finding humanity’s cornerstone

29/09

In the late 1950s, while Margaret Mead was teaching at Columbia University as a professor of anthology, a student asked her what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The answer expected by most in her class was a conversation on findings of primitive clay pots, hunting tools, grinding stones, or religious artifacts. Instead, she stated that the first evidence of human civilization was a 15,000-year-old fractured femur found at an archaeological site. 

The femur, which links the hip to the knee, is the longest bone in the human body. On average, it would take about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal in societies that lacked the benefits of modern medicine. This particular bone had been broken and had healed. Mead further explained, “In the animal kingdom, if you break your leg — you die. You cannot run from danger, you cannot drink or hunt for food. Wounded in this way, you are meat for your predators. No creature survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. You are eaten first.”

According to Mead, a broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person took the time to stay with the fallen, bind their wounds, carry them to safety, and tend to them through recovery. A healed femur is a clear indication that someone helped a fellow human and did not abandon them in their hour of need to save their own life. The anthropologist also claimed that helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts and to, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; For, indeed, that's all who ever have.”

Taking the aforementioned statements as a framework of understanding, the following essay aims to question the meaning of life, comprehend the concept of humanity, and delve into the essence of human existence from the vantage point of existentialism, stoicism, the concept of human ergon from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, and more. It seeks to provide fresher perspectives on conversations surrounding human existence through ideas and instances prevailing in the status quo — from religious and spiritual to political and natural. 

To begin with, let us consider what it means to be human. A brief insight into philosophy shows us a long history of dialogue surrounding the existence of something like human nature which intrinsically separates us from other intelligible creatures. While Aristotle argued that the ‘proper function’ of human beings was to think rationally, the Epicureans believed that one of the most striking features of human nature was the ability to discern between pleasure and pain and to actively seek the former. On the opposite end of the world (and further down the timeline), the Charvaka school focused on channeling their forms of hedonism and actively rejected supernaturalism while Buddhist and Jain schools gained teachers and disciples for their respective paths of shaping the emerging civil societies. Similarly, thinkers like Confucius and Hsün Tzu debated whether human nature was inherently good or evil. Evidently, there has been much discourse. 

Undoubtedly, all of these theories and discussions have been immensely rewarding to the field of philosophy in inviting more streams of thought but have greatly lacked in providing a viable answer that acts as a foundational base for further metaphysical questions on the self and the universe. None of the aforementioned theories put forth by some of the eminent philosophers and schools above tell us what it means to be human. Instead, they speak of purpose, reason, and God. 

This essay, however, seeks to take an alternative route and delicately disentangle the fundamental truths of humanity that have been caught in a web of uncertainty. To understand what it means to be a human, let’s break the entirety of the concept down to its core. Basic evolutionary studies tell us that people have evolved from a lengthy process of change through which we emerged from our apelike ancestors. The continuance of time enabled the development of speech, rational thought, and movement which further developed into language, intellect, and technological innovation. These characteristics essentially set us apart from the rest of the inhabitants of the animal kingdom. 

Circling back to the initial question — what does it mean to be a human? Let us now bring into question the idea of consciousness. A creature is said to be conscious if it displays sentience, wakefulness, and self-awareness. However, consciousness — or simply an awareness of the self and the external world — is in itself a concept that requires the understanding of underlying unconscious currents that enable hidden desires and thoughts to rise to the surface. One may have the ability to gain consciousness at a young age by simply recognizing their ceaseless inner monologue but will only be considered truly ‘aware’ if one is conscious not just of their internal realm and their external surroundings, but if they are also actively cognizant of their inner or soul-like connection to something larger than themselves and of virtues that tie together the whole of humanity. 

Jean-Paul Sartre’s idea that ‘existence precedes essence’ (Being and Nothingness, 1943) lies at the heart of existentialism and emphasizes that although people do not choose to be born, they are still individual beings who are capable of exercising their free will and in turn, of creating their purpose for life. Sartre considered this freedom as a gap in the crux of consciousness and claimed that ‘Man is condemned to be free’ (Sartre, 1957). The core of this argument explores the notions of choice and freedom and emphasizes that there is no pre-existing essence of man that has been fixed in advance but rather that man creates this sense of purpose himself. In response to Sartre’s claims, the determinist view stands in stark contrast to these ideas and rules out human freedom and responsibility entirely. It rejects free will and speaks of God as a major contestant in mapping human destinies.  

Keeping both existentialism and determinism aside, human existence implores the recognition of several things — the mind and its self-awareness, values that are intrinsic to one’s being, and the reality (or illusion) of freedom and choice, as well as what one seeks to do with it. But the presence of our consciousness and the universal nature of our existence without consent leads us to consider how combining the two can perhaps offer a solution for the existential dread of finding purpose. 

Their conjoining allows us to take into account the matter of universal or ‘one’ consciousness and briefly dabble in the philosophy of mind. Consider the idea that all of mankind is one consciousness that is infinitely experiencing itself subjectively. Hindu philosophy, in particular, speaks of universal consciousness or turiya in several Upanishads and elucidates that every human passes through four states — waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and universal consciousness. The dream state has been an especially disputed and immensely discussed phenomenon in both philosophy and psychology alike.

Vivid lucid dreams and nightmares wherein one feels as though they lived a lifetime often leave a deep imprint on a person’s conscious memory and lead us to question if our current state of wakefulness is just another state or level of a dream that is bridging the route towards universal consciousness. Renowned physicist David Bohm spoke of ‘Wholeness’ to expound on his idea that the human consciousness has a natural connection to the universal — like being both the wave and the sea or a droplet of water in the ocean — and thereby claimed that we are simply an expression of the whole and not exclusive or different from it. This is our real identity. This is what it means to be human - an expression of the (in)finite universe, an imagination of ourselves, a dream — if you will.

A compelling contrast here is given by a philosophy that has seen a remarkable revival in recent years — Greco-Roman Stoicism; one that is in some respects very different and yet shares surprising similarities with existentialism. For the stoics, human nature regulates what humans can and are inclined to do; they believed in two aspects of human nature that stipulate what it means to live a good life — that we are highly social and capable of reason. Further, they advised us to “live according to nature” or by improving one’s judgment through the faculty of prohairesis — commonly translated as will or deliberate choice, which (according to them) distinguishes humans from any other species and to actively, consciously exercise the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. 

The first mention of prohairesis can be traced back to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics which frames this volition as the capacity for rational choice and thus, as a characteristic that distinguishes humans from other animals. Moreover, Aristotle’s work speaks of the concept of ‘ergon’ which connects function and goodness, i.e., “if the characteristic function of an entity of type X is to φ, then a good entity of type X is one that φs well” (Nicomachean Ethics 1097b–1098a). Simply put, creating a link between an entity’s highest function (ergon) and deciphering whether the entity has met that function with excellence (aretê) allows us to understand said entity’s purpose. For example, if the function of an eye is to enable seeing, then a good eye allows its bearer to see well. As per Aristotle, the human ergon consisted of exercising the rational part of the soul that acts in accordance with virtue and wields reason. 

Regardless of our ability to reason with logical thought or carve our sense of self and purpose, there is a collective sense of belonging to the human race that grants us the ability to work with compassion and uphold certain universal standards of dignity based on shared empathy. This is a rather interesting aspect of human nature for it entails the core of humanity and provides us with the comprehension of how compassion — as the reflective and deliberate part of our psychology that originates in the cognitive centers of the brain — capacitates us to respond to the suffering of another person. As immensely social beings, compassion acts as our basic social emotion. 

Feelings, actions, concerns, and intentions based on compassion are subject to various interpretations that focus on different aspects of our response to suffering. These can be forms of empathic, action, or concern-oriented compassion. Many strands of Buddhism also prescribe aspirational compassion which is derived from a shared consciousness of the collective and is more cognitive and intentional in nature. Dr. Ekman classifies four main targets or recipients of our compassion: family, friends, strangers, and sentient beings. It must be noted here that while compassion is not considered one of the seven universal emotions, it is a facility that forges connections, binds us together as human beings, and moves us to make deliberate acts of compassion. 

In a conversation with the Dalai Lama, Dr. Ekman spoke of global compassion — a conscious intention to alleviate the suffering of anybody, irrespective of their identity, race, or religion, and a key factor that unites every human being. Perhaps compassion, as the first sign of civilization, can then be considered the cornerstone of humanity. Ancient bones at archaeological sites of prehistory have also proved to be incredibly insightful in demonstrating the evolution of kindness. 

Many schools of thought often associate feelings of empathy, sympathy, compassion, and forgiveness as rivulets of a larger emotion of love. Let us consider a Sufi group of devout and spiritual individuals who, clad in iron bells and chains, annually embark on a grueling 200-kilometer pilgrimage across the scorching deserts of Pakistan. The Lahootis remain an underrepresented and often misunderstood community of pilgrims who consider love as the greatest force in the universe; one that creates a burning in the heart and can help guide you to any destination. They walk with purpose and devotion, as a form of meditation and in the name of connection. It is the understanding of this very human connection that we wish to unravel here. 

As humans, we have an innate desire to build social bonds which is essential to our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Feeling connected to others of our kind allows us to experience a sense of purpose and belongingness to our people; it is human nature to want to be seen, heard, understood, and desired. The connections we forge throughout our lifetime enable us to take risks and act with resilience in the face of adversity, and the support systems we build in our environment act as pillars that help support our existence. The fundamental truth is that as social beings, meaningful human connections provide for a uniquely profound experience that cannot be replaced by anything else. Connection dictates no ulterior motive and heeds no discrimination but resolutely commands respect. 

Needless to say, different cultures around the world have different beliefs about how important social connection and interdependence are to our lives but in a world that is becoming increasingly borderless and technologically advanced, our social connections have been charged with the ability to transgress distance and relational proximity. Nevertheless, there have been long-drawn debates between Western and Eastern forms of psychology which arm us with the knowledge of the individual and its role in civil society. While the former considers a free, rational-minded individual to have the capacity to remain immune to communal bonds and relatively independent of social pressures, the latter emphasizes the need for an individual to be of service and use to civil society and deems every individual to have an active role in shaping the community. 

From a theological perspective, the world has witnessed many groups of individuals who have shaped the purpose of humanity and simultaneously accentuate the significance of human connections through their respective religious beliefs, sacrifices, and rituals. Islam, particularly, speaks of Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH) who — along with the rest of the Ahlul-Bayt and his 72 supporters — made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of safeguarding humanity. His was a mission unique to any political and religious revolutionary movement known to the history of man; a monumental undertaking that continues to reverberate throughout the Muslim community and bind people in faith and their basic connection to the human polis. The Battle of Karbala (680 CE) is, hence, a great example of standing in the face of oppression and pledging an allegiance to protect the oppressed and strive for their freedom based on a simple empathic human connection. 

Similarly, dependent origination is a fundamental concept in Buddhist philosophy which teaches that all life is interconnected and that nothing exists in isolation. It strongly believes that the real nature of both individuals and events alike can only be correctly grasped when put in the context of their connection to all others. According to this doctrine, human beings are part of a much larger, symbiotic fabric of coexistence, and an individual’s inability to appreciate or comprehend their connection to others gives rise to feelings of isolation, apathy, and hostility which further develop into ignorance, violence, and bigotry. 

The pathology of divisiveness and discrimination based on superficial distinctions blinds people to human commonalities and has proven to be rather problematic in the psychology of collective egoism which takes its most destructive form in strands of ethnocentrism and nationalism. For Buddhism, the profound interconnectedness of our lives makes it incumbent upon us to consider the sufferings of others as our own and requires a recognition of the bonds that connect us to others through inner reformations based on spiritual efforts. There is no doubt, then, that breaking free from patterns of violence, hatred, and mistrust requires redefining what it means to be human through the lens of compassion and wisdom.

Putting the metaphysical understanding of reality provided by Buddhism aside, if we take a look at the current socio-political state of the world, we will find it shrouded in complex interdependence (Keohane and Nye, 1970) as it becomes progressively more globalized and ‘flat’ (Friedman, 2005). With this immensely raised level of connection across all forms of reality - physical or virtual - comes a new set of challenges to resolve and higher universal standards of dignity to uphold. Amidst communal turmoil, political corruption, displacement, migration, food insecurity, climate change, poverty, and disease, human resilience is a virtue that has remained a constant. Taking all aforementioned arguments into consideration, it is viable to deduce that there exists a commonality or link between us all.

In our 0.007% existence in the history of our planet, we have managed to succeed and fail at quite a lot; from the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel to the creation of civilizations and the advancement of technologies, our kind has seen much and yet, nothing — for we are but a speck in the vastness of the universe. Still, we are moved every day by the privilege of our existence to love more than our capacity, unravel more than our understanding, create obsessively, and hope vehemently. In the chaos and haze of our quest to find purpose, we often forget to acknowledge the relevance of all that surrounds us and end up having to plead for answers to fundamental questions like, what does it mean to be human? It is, therefore, crucial for every individual (as a one-time occurrence on this planet) to recognize that the purpose of their life is to simply live. 

As a concluding thought, do consider the idea that the strength of mankind lies in the resilience of the connections it molds through the passage of time. Yet, it is these bonds that often go unnoticed or ignored for too long. As humans, we are fortunate to exist in a symphony of patterns and connections that are universal to our nature but it is perhaps the very thing that sets us apart from other animals that withholds us from recognizing what we must be most mindful of — one another. So look closely, you may be missing something.