use, language, coordinated socialized hunting and gathering, ability to jitterbug to rap, a distinct manner of smiling fulminations, and an occasional vegetarian haggis.
Some humans offer another morphological feature of humans in that humans tend to possess a high level of reasoned rationale. Other humans, after considering that last sentence, giggle.
We had no choice whether or not we would be human. It's not as if we could exercise free will at a buffet where we could select to become an elephant, anteater, Dodo bird, platypus, or a Neanderthal. Given the other possibilities, being human is remarkably good fortune. (Perhaps I'm biased?)
Because we are human it is likely you, as was I, had our introduction to God at an early age. It is also likely the nature of being human prompted an inquiry into what you were told by your elders. We tend to trust our elders. Yet, it is distinctly probable the validity of the stories told about God were questioned as you grew older.
Demographic trends suggest it is increasingly apparent that the imaginative stories about an omniscient supernatural God have since been dismissed as inadequate by a growing significant percentage of the population. Especially by those who grew to embrace an irreligious view.
The act of being human is known collectively as humanity. From humanity comes humaneness. To be humane is to be kind and benevolent. Humans each have the potential to display genuine, heartfelt, loving kindness or behave like a monsterous, insane, raving maniac. We each have the potential to exercise intelligent judgment or feckless folly. Likely both more than once in a lifetime. Whether or not our good or bad behavior is a motivational choice, a causal determination neatly written in our genetic code, or something else, remains a matter for endless discussions.
Add 'ist' to human and we have humanist. A humanist prefers an approach to life based on reason and our shared humanity. Humanists recognize that moral values are founded upon human nature and human experience not the divine or supernatural.
A humanist embraces the goodness of human beings, emphasizes our collective human needs, and seeks rational methods to solve human problems. To this extent, whether we admit it or not, we are all humanists.
The phenomenon known to us as a human and the associated psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humans, has commonality shared by all healthy humans known as human nature.
Given the variety of cultures around the world, and the disparate ideologies to which humans ascribe, is it possible that all healthy humans share traits found within human nature? Yes.
One obvious example of a shared trait within human nature is our survival instinct. From birth, our survival instinct is strong. After we are born we typically cry, scream, and flail uncontrollably in an effort to have our needs met. The wails and flails of a newborn are the language and actions of survival. A baby has no chance of survival without the attentive care of an elder.
Every day, several times a day, as the tiny bantling grows into a tiny toddler, the little bundle of joy poops and pees freely at will. Anywhere. Anytime. Hence, potty humor was born.
A toddlin' young poop machine makes a respectable illustrative analogy for describing human nature. Simply put, human nature is to poop in one's pants. Fortunately, human desire, our ability to learn, recognize self-realization, and improve our human condition is also human nature.
There comes a moment when the young poop factory, at the urging of their elders, realizes pooping in their pants (diaper, on the floor) is messy, unpleasant, and not in the child's best interests. We all know bad things happen when we lose our shit. So, acting on behalf of their own self-interest children practice how not to poop in their pants. Then one glorious day amongst applause and cheers, their practice is rewarded by success.
So it is with human nature. Metaphorically, (sometimes literally) we still wail and flail through our trials and errors as we develop from the toddlin' poop factory into the old-age poop factory. Somewhere along that path we gain enough self-interest, self-respect, and self-control, to be useful to ourselves and others. But, we need practice. A human's self-interest is served even when the best altruistic tendencies are displayed.
Let's remember, poop was around long before the esteemed philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle waxed wise about ethics, human nature, free will, determinism, and the quest for eudaimonia, otherwise known as happiness.
Little is known about Plato's friendly game of Pettia held weekly in the andrōn of his house where he invited his philosopher buddies and neighbors to play.
One of his neighbors, Shecky Karpouzis, did not say much as he listened intently to the gabfest the esteemed learned philosophers enjoyed. From time to time Shecky would overcome his muted shyness and demonstrate his quiet free will by politely offering his critique of the philosophers sapient musings by murmuring, "We're all full of shit. That's why we poop daily."
Just like civil rights come from civil wrongs; pooping in one's pants (as yucky as it may be) seems an apt and reasonable analogy toward describing human nature from the beginning through the end.
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