WHAT IS THE VALUE OF HUMANITY AND WHY DO WE SQUANDER IT?

Think about this statement for a moment:

If there was another species on our planet that was as violent to humans as humans are to themselves, we’d hunt it down and bring it to the verge of extinction because that’s what we do – that’s what makes us human.

The utter failure of our existence is that this statement is true – and we all know it.

As a species, we humans squander every gift given us; all our natural advantages.

The human species has three distinct advantages over every other creature on this planet. Firstly, we have a concept of the future – we understand that tomorrow will come, we appreciate our own mortality and we can plan for things before they happen. This connects to our second great advantage, we can make choices. We have the ability to choose to do things by considering our options and making a conceptually informed decision. As such, our third great advantage is that we understand consequences – we can appreciate and accept that our choices have outcomes and we are responsible for those.

These great advantages enable a multitude of other innate gifts that sets us apart from most, if not all, other species. For example, through the gift of choice we have a great capacity for love, compassion, empathy – things we often describe as “our Humanity”. And as much as you might say that these aren’t choices – we do choose them in as much as we have the same ability to choose to hate, ignore and cast judgement.

The values of Western Democracy are premised on our great advantages and the natural gifts they nurture. This is made most evident in the American declaration of Independence that is synonymous with Western Liberal/Christian discourse and its’ belief in our innate ability to take responsibility for our own actions and care for the well being of others:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

It is from this high moral pedestal that we condemn global non-conformists such as the Islamic world for how they, according to this humane Liberal discourse, choose to live by archaic Medieval values and traditions that are infested by anti-humane sentiment.

Yes indeed, the Western world has established itself as the true pedigree of what it is to be ‘human’ – and we’ve built monuments, towers and bureaucracies to perpetuate this elaborate myth and convince ourselves that it’s all true.

Now I don’t consider myself to be in any way special or different to the people who live and work around me. In fact, I think I’m pretty ordinary. I live in a relatively benign city in a very deliberately benign western democracy. I have a fairly standard three bedroom home in the suburbs where I potter in the garden, host the occasional dinner party or bar-b-que, walk my dogs and watch television. I work in an office environment in what is, for the most part, a standard nine-to-five job. I shop, have the occasional beer, look forward to an annual holiday and I’m proud of my kids.

But I don’t know who any of my neighbours are. I know there are families on each side and at the back – but I have no idea who they are, what they do… what they even look like.

I know very little about the private/family lives of most of my work colleagues and I know they know just as little about me. I’m not even sure if any of us want to know more about each other.

And I trust no-one…

So why is that? Why do I feel as though I am unable to trust anyone? I mean, I’m a good person… aren’t I? For one, I have a profound belief in the notion of Karma; that is, that you get back what you radiate out. In that sense, I try to be honest, forthright, caring and empathetic, loyal and reliable. I believe that if I project these qualities to others – that’s what they’ll give me in return.

But humans aren’t like that, are they? One of my neighbours will always complain to local authorities about my dogs, that my teenager had one party in three years (for which he went around and warned the neighbourhood) and it was too noisy… but no-one never thought to come and discuss their concerns directly with me – in the decent, natural justice kind of way. And amidst my work colleagues there’s those who will always let me down on deadlines so that I look bad, ignore my directions, never lend a hand, engage in and perpetuate office gossip – and they will always be out there trying to belittle me behind my back – and for what purpose?

We kill each other, steal from each other, cheat on each other, lie to each other, perpetrate violence upon each other…

Why are we like that? What is it that enables us to ignore all the good choices we could potentially make and opt for the bad, ugly choices?

Ask yourself – as a species, what kind of footprint is humanity leaving behind? And as an individual, what kind of footprint are you choosing to leave behind?

Post a comment - tell us who you are.    

HOW TO BE AUTHENTIC: FIRST STEPS - An Introduction

Our actions affect those around us and largely determine how our life is shaped. It is important that we recognise and accept that we are inseparable from the events and situations in our life. When we see and appreciate our connection to the world around us, we can begin to understand the control that we actually have over our own destiny.

Integrity and Character go hand in hand:

Character is the sum total of the result of all the choices and decisions we have made in our lives to date. It is about the relationship that we have with ourselves that is projected outwardly for others to see.

Integrity is the measure used to express our adherence to the moral principles and core values that we have set for ourselves. This adherence is identified by others as honesty, wholeness, trustworthiness and respectability.

Combining these two critical traits and projecting a character that is elevated by a conviction to sound principles and wholesome values is indeed our only pathway to true happiness.

The important point to be made here is that, in Shakespearean terms, if we cannot be true to thy selves then we cannot be true to others.

In order to be true to ourselves we need to:

• Realise and embrace our connection to the world around us; to our Environment. But we need to do this not from an observational and separatist perspective bit from an entirely immersed and unified way that enables us to take total responsibility for our Life and actions.
• Love, honour and Respect ourselves for the amazing beings that we are and to live up to our Integrity measures: our core Values, Principles, Ideals and Truths.

Another critical part of being true to ourselves is recognising that because our connection to the world largely determines how our life is shaped, we often try and fight against that connection rather than accept or even embrace it. We tend to do this in four primary ways:

• Repression: we put our efforts into push our experiences back. A good example of this is the proverbial “hiding our problems under the carpet” cliché.
• Projection: we choose to project negative or avoidance qualities onto the people around us. This is often exemplified as blame – “They didn’t give me the job although I was best qualified because they didn’t want someone who was male/black/short/gay/straight/etc”; i.e. it can’t have been anything you had done.
• Delusion: we ignore reality and opt to live in a make believe world manifested from misguided beliefs and perceptions. The most extreme end example of this is the stereotypical conspiracy theorist who believes they are best to withdraw and disengage from society because ‘someone’ is out to get them.
• Denial: we refuse to face Truths or Reality about the segments of our Lives and of our Selves that we feel are undesirable. This is the major single cause of mental and psychosomatic illness. Denial is like lying to ourselves.

Let’s conduct a small exercise. I want you grab some paper and a pen (if you keep a Journal which I recommend you so – use that). Now I want you to ask yourself “What is it in my Life That I am Not Facing?”

Write down all the ideas, thoughts and feelings that go running through your head as you contemplate this.

Now sit back, read and interrogate what you have written. Are you ready to discover what it is in Life that is holding you back? Are you ready to accept that most of it is probably, most likely, to be YOU? Are you willing to take the required steps to address this – to become an agent of change?

Remember, it takes courage to face your self-doubts, anxieties and fears. But the only solution is to face them head on. Stop procrastinating. Move towards resolving your self-doubts, anxieties and fears and you will be unstoppable.