Do you think human nature is contradictory?
Don't you all agree that as human beings, we are just selfish, vain, violent...etc. by nature? But, the thing is, that's just the way we are, right? Yet we have such strong negative connotations associated with these descriptions. Isn't this kind of contradictory? It almost seems like we are set up to dislike ourselves, if you know what I mean. Is it because these qualities are not good for a *group of humans as a whole, so evolution kind of made us this way in order for the society to be more peaceful, or is it because we also have intrinsic moral standards that are designed to counteract/balance these "bad" qualities? Or...what do you think? Do you even think there is a contradiction? If you do, do you think this contradiction restrict our "individual" happiness?
Update:Consent to be nothing... that's a good quote!
Update 3:Aß іηito
I guess I kind of based my question on the assumption that our sense of moral is somehow separated from the "bad" human nature because they just seem so different and contradictory, but I think you're right, in essence, they are both part of being human.
Comments
Great question, superb observation!!
My own views are......... yes, indeed our inherent nature is to be selfish, vain etc. which are obviously traits provided by the Nature for enabling us to survive individually. We, however, used our brains to choose strength for survival in togetherness and cooperation. Our chosen route to survival is perhaps not so natural as we would like to believe, or else the virtues that are essential for togetherness and cooperation should have naturally got embedded into us by now..... rather than our having to endlessly force them into our psyche through truly Herculean and ceaseless collective efforts towards influencing ourselves deeply right from the day we are born till the very end....... and even thereafter, we have never been able to stick to them without enforcing laws, ethics and societal dictates and stigma.
Since we have chosen to take an unnatural path for our survival and progress, the inner battle within us is endless which also signifies that we can not yet declare victory over the Nature. The wise amongst us find a way to reconcile between our natural instincts and social imperatives yielding to them alternately in a manner so as to minimize damage to our individuality as well as to our role as a social being....... others helplessly struggle between the two and end up either hating themselves or hating the society, or still worse, end up hating both!! In my view, much of the strife in our life as well as society may well be the result of the contradiction you are so insightfully referring to. I often feel that we have thus begun to devolve rather than evolve as designed by the Nature!! The collective strength that we have built up to fight and enslave the Nature may in fact quite possibly become the cause of our premature end as a species!!
Well sometimes yeah, but human nature isn't always self-contradictory. Instead, a human being is a combination of many traits working in different priority levels. Humans aren't only intrinsically egotistical. Instead, the ego exists as a priority to sustain the existence of the individual. The only person who will dress you, feed you, sleep for you, exercise for you, etc., is yourself. So the ego exists by default to satisfy this important task of taking care of and looking after oneself. Then comes the value of social interaction, whereby we gain information from others and also enjoy ourselves, entering into relationships across a variety of intimacy levels. This is where the empathetic traits of humans lie. We value the happiness within oneself while understanding that ultimately the safety of our peers and loved ones somehow dictate that same happiness. Morality is mutually understood to be beneficial to both parties. We value materials because they help us function and keep living, but we value the "spiritual" also because humans have trouble coping with the materialistic being final, so some people have invented stores of afterlives, spirits, gods and such to explain how "that's not all" and we get to live more when we die. Government keeps a society in order and seems comparatively much better to live under than an anarchy, yet kind of an annoyance compared to absolute freedom. So you can see that people's actual priorities are somewhat in-between.
Negative connotations of such words, "moral" standards, laws, rules are there because we want to reduce the damage. (admitting the fact that our human nature is not very nice.)
I do not think laws, rules and what not are there to restrict our individual "happiness", if not, individual freedom. But too much individual freedom can put the society in danger hypothesizing that it can cause disharmony and chaos.
Yes, I do think that our world is very contradictory. But what isn't?
For example, people sometimes say that the most precious thing in this world is love, if that were true then why would some people get hurt by it?
EDIT: " I understand what you mean, but there are people who hate themselves or have low self-confidence because they understand themselves--perhaps a little bit too much? "
Honey, we can NOT see ourselves with "objective eyes". But then again, there's no such thing as "objective eyes". I believe that everything in this world is relative. For example, do you know Richard Ramirez? he's a very famous serial killer from california, personally I consider him an ignorant,vengeful tool, however there are people who worship him as if he were some type of God. Do you see my point? You can never "understand" yourself too much as to hate yourself. That's just a ridiculous excuse to abuse your ownself.
Consider this after the bombing of Cambodia by U.S. Air Force there were accusations that The Khymer Rouge a communist organization was involved in genocide. Contradicts as U.S. intent was to stop communism which was a form of empowerment for the people in the form of monetary control by the people not the rich. As to second part the way of people right now is political not natural and a political solution through green power and socialism may help as empowers people protects planet . Electricity,solar power,wind power for green power.
Hey Suan, although I did not get your point completely but still think you are quiet right that humans are selfish, liars and violent by nature but i think no one can change his nature. I am sure these qualities would make one feel bad about himself so we should try to overcome these qualities to make the world a better place to live.
I hope i made some sense
No, it isnt.
Selfishness, violence, etc contributes to our survival, our morality, the "little" voice within us that tells us those are wrong doings, also contributes to our survival.
Basically our nagative connotations(which is part of our nature) and our nature(what you said, selfishness, violence, etc.) have the same goal.
To me this sounds like A contradicts A.
In the big picture, they are the same thing.
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Dont understand: "both part of being human" -- not really clear whether you understood or misunderstood.
What i am saying is that they serve the same specific purpose, contribution to survival.
What's within you is ,"complete integration" and what's outside is ,"complete disintegration" it all depends what are we trying to connect with.
"Wisdom tells me I am nothing; Love tells me I am everything.
Between the two my life flows"
-Quoted from Nisargadatta.
...not at all...it lays it out for you to choose...good luck...