stardustcboy's Diaryland Diary

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...Theories on the Nature of Man...

*Theories on the Nature of Man*

for ages theologans have argued over the nature of mankind. the old testament of the bible (king james version) argues that mankind is inherently evil, that we are "born into sin." it states, in so many words, that we spend the rest of our lives fighting for our immortal souls, seeking piety and perfection in the eyes of god. in the old testament, god was a wrathful god, ready to rain fire from the heavens and turn entire cities to salt for the slightest transgression.

conversely, the new testament argues that mankind by our very nature is good we just lose our way and turn our backs on god, hence the idea that "jesus saves." in this belief, god is a forgiving god and is always willing to wash away your sins if only you seek atonement for past misdeeds and put your faith in himself and his son.

the full developement of christian theologies from the original hebrew texts is a history lesson in and of itself. in short, hebrew scripts were translated by many cultures, each taking its own slant from the writings of the prophets. these texts, dead sea scrolls, etc., eventually became what is known as the old testament, the foundation of catholocism and some modern christian splinter factions. the old testament, after a little revamping became the new testament in the modern era when there was a large movement towards a less "guilt driven" form of worship and belief. the term christianity is in reference to any and all factions of religion that grew out of the catholic religion - protestants, presbyterians, baptists, etc. .

so taking this into consideration, what is the nature of mankind? are we evil or are we good?

the concepts of good and evil are incredibly simple human terms, used to define things that bring happiness, joy, fortune, love, sorrow, pain, misfortune, and hate respectively. all of these are human emotions, feelings within the realm of the human experience that no one on earth is exempt from, we all can and do feel them. if every human is capable of both "good" and "evil" emotions then wouldn't our natures be more inclined to mutability and transition?

as much as we'd like to not admit, we are still animals with biological natures. any animal exists for one thing - survival. survivial is a catch-phrase for many different behaviors. it includes the basic needs of food, water, shelter, sleep and reproduction; but also expands to encompass the more complex needs of community. the idea is that the "survival instinct" is selfish in and of itself. it serves only to protect the organism, to establish the organism as dominant or protected in its respective environment; and furthermore ensure the continuation of the species (sexual reproduction).

when the earth was but a violent and tempestuous place, the small bacterium and algae clung desperately to whatever small ecological niches they could. in time the earth's rage subsided, the seas cooled, mountains rose and the sky was blue for the first time in all of history...

*author's note: i would love to see that moment, earth's first sunrise...)

...when this occured there were great shifts in the various ecologies. areas that were once warm and wet were suddenly dry and barren. this forced the small organisms that had evolved from earth's primordial era to adapt once again to new environments. algae diversified into varying forms of plant life, bacterium diversified into all sorts of marine life, and on and on they went through countless ages and countless cataclysms until at one point there was a beast, a singular creature - creative (could fashion rudimentary tools), fairly intelligent, physiologically well-adapted to most environs, and gifted with thumbs. this beast, still in many ways ruled by the survival instinct was merely a step above the various other beasts that prayed upon it and that it prayed upon.

then, there was a moment, somehow, sometime when that beast looked up into the heavens and realized for the first time in the history of earth, that there was SOMETHING greater than itself, something greater than the ground upon which it stood. it looked up at the stars twinkling in the dark night sky and wondered, marveled, and quaked in fear of the vastness and loneliness of that infinite expanse of void. in that singular moment, human consciousness was born. from that day onward communities huddled together in caves, fought off hungry predators, raised children, drew on caves, and began to CREATE stories and histories. why?

because in that moment, between the first human and the cosmos, a secret was shared...a secret so profound there are no words in our language that can describe nor explain it.

it is fact that since time immemorial man has looked to the stars and strived to reach the heavens. in stories, in paintings, with buildings, with rockets, we reach hand outstretched to touch the hand of god. to once again share that secret we learned so long ago.

perhaps the nature of mankind is neither good nor evil, but searching. perhaps it is our duty, our purpose, to experience and define the world and cosmos around us both "good" and "evil". perhaps that is the power of "choice" that was given to us. that our very actions, as individuals, as a group and a species, shape our collective destinies. that we are the only creatures on the face of the planet, and in our entire solar system for that matter, capable of both destroying and saving ourselves and the world.

now that is power.

if that is so then it could be said that mankind has two natures, we are after all creatures based off dicotomies, dualities and oppositions - night/day, asleep/awake, good/bad, happy/sad, guilty/innocent, life/death. thus, we are both selfish and divine at once. our selfish natures stem from our ancestry, from the days when we were but "naked in the garden of eden" and realized that we were "powerless in the face of god". when we were but beasts. whereas our divine natures stem from the secret that was first shared in that moment between man and heaven.

in so many ways we war with our aspects. we strive for peace and equality, we seek harmony, beauty and perfection; and yet we still kill for resources (money, oil, food, shelter), still fight for dominance, and still argue over who's right and who's wrong. we are both beautiful at our heights of compassion and vile at the depths of our hatred.

we don't give ourselves enough credit. we lack faith in the power of our own hearts and our own minds. we let our fear and ignorance rule us; and in turn we shun the things we don't understand.

thus it can be said that we are both god and the devil as one, for both idols stemmed from our own minds and are figments of our own incredible imaginations. that we as individuals AND as a collective global species hold the power to our own salvation or damnation and it is our choice as to which one we want.

as a final note, i will include an observation from my own experience:

every night i drive from torrance to go home in the valley. 2/3 of the way along my route i crest the hill of the sepulveda pass and i get the most majestic view of the san fernando valley. a sprawl of sparkling lights of nearly every color lay in the dark like jewels upon velvet. the blinking lights of passenger planes wink as they come in to land at burbank airport; and all around me there are cars full of people speeding along to destinations known only to them. every time i see this i am held in awe. i try to imagine what a man from the 13th century would say if he were to behold such a sight, surely he would think he had been transported to another world, to babylon or atlantis or the streets of heaven itself, for it is truly remarkable to me to witness the majesty of human endeavor. generations of human time built the city i look upon every night, generations of hands toiled in the sun and in the dark to place the bricks and the cement and the asphalt that every day we take for granted. i look at all the lights, each one a person, a place; and i wonder who they all are. i know in my heart that they are not that much different from me. it is no mystery to me who built the pyramids at giza, or the temples at tenoachtitlan.

WE DID.

i find then that my eyes always seem to lift upwards towards the sky, and through the luminescent smog i see the faint twinkling of stars...

...and i am again like that beast so long ago who first looked into the face of the cosmos...

humbled, wondrous, grateful, and filled with awe...

...and i know that when the cosmos looks back, it feels the same for all of us.

3:57 p.m. - 2002-12-06

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