Human Nature

Special thanks goes out to Innocence lost for helping me right this post and views on human nature and her wisdom on this subject.



I was talking with a friend about this subject and i noticed how flawed humans are. If you ever notice humans contradict everything we are. Like we are intelligent yet we are dumb. We have knowledge yet we are ignorant. the thing about human nature is that it is ever changing and never changing, A person can change their mind in an instant for better or worse just because they want to or are influenced. We say we are individuals yet we follow people who look like what we want t be. in this day and age it seems we have little control over what goes on in our own minds let alone in the world around us, and because of this we feel the need to grab hold of what ever we can, grab hold of anything and never let go, this is one of the things we as Jedi are trying to fight against, which would be attachment, one of the biggest flaws in human nature, because of attachment to anything and everything wars have been fought and lives lost over someone just not wanting to let go or admit they are wrong, smart indeed, we could never be so smart as the day we let go of what it is that drives us all. We may have evolved but we only use 10% of our brain so what good is evolving if we don't use what we're given. What do all of you think about human nature?

Kreia

Thanks for the help Innocence lost

I would like to add a bit to this. There is great potential in us all for being human, because we are not so restricted we need to be, we create beautiful artwork, we give kind words and we are always amazing eachother. I would like to state that although we can be very dreadful creatures, we (as creatures of change) can be great as well. It is sad though that when we, kreia and I, think of human nature, this is the first place we come to. I understand fully when talking to her and others in this site that attatchment could possibly the cause of all things wrong with us, which is why we must let it go for all out sake.

IMO of course.

Is it really so wrong that human beings are so contradictorary? Isn`t it out of the tension between love and hate, knowledge and ingnorance, hope and despair .... that the great poems, the great Shakespear and novels have developed? May be, without, it might be a better world, but there is certainly a lot of beauty here too. Look at the rollercoaster, it is in the action of being taken up after shooting down that the adrenalin kick comes, that the fun starts. What I`m trying to say is that the tensions caused by contradiction are a necessary condition for new things. May be this is an order which lies beyond the comprehension of our 10% brains? Whether this is good or not I think is difficult for anyone without the necessary foresight to evaluate. Thats where religions, beliefs, philosophies and opinions usually step in.

In any case this world is as it is and there remains a lot for us to do.

Human beings are persons with:

- basic needs (e.g. food, shelter)

- Safety needs (physical safety, protective clothing, employment, health)

- Social needs (love, belonging, communication)

- Esteem needs (respect, promotion, competence, usefulness)

- Self-actualisation (success, challenge, power)

- experiences

- hopes, desires, beliefs

- interests, likes and dislikes

.......

If you consider these as a combonation in the light of a persons behaviour maybe their reaction might not seem so contradictorary.

Hey Hey, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. It can get much more complex than that too.

...but not more than it needs to...

...people who act outside the norm would be described as being \"verückt\" (mad, crazy) not because they are insane but because they have been moved (-rückt) to the side (ver-). So you could say that those who are allegedly mad only have a diffent position in life.

Sorry \"verrückt\" is a German word. I like to use this complex language to explain terms.

I agree that it is the complexity of human nature that is specific to the \"human\" animal and shapes us (good or bad). Unfortunately history has a way of highlighting the bad, just look at the newspaper, only bad news there...

However, the good side is always there. And how would we know darkness if we could not see the light (or the other way around for a Sith...).

As the Tao says: if we know beauty, we know ugly.

Two sides of the same coin.

I believe the contradictory nature of humans is a direct reflection of the contradictory nature of the universe as a whole. A flux of creation and destruction that is ever present and cyclical in nature. To be human is to be flawed and flaws (and our struggles against them) is what defines us as a species. Is it that important to constantly define ourselves? Should we let go of everything that drives us? That would include letting go of the need to rectify flaws, actual or self-perceived. The drive and fight to rectify flaws is in itself an attachment to a future unrealized self in most people. So should we avoid attachment and in hence contradict our very nature and the way that the universe, the force as set our nature (those things Jon listed)? Or should we embrace attachment and the hardships that come when we lose those things? IMHO though I think the greatest attachment that comes with human nature is the attachment to stability. Granted I don't know the answers to any of these question, I am just the fool.

That being said, I will accept the human flaws, attachments, the crest and the trough because without all of those things we wouldn't have the beautiful things made by our species. The marvelous art, the poems of love gained and lost, the tragic plays, the uplifting stories, ect. These, in my eyes, are the testaments to human nature and the human condition.