What are we? Human? Social? Biological? Exploited?…. All of the above. Although this gives us some definition of who we are, it is not the whole picture. Because we really don’t know what we are; we don’t know why or how we are on this planet. We have come a long way trying to understand, but we are still in the dark, and the mystery is loosing curiosity. Have you ever seriously acknowledged the mystery? For one moment, as you look at your hands and really wonder about what we are and why we’re here, you are seeing life outside of you’re normal box of perceptions. In fact, this normal box of perceptions is what keeps us from the mystery.

    The first principle of Buddhism is that our natural mind set is a prison. A mental prison that keeps us from seeing the heavens because we are biological beings that pay close attention to our environment for survival. Our focus has evolved for hundreds of thousands of years to pick out certain environmental stimuli that is relevant to keeping our species alive. Perhaps it was a genetic mutation that allowed for our intelligence, and since smarts was clearly beneficial, it was kept. It is possible that years of evolution has secured our perceptions to this state. Therefore we miss out on the divine, while we survive on earth. This limited perception is the mental prison of Buddhism.

    Aldous Huxley’s theories surround this biological need for limited perception. The reality valve, according to Huxley, is a mechanism of the brain that filters out unnecessary perceptual information. He posited that our brain takes in perception of everything, but only allows a trickle of information to pass through the reality valve, forming our perceptions. This filtering is so our brains aren’t over loaded with stimuli, allowing us the necessary perceptions to find food and shelter, and thus survive.

    The goal of religions and rituals, then, is to expand this perception. Once we have our survival secured, we can focus on other things. Psychedelic drugs are a way, as is meditation or even self-mortification. All of these ritualistic activities provides a chemical change in our brains that alters perception. The reality valve is chemically altered to allow perceptions of a different nature. And as one starts asking the big questions - staring at his or her hands in awe wondering how complex systems like us came into existence - he or she alters the reality valve, being concerned with perceptions of a different nature than just our everyday lives.

The Vicissitude of Human Nature

What is human nature? Do we act the way we do because of our human nature, or have
we just conditioned our lives through culture to act in this certain manner? To make any
attempt at answering these questions, first we need to define human nature in some way.
Dictonary.com defines human nature as “the psychological and social qualities that
characterize human kind”. This definition is of interest to me, because I see two major
influences on human nature: the biological patterns of behaviour that have evolved over
time, and the psychological influences of culture, language, parents and individual
perspective. Therefore I think that human nature has a biological component that allows
every human to share a similar experience; however, the culture, times, and the language
have a significant impact on individual perception, which influences behaviour. Although
homo sapiens are genetically similar, the social constructs of culture cause human nature to vary.

   The genetics of a certain time period allow humans to share a similar experience of life.
Before humans had the biological capacity for language, I think human nature would have
been significantly different from how it is today. But collectively, as humans evolve, they
share the same characteristics that are defined by their genetics. So if we look at a
particular period in history, we can say that humans are genetically defined to be similar,
and share the same experience of being human, perceiving, communicating and
questioning this experience of life.

      So our being the same species, gives us a similar experience of life. But looking at
evolution, we see that species can change, evolve, and adapt to a situation. Therefore,
human nature does vary in a significant way based on language, values, and economic
structures, or to put it more generally, culture and the social contract of a certain peoples.

      The very language, or system of symbols, that a culture uses defines that culture’s
perspective towards life. The use of language has allowed us to self-reflect, and construct
concepts or categories in our brains. These categories are why we can think with an inner
monologue, in language. Terrence McKenna suggests that “unexamined cultural values
and limitations of language make us prisoners of our own assumptions” (184).
Language, though it has greatly expanded our perceptions, has also limited our
perceptions. The point is, that language has a definite impact on a culture’s perception,
and therefore it influences our behaviour, which, in a way, changes human nature.

    The values that a culture holds probably have one of the biggest influences on human
motivation and behaviour. Most cultures derive their values from the ancient legends or
myths that their ancestors built. So a culture that is based on the dichotomy of good vs.
evil, or individualism, could produce a rapidly different human nature than a culture that
is more collective, or less judgemental.

    As Karl Marx would eagerly point out, the social institutions and economic structures
of a society greatly influence the perspective of an individual of that culture. The
education systems condition us to play our role in the economy. In a capitalist economy,
we basically become a number in an equation that is based on maximizing profit. Our
whole survival is based on the almighty dollar, which would have a huge impact on
human nature. Aldous Huxley talks about how humans have a reality valve in their brain
that filters out any perception that isn’t relative to our survival (24). Therefore, living in a
capitalist economy where the dollar is what we need to survive, our perceptions must be
steered towards getting money, rather than just food/shelter/water. This shift in what
humans find significant must have an influence on human nature.

    In conclusion, it seems to be that the idea of human nature isn’t some static,
predetermined way of acting that will inevitably determine human history forever; rather,
it is a fluid, changing process of human evolution. This debate between human nature and
human behaviour is of special interest to me because I believe humans need a mass social
revolution in order to continue evolving, and when discussing this, I have heard a lot of
people just state that this is how humans are, and it wont change; “aggression is just a part
of being human, and we will always have war” people say, but I think that this is just
another part of evolving where we have to overcome our old patterns, thereby changing,
and evolving human nature. AGK

                                                                                     Wild World 

Knowing that I have an interest in writing, Trevor asked me to write something for the website so I can get some practice. I was delighted when he asked me to write about philosophy instead of skateboarding, so here it goes.

      What is life? Why are we living it? These are the kinds of questions that don’t leave my head and drive me crazy. Philosophy literally translates to “the love of wisdom”, and it was originally conceptualized by the ancient Greeks. It is broken down into four major sections: Metaphysics, which deals with our ideas of existence beyond this world and understandings of afterlife,  or the structure of the universe (”Meta” meaning Beyond, so beyond physics); Epistemology, which is the study of knowledge and how we organize and develop knowledge; Ethics, which is morality, how one should act towards others; and Aesthetics, which is concerned with art, and the idea of beauty. At it’s heart philosophy is a quest to understand the big questions that we don’t have immediate answers to, but little by little, generation by generation, theory by theory, we can use our powers of intellect and reason to continuously surpass current understandings and overcome this puzzle of life.

    Religion is basically a combination of these sections into a theory of why we are here and how we should act. As Socrates taught, one must acknowledge their ignorance and incapability to comprehend natures mysteries in order to genuinely pursue truth. But how we look at life, and how the ancients looked at life, is radically different. They thought the earth was the centre of the universe; they did not have television to distract them from nature and the stars. The most influential philosophers of the classical Greek era sparked our Western worldview with their pursuit of understanding. They originated mathematics, natural science, astrology and astronomy to try and understand the cosmos. They used the stars to make predictions, and this is where religion comes from. I see all religions as essentially the same thing: an attempt to have a relationship with nature and it’s awesome powers. Each culture has a different religion, just as they have a different language because their culture is based on a different social contract, and a different system of symbols.

    To me the main characteristic of a philosopher is an outstanding awe for our situation here on earth. This wondrous attitude leads to the pursuit of truth and the search for an understanding of what it means to be human. We become so used to living in our environment and forget that we have no real idea of where we have come from or why we are on earth. If you approach the universe with questions I guarantee you will find answers that lead to more questions, which leads to more answers and even more questions. This process of questioning has been going on in human understanding since the ancient Greeks, who started it. Maybe through evolution humans can understand the divine mysteries of the universe, generation by generation, theory by theory, but our present day is faced with the challenge of keeping the terminally ill earth alive, hopefully long enough for humans to figure it all out!   

WRITTEN BY: Andrew Jones