Human Paradox

Human Paradox

The human paradox might correctly be said to be: Humans are the one member of the animal kingdom wherein many members consider themselves to be also a member of a supernatural kingdom.

I define a paradox here to mean a common sense view of reality that is a logical contradiction, which presents a problem that cannot be solved but only ameliorated in some way through the process of our comprehending its nature.

Because most, but not all, humans are possessed by this paradoxical world view we pay a heavy price due to our constant effort to preserve this “fantastic ambition” rather than understanding its source and making corrections accordingly.

As a member of the animal kingdom we consume to live. We have an appetite and in feeding that appetite we often kill and consume other animals. We feel good after we consume and we will do whatever is necessary to continue to consume and to live. We have an absolute attraction to Eros, i.e. we have a consuming desire to do what is necessary to preserve our life.

Good is that which promotes our life and evil is that which threatens our life.

Eros drives us to a desire to live forever. Our brain has developed to the point at which we recognize that we will die but we are driven by the urge not to die.

“Man transcends death not only by continuing to feed his appetites, but especially by finding a meaning for his life, some kind of larger scheme into which he fits…the “immortal self” can take very spiritual forms, and spirituality is not a simple reflex of hunger and fear. It is an expression of the will to live, the burning desire of the creature to count, to make a difference on the planet because he has lived, has emerged from it, and has worked, suffered, and died.”

Many humans express this common sense view of belonging to a supernatural world through their religious belief; however, even those who are not religious are often captives of the mind/body dichotomy that is so prevalent in Western philosophy.

I think that to deal effectively with this paradox we must become sophisticated enough to comprehend its source and to modify it at that point or not at all.

What do you think?

Quotes from “Escape from Evil” by Ernest Becker

I think you like to start threads but infrequently respond when anyone replies.

I addressed coberst about this very thing several months ago.

I have yet to figure out the criteria by which Coberst determines which threads he will reply to :-k but I ain’t complaining, as he starts a good many interesting threads…

I try to respond to responders who offer a comment germane to the topic of the OP that is coherent and indicates an interest in comprehending the topic of the OP.

So when you don’t respond to our post can we assume that Coberst has weighed our comments in his balance and judged it to be wanting?

I don’t necessary believe that we transcend death by all of the above.

You may say that we look death squarely in the face…we “come to terms” with something “Death” that is as much a part of us as our oun nature, as living is, as breathing is. That is not “transcending” but accepting, or absorbing into our being that which we might want to deny…living in harmony…life and death…which is actually harmony.

I think mothers should eat their placenta after birth, just like animals, to avoid post-partum depression.

My point, getting away from our animal selves is not necessarily a good thing.

Very interesting post and well reasoned out. Where it fails is that the supernatural cannot be rationalized. The supernatural is not confined by any laws of physics and as such behavior within that realm of consciousness can only be viewed as irrational.

In your argument you are intimating that the supernatural realm is an ambitious construction of the analytical side of the cortex. IMO this is not so. It is one of two related things. An idealization of the intuitive side of the psyche. An Astral Realm projected by our collective consciousness.

Again, purely an analysis. Intuitively we realize that nothing ever dies. Death is always a transformation. Only the intuition can idealize what such change may encompass for the soul. This then is always subjective. No two individuals can have exactly the same idea.

This ambition is outwardly true. The intuitive drive is always self realization. An internal ambition.

The dichotomy is related the problems between left and right brain communications. The invention of script and the struggle to master the mechanics of grammar and syntax and the thousands of hours invested in analytical training in the classroom, has tended to neglect the metaphysical potentials of the right brain. Almost no inspiration takes place in the mechanistically indoctrinated modern psyche. This was not so in earlier times when men relied more evenly on intuition.

We have to balance our education system. There must be as much emphasis on Heartstart as there is on Headstart.

It appears to me that many humans are certain of an afterlife which I take to be a paradox, i.e. a logical contradition. i.e. P and not P existing simultaniously.

I appears to me that we have a great dread of death and religion is our means for shoving our dread of death deep back into the unconscious so that we do not have to live with the anxiety of the consciousness of death.

What is your definition of intuition? What do you mean by “collective consciousness”?

I was an atheist throughout my late teens and twenties. That was my youthful pseudo-intellectual argument - fear of death made religion an opiate… But even in atheism the specter of death does not impinge on daily consciousness, at least not until the fourth quarter of life. The whole point and focus of retirement is a preparation for death. There is no fear, other than hoping it is not a painful one. It allows for full savor of the life lived. Also time for correction. In the end the arms of death are welcome. (I am now 67 and know full well where of I speak.) There are of course elders who fear death right to then end. IMO it is because they are guilt-ridden and have not had the courage to review their trespasses.

Basically, inspiration.
During experiments in the separation of the two hemispheres of the cortex, Prof. Roger Sperry has proved that each side of the brain has different modes of comprehension. The left side processes analytical information, intuitive insights are made on the right.

It is my belief that the intuitive side of the brain is the repository of 20 billion years of evolutionary experiences. From that vast resource inspired idealization surfaces in consciousness when the pressures of increasingly complex survival imperatives demand new solutions. The analytical side then takes over, systematizes the idea and then designs methods of practical application. That analysis is of course an expression of my intuitive insights. I have no proof of it. New advances in brain scanning will eventually tell us more exactly how consciousness works.

A little known hero of mine, Eugene Marais, a South African naturalist, once conducted an ESP experiment on a hive of termites, back in 1905. His findings were published in a treatise called “The Soul of the White Ant.”
He drove a one eighth inch steel plate between the queen’s chamber and the other half of the hive. There was no change of the behavior of each individual termite. But when the plate size was increased to a quarter inch, the behavior of the ants on the wrong side of the plate became erratic. That is the natural proof that consciousness can become collective.

I believe that the evolution of human consciousness is gradually leading us in that same direction. In a very real sense the advances in human communication mediums - oral. scripture, telegraph, radio, television and now the internet are all exoteric expressions of our collective consciousness. In another sense our central government serves as our collective consciousness. And yet another - our religions of Belief are also essential expressions of the collective will.

My intuition tells me that as our social and spiritual consciousness continues to evolve, we will transcend the artificial mediums of communication and directly achieve our natural esoteric potential