WHAT IS ‘THE HUMAN CONDITION’?

This question wonders about the way we live in this world – a world in which we see suffering, we feel suffering, and we cause suffering.

Universal pain has been passed down through the ages. Once our instinct for survival began to move out of reflexive, unconscious action — as it began forming more deliberate, defensive strategies, as emotions and intellect developed and joined with reasoning — the human condition began to evolve. Different, complex ways to protect ourselves emerged, and with them, the level of human suffering also became complex.

Logic, emotions, strategies, attitudes all formed over time. Leaving instinctual behavior behind, human fear evolved into man-made interpretations, creating a complex, threatening reality to be dealt with. Pain and suffering took on new meaning. Self-protective strategies became the order of the day and the opportunity for choices and personal responsibility become available. Could human beings control their desires? Their impulses? Their behavior? The possibility for deliberate action and self-control was now an added part of the emerging process.

And look … yet another new component to human experience also evolved.

Leaving instinctual behavior behind, the human spirit was then free to move into our more developed consciousness, carrying with it the possibility for enlightenment … so now we have a range of possible human experience that moves from profound degrees of physical, emotional, psychological pain to spiritual transformation. What an amazing mix!

Fear can be consuming, subtle or denied, but we must understand that survival is hard-wired into our biology. The human condition acts on the need to feel safe and drives us to create self-seeking goals. Fear is often translated into the disguised motto — ‘To have and hold, to keep and protect’—and this motto motivates attitudes that justify all manner of behavior. Look around … everyday living is now designed have, and have more, to exclude, ignore, even destroy those who seem to be in our path.

Let us use our capacity for honest reasoning to reflect … how do our choices alienate us from our own real self and others? How does alienation cause suffering? How have you and I created a world that denies equal value to all beings and how do we suffer the consequences?

Deeper than the everyday principle of self-justification, our spiritual awareness moves forward, and we find ourselves wondering about the meaning of Life; we find ourselves seeking Wisdom and longing for an un-named inner freedom.

Can we make an internal, intentional decision?

Can you, can I shift mental and emotional gears away from fear and trust Life to sustain us? Can we move through the process of living in a humane, inclusive, accepting way? Is it possible to allow ourselves to live in this world within the Wisdom of Compassion?

And if we become a part of the growing tip that carries loving intentions forward, what do you think would become of the human condition?