What Makes Us Human?

What Makes Us Human?

Some will suggest that what makes us human is love, others the polar opposite; war, suffering or pain. Others suggest destruction or creativity. Art, Denial, even flagellation and repentance. Aesthete’s cry “Reason” plebs “emotion”. So, it becomes clear that the thing that truly makes us human is “Conflict”.

Stick a bunch of people in a room, leave them there for a while and they will form cliques, groups and demarcation lines will be drawn. Soon after animosities and prejudices will appear, petty quibbles, will become roaring gulfs and soon each according to their nature will be tearing the throats from the others.

Our nature as a race and our main imperative is survival. It was inbuilt before we became humans, before we became apes and still exists in every one of us. We also have “Reason” having become thinking beings and noticing all around us, wondering about all these things, as we discover and try to understand them makes us ever more fragile.

We will ever have a conflict deep within us. Should love be our guide or should we think. Our emotive side would happily destroy the world to save a child, a puppy our thinking side knows that the child will grow old and die, the puppy become an old dog that costs money and deteriorates and will die no matter what we do.

This is not a new question. Socrates pondered upon it, even the lay of Gilgamesh, the earliest story we know, considered the thought. Are we intelligent animals? Are we animals that have gained intelligence?

This thought has been pondered over by scientist’s, philosopher’s psychologists and even stoners often. So, what is the answer. Should we be striving for reason or emotional bliss?

I suspect that if the tale of Socrates meeting Diogenes outside the gates of Thebes (were) true then we may know the nature of things a little more, were Joan of Arc to actually meet Voltaire rather than it be a literary confabulation then we may understand more. It has been argued for all time and will always be.

There has always been a gulf in humanity between emotion and reason back into even the earliest days. The human mind methinks will always be in conflict and our bodies follow our minds.

Human nature is conflict. We need to outgrow it.