silent thunder Posted February 6, 2017 (edited) I am told I am human... and I get it. I'm human. I'm human in the manner of my mother and father and my ancestors and all humans... I grew as a human, yet where inside me is the essential human part? I can see humans around me and recognize them as human instantly, every time... well ok, sometimes it gets a bit grey at Walmart and Comic-Con, but when I look inside to find the source of that human recognition, all I encounter, is non human bits. When I look inside myself to find what is human, no matter what human bits I examine... my human teeth, my human nervous system, my human frontal lobe, my human opposable thumb, my human speech... no where is there any human element that this is comprised of... It seems I experience my humanity and any humanity only within a pattern. A human pattern that grows entirely from non human elements... so at what point does the non human become human? What is the essence of human? Where does it reside? When I observe a single human liver cell, I perceive one living being, in an environment, engaging in processes that affect its surroundings. It has a life span. It is a liver cell, living and engaging in what liver cells do. It is not alone, it works within a pattern of similar individuals that form into an organ I call my human liver. Yet if I delve inside the cell, even within the very human DNA, there is no human element. At what point does the transition occur, from individual liver organisms to a human liver? If I widen my scope I can see how the liver engages with the colonies of living cells in the heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys, bladder. Systems supporting other systems. Systems suppressing other systems. Patterns comprised entirely of individuals made entirely of non human bits... that somehow easily seems recognizable as human at a certain point. So where is the essential humanness? What is human and where is it? Where does it start and end? Often of late, I look around and perceive patterns. Patterns within patterns, as within, so without... Patterns comprised of individuals, individuals comprised of patterns, all naturally growing within frameworks so innately interwoven that in the end all patterns mingle fluidly into the whole. edit for spelling Edited February 6, 2017 by silent thunder 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted February 6, 2017 Let's start out with this from Wiki: Modern humans are the only extant members of Hominina tribe, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes. They are characterized by erect posture and bipedal locomotion; manual dexterity and increased tool use, compared to other animals; and a general trend toward larger, more complex brains and societies. I Think that the capacity for complex language is important here too. So we are an animal species, of the great ape family, with characteristics that separate us from other great apes and all other animal species. But then we share 98 percent of out DNA with the chimp so we aren't all that different. I think a more important question would be regarding "humaneness". That's a tricky word/concept though. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted February 6, 2017 being a human is Spirit being attached to a human framework or matrix, being a god is Spirit being attached to a god framework or matrix, being an animal is Spirit being attached to an animal framework or matrix, etc.,etc... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Posted February 6, 2017 being a human is Spirit being attached to a human framework or matrix, being a god is Spirit being attached to a god framework or matrix, being an animal is Spirit being attached to an animal framework or matrix, etc.,etc... What if you are all of them at the same time...? 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted February 6, 2017 is that a rhetorical question? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Posted February 6, 2017 is that a rhetorical question? Guess that depends on your perspective... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
awaken Posted February 6, 2017 (edited) Good questions. It sounds like 禪宗 zhang Zhong questions. What am I ? Where am I before I was born? Where am I after I die? Am I what I am? When I was a child, I looked at the mirror in my house. I remember that I was wondering what I look like. I felt strange about my face. I felt my face was not like this. I felt I should have another face. When I started to learn methods to cultivate. I have tried 禪宗 zhang zhong's methods to observe who or what I am. It is a good method to see inside. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kōan Edited February 6, 2017 by awaken 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liminal_luke Posted February 7, 2017 (edited) I`ll say what came to me. The essential human part is the part that poses the question about the essential human part. Edited February 7, 2017 by liminal_luke 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted February 7, 2017 Which part of the Portuguese man o' war is the Portuguese man o' war? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted February 7, 2017 Which part of the Portuguese man o' war is the Portuguese man o' war? Probably the venomous tentacles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dionysiac Posted February 7, 2017 (edited) Humans are to the earth organism what cells are to the human organism? Pieces of a whole, all playing our part? Doesn't Kant touch on the limitations of observing a system from within that system? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_Pure_Reason We can never accurately conceive of humanity from an objective POV so why bother? Just sing along and play at being human the best that you can! And honestly I don't know how we can assume that the Human species is the pinnacle of life and somehow "above" other animals... we just make that assumption since we can't communicate with anything outside of our own species! An octopus can't debate you! Edited February 7, 2017 by dionysiac 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted February 7, 2017 Probably the venomous tentacles.Wikipedia would be your friend here... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted February 7, 2017 (edited) We too are a colony (physically and psychologically) . That doesnt mean we cant have 'mind' , which I see as close to the analogy of 'hive' , as I have mentioned before. In 'mind' you will see the difference ; that specific human trait that no other animal has that allowed us to develop culture through that process of mind / imagination - originally linked to tool making and specifically, imagined future usages being used in the present to effect design , especially in the case of multiple usage for a designed tool ... or 'soul' as I like to call it ( not soul, as in some type of 'astral ghost' concept ) . When this process is 'satisfied' , a large part of the human nature is satisfied . Edited February 7, 2017 by Nungali 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted February 7, 2017 (edited) humans can range in actions as a matrix for energies anywhere from the sub-human demonic depths of the horrific 7th hell, or to the subtle but powerful divine being-ness of 7th heaven. (which can also be correlated to 14 chakras) Edited February 8, 2017 by 3bob 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
