Mind's Eye Re: Are You A Human Being ?

You might include having a conscience and knowing that you will die as
two important human realities although both are subject to tweaking by
culture and religion. Another object of love might be the past as it
is handed down through the arts, primarily- the triumphs and efforts.
Humans can also change course, improve, correct, adapt easier than
animals or the reverse. Humans can reflect upon and examine their
lives. I would not limit my self-definition to knowledge seeking or
the ability to love- there's so much more to being human. If you want
specifics for me personally, I would have to write a very detailed
memoir which I have no intention of doing. Memoirs are getting to be a
"dime a dozen" for one thing and I don't consider I have reached the
final chapters yet- though who knows? At any rate, one should not fear
the defeats, losses, negative emotions, uproars, etc. as any less
important to one's individuality/humaness- everything is a part of the
whole person. By your self-definition, you seem to want to define
being human as some rosy generality in cozy terms that please. Do you?

On Aug 10, 3:05 am, Vam <atewari2...@gmail.com> wrote:
> How exactly do you specify that ? Being Human, that is...
>
> Put aside the biologist telling you of your classification or the scientist
> detailing the features... What exactly tells that you are a human being,
> apart from the rest of the animal kind ?
>
> I know it is easy to go frivolous, or quote the millions of texts in the
> library. But what does it mean to you, that you can vouch for, pointedly ?
>
> What sets me apart is my capacity to know, to engage single-minded in that
> process of discovery of what I seek to know, one after another, and to be
> able to tell myself what I do know, its how and why, and share it with
> others. The knowing leads me everywhere... into the universe, the earth,
> environment, other beings and things, language, arts, economics, values
> system, and myself.
>
> The next important capacity is to love other people, not just my own
> offspring, not just for people's utility value or until they are useful to
> me, but precisely because of the lifetime of knowing they represent, and
> for the values they embody on account of what they know. In fact, love
> isn't just directed towards individuals... it invariably includes the
> "good," life and growth, light, greenery, panorama, beauty, truth, honesty,
> freedom, expression... and much of what the universe itself is.
>
> What else or more, as it is with you ?

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