how shall we define or understand the human condition?
humans are transitory/temporary… we exists for a short time and
are gone, individually at least… while society goes on, the human race goes
on, individually I will be gone…….and fairly soon, every single person I
know at this moment will be gone… transitory/temporary is part of the
human condition…the next aspect of the human condition is our inability
to understand that everything that I do individually, is gone in a short time…
I can do nothing that will last beyond my death…
for example, whatever wealth I might create will not last very far
into the next generation… my daughter isn’t getting much money/
if any at all…everything I have done or will do will disappear quickly…
I cannot build anything individually that will last very long…
I cannot build a house or a wall or grow a plant that will last
very long… very few things that humans have done, has lasted
very long… the pyramids are one of the few things that lasted a long time…
human being are always recycling… we build up and tear down
things at an increadible rate… how long is your dishwasher
going to last? perhaps, if you are lucky, 7 years…and your car?
maybe 12 or 15… and your house? for many people, the house of
their childhood has already been torn down and rebuilt into something
else… our lives is transitory, our materials from which we build
our lives is transitory… I have a book or two from my childhood
and they are falling apart… soon, they will simply cease to exists…
and that is true of everything we do as humans…
business, houses, couches, TV’s, cars, stoves and books…
and yes, us… we start to fall apart and then we cease to exist…
what is another fact of the human condition?
that we are social creatures… evolution has made us social in nature…
we cannot exists without other human beings, physically, emotionally,
psychologically, mentally…and this might be the key fact
of the human condition… we cannot exist without other human beings…
that might be as close to a factual statement about human beings as
we can reach or get to… we must engage with other human beings…
and here lies the heart of the human condition…
we exists with other human beings… so everything we do, we do
in relationship to or an engagement with other human beings…
so, if I engage with a private attempt to become a better person,
to discover who Kropotkin is, it is still done within the context
of my engagement with other human beings…
I cannot become or know if I become a “better” human being without
some engagement with other human beings…
the declaration of Independence begins with the often quoted
statement…
“when in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people”
when in the course of events, one people… not one individual, but we
exists as a people… not as one, or a few, or as a group, but as a people…
collectively…… when we think about society or the state or the tribe,
it is with the many, the masses, the multitude………
we engage with people, more then one, in games, politically,
scientifically, in bars and restaurants, we seek each other out…
walking the streets to see and be seen… the human condition is
one we share with others……
that is an essential fact which we must, must factor in everything
we do and think about…
so when we think about bettering our selves, it is within the group context,
within our social behavior we must improve ourselves…….
we learn to better ourselves in a social context…… so, when I say,
I want to become a better person, it is within a group context,
socially, as part of the social construct of being part of a group
that I am bettering myself…….
our engagement with bettering ourselves comes within a social context…
to become a better person means to become a better person
within a social, group context… to become a better human being requires
us to work within the many, not just the one, me…….
as our engagement with becoming human, all too human, requires
us to become better human beings within the social context
that is being human…… we don’t exist alone, separate, apart
from other human beings… we must think in terms
of our engagement with other human beings, so every theory
and every fact and every understanding we have of who we are,
begins with the simple acknowledgment of this fact that we are social creatures…
and we can only understand ourselves within this social context…
let us say, I am sent unto an island like Robinson Crusoe… alone, separate,
apart… the things that we humans engage with no longer apply to me…
alone I have no need of politics, morality, philosophy, history, ethics,
economics, psychology, sociology… alone without love or hope or
possibilities… there is no ambiguity because there is no possibilities
being alone like this……. all human context, all of the human condition
exists within our engagement with other human beings…….
so when we work to better ourselves, it is done within a social context…
we are bettering ourselves to work better within that human context…
I am a better person because and only if, I better myself in regards to
the social nature that is being human…
to become a better person means we function better within
our social structure… our understanding of being human can only
exists within a social environment… with others…
so, if I were to become a better person, I would learn to
engage with others in a more cooperative manner…
said another way, those people who are difficult because
they are mean or nasty or greedy or self involved, they
need to become better human beings within the group context…
to be a mean person isn’t being a better member of the human, social
ideal… we must judge people in terms of how they exist with others,
how they are social with others, how they interact with others…
for me to become a better person, I must first become a more social person,
a person that is engaged with and part of a group, a society, a species ……
it is this engagement with others, being social that defines us as human beings…
so anti-social, mean, hateful, angry, bitter people are, by being anti-social
are not very good people… we define “good” and “better” within the context
of how do they exists as part of a group, how do they interact socially with others…
so we see technology within our engagement with other human beings…
so we see politics within our engagement with other human beings
and we see philosophy within our engagement with other human beings…
the word philosophy and the word history both mean inquiry…
and the intent of the inquiry is to use history and philosophy to
discover how we are suppose to engage with other people…
morality is an inquiry into how we act with and interact with
and treat people…… ethics is just what it means to be human with others…
how we are to be social with others… that is what ethics means…
our engagement in behavior with others…….
ethics has no meaning without other people…….
philosophy has no meaning without other people
history has no meaning without other people……
morality has no meaning without other people…
ethical behavior means we treat others with respect
and dignity and kindness… we treat others the way we want
to be treated… not within nihilism which means we negate
and dehumanize people to achieve our own personal goals…
and that is the point of knowing what nihilism is, the negation
of human beings and their values… for that is not being social,
existing as part of a group…helping the group achieve its goals
for the group goals are more important then achieving individual goals…
why? because we are social creatures… and we exist within a group
or a social context with others…ethics, philosophy, moralities that
help us become better social creatures is of more value then
ethics, philosophy, moralities that doesn’t create a social context within
us, about being part of a group……
everything we do, must be in terms of us being social creatures…
every improvement we make individually, must be done in terms
of us being social creatures… every act we make must be done in terms
of us being social creatures…so how does the individual as Kierkegaard
would think of it, exists within this group, this social context?
that is the question…
Kropotkin