as I have pointed out, I began my study of philosophy, at least in a logical and
comprehensive manner, when I was 56 and my goal was to “free” philosophy
from its being trapped in a cul-de-sac where philosophy seem to be trapped
and unable to find its way into a new way of being/thinking…but of course
with any project, my intentions have changed a bit, now in addition to
freeing philosophy from its being trapped, I am trying to understand what it
means to be human given our “Modern” sensibilities…the modern world
as we know it, beginning with the start of the modern age, which is
the Scientific revolution and with the several revolutions since then,
the political, the social, the economic revolution, the philosophical and the
Artistic revolutions over the last 200 years…we find ourselves in a different world
then even say Martin Luther lived in…or even someone like Goethe lived in…
the revolution to be human, since over the last 500 years has been an engagement
with the other…we can become human by focusing on the other aspects of our lives,
with an engagement with every thing outside of us… we seek becoming human in
wealth, power, titles, fame… as the goals of existence…at no point in the last
500 years has anyone suggested that we might become better human beings by
an engagement with who we are…in other words, seek that which is inside of us,
not outside of us…we almost have a “horror” of seeking out what it means to
be human by investigating the world within us…the goals of existence lie within us,
not outside of us…outside of psychology, we fear and run away from any attempt to
seek out our possibilities within us…we are incomplete beings but we attempt to
overcome that by seeking out external results and answers instead of trying to solve
the problem of the “human condition” from within us…
I am incomplete so I seek external things, money, fame, titles, sex, rock and roll,
and all kinds of things in some murky attempt to solve the questions of existence,
“who am I?” and “what am I supposed to do?” “what values should I hold?” “how do
I become who I am?”
the questions of existence lie in our own self transformation, not in how much wealth
we can gain or what titles can we achieve or how many times did I appear on
“Good Morning America”…
it has been said that ''most people lead lives of quiet desperation"…
and why? because they seek the things that is leading them away from
discovering what it means to be human, they are seeking the baubles of
existence, wealth, fame, power, titles…instead of what really matters,
by answering the question…“who are you?”…
I am simple attempting to wake people up to the vast possibilities that
really exists for human beings…possibilities that dwarf the baubles of
existence…to transform us from being animals to animal/human to finally
becoming fully human…if we spend our days just trying to put food on
the table, then we are still engaged in the animal possibility that we have…
but I say, aim higher, rise above just the mere possibilities of gaining
food, water, shelter, education, health care… the basics of what it means
to be human…rise above that and hold an engagement with the real
battle which is the transformation of us from animals to becoming human…
and all that stems from our engagement with who we are inside of us, not
outside of us…we are so focused on the who, what, when, where, why and how of
being outside of us, we forget to focus on the being inside of us…
ask yourself a simple question, “Who am I?” and in asking that question, we
begin the long road to what really matters, an engagement with
what it means to be human…how am I to transform from being animal, to
becoming animal/human to finally becoming fully human?
Kropotkin