Finding Meaning in the Human Experience

There are many elements in the experience of being human. Some are as fact, others continue to be debated and have no clear answer.  Shlain in The Alphabet Versus the Goddess says, “The right brain is better than the left in perceiving space and making judgments as to balance, harmony, and the composition of gestalts” (Shlain 16). This is part of the human experience as society has lessened the uses of the right brain. The left-brain is used much more as society develops and begins a written language. The right-brain brings a connection between nature and humanity while with our extensive use of the now dominating left brain society is braking the connection with the natural world. When speaking of the written language’s development David Abram says that “the larger, more-than-human life-world is no longer a part of the semiotic, no longer a necessary part of the system” (Abram 25).  When he says this he is referring to the leap into an abstract way of communicating, where written letters no longer represent things in nature. By having letters become abstract the society took on a more linear time instead of a natural cylindrical one. One type of story past down in a society is a myth. When myths began to be written down they became forgotten and misunderstood. As a book lasts for centuries once the myth is written into a book it need not be looked at for generations, as it will not disappear if left alone for a long, long time. They became misunderstood in the way that they can now be told in a different location to where they should be told. This takes away from the meaning of the story. The Aborigines are one culture that tells myths to each other.  In A Short History of Myth Armstrong said that “a myth could not tell a hunter how to kill his prey or how to organize an expedition efficiently, but it helped him deal with his complicated emotions about killing of animals” (Armstrong 31). This shows how myths help with the emotional right brain. The right brain cannot be stimulated as much by one reading a story out of the location it is meant for. A society with no spoken myths would likely have difficulty dealing with strong emotions or have less civil ways to deal with the strong emotions.

                  The nature of humanity is complicated and cannot be truly sorted out by a human.  Many humans strive to be one with nature, although as humans it is not possible to escape nature. In “Second Nature” from How Art Made the World Nigel Spivey states that “to be ‘at one with nature’ is to imagine an easiness between our cultured selves and the natural world” (129). People try to be “one with nature” in many different ways. Humanity either loves or despises the natural world. Cities and other developments in society take away from natures hold on humanity, but also allows for a farther fall into destruction when nature retakes her own. Individuals try to incorporate nature into their cultural actions.  Others try to flee nature. They wish for nature to be under their control. Nature however fights back, creating a constant struggle with development and the power of the natural world. Douris in the poem Ephesos says “These countless homes, these properties of happy days belong” (Poetry for the Earth 47). Douris says this after speaking of nature’s destruction. Douris is a person who prefers the manmade to the natural, but through this poem shows how he cannot escape the destruction. The distruction takes over and humanity is left with nothing but the will to rebuild and begin again. In “Of Cannibals,” Michel De Montaigne says that he sees no cannibalism or more inhuman acts in the “cannibalistic” societies worse than that of his own society. The European society must therefore be the cannibals; as if on society is not the other must be, at least in the eyes of each society. In Shakespeare’s The Tempest the storm and fear of nature are shown. The noble people in The Tempest show their fear of the unknown through their attitudes towards Caliban. Prospero says “A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick. …” when he speaks of Caliban (The Tempest IV. i. 188-192). Thinking of Caliban as a devil due to his nature and race indicates that Prospero like the other noblemen in The Tempest thought Caliban not fit to be a nobleman as he was part of the mysterious unknown.

                  The mysterious unknown also includes Love and Beauty. They are however accepted abstracts. The question of what these abstract topics are has been discussed in great depth by many philosophers including; Plato, Kant, and Ficino. The Philosopher Plato once said that love is“… not only the possession, but the everlasting possession of the good?’ …’then love,’ she said, ‘may be described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?’” (Plato 72). In this way love can only exist in the loving of something that is good. Wanting something or feeling the need to possess a thing is a part of love. The want to possess something good is love. Kant pulled apart good and said that one cannot call everything good. He says “That which is gratifying is called pleasant; that which merely pleases him is beautiful; that which is esteemed [or approved] by him … is good” (Kant 285). Beauty is not a universal word. It should not be used where pleasant or good should be used instead. What one finds pleasant another may not and so the pleasant thing cannot therefore be good or beautiful unless the majority agrees upon it. Ficino claimed that love pertains only to three senses or it is not love. He says that “love regards as its end the enjoyment of beauty; beauty pertains only to the mind, sight and hearing. Love, therefore, is limited to these three, but desire which rises from the other senses is called, not love, but lust or madness” (Ficino 207-208). If one does not love something with the mind, sight and hearing then the love does not exist. The love is lust. Philosophers still have differing ideas on the subjects of love and beauty.

                  Philosophers have differing ideas in the subject areas of Laws and Ethics. Religious writings are often contemplated with laws and ethics. In the Jewish Bible it says that, “God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:1-2). The Jewish people therefore follow laws set down for them out of fear and respect for a greater being. The laws and ethics of the society are followed strictly be they for safety, societal connecting, or for uniformly. The laws remained mostly unchallenged until science began to disagree with some of the religious teaching.  Aristotle’s teachings in the time of the philosopher Aquinas throw doubt on the religious teachings of the day. Aquinas brought the two differing ideas together. In The Medieval World it says that Aquinas, “points out that the universe could have existed for ever but that species such as humans and other animals might have a beginning…” (91). The religious teachings and the scientific theories can go hand in hand. This idea keeps societies together and gives a reason for some more abstract ethical codes that appear pointless by a scientific viewpoint. John Stuart Mill taught of the idea of the greater good. This would not have much merit in science as science teaches of the survival of the fittest. In The Age of Revolution it says that Mill believed that a government should “allow all individuals the freedom to pursue happiness” (192). Happiness is not necessary for survival but through religious teachings society has come to believe that everyone deserves to be happy. Mill said that the greatest potential can only be met when individuals are happy. The ability to evolve does not always agree with the laws of a society. Ethics are sometimes brushed aside for advancement, but the laws and people, or social norms, of a society often stamp out the unethical practices.

                  Individuals often contemplate the meaning of life, and human existence.  Joseph Campbell an American mythologist, writer, and lecturer simplified the hero’s journey into three parts; the abyss, the monster and the return. He said that the hero must give life to something bigger than himself or herself such as another individual or a spiritual idea. Some famous heroes that Campbell spoke of in his interview with Bill Moyers are Moses, Christ, Buda, and Mohammad.  Their abyss included the desert, a solitary cave, and other places of isolation. Moses in coming down from the mountain, or out of the abyss, formed a new society. Christ and Buddha experienced three temptations on their quests, which were their monsters. Mohammad wrote a greatly spiritual book after many hours of meditation. Hamlet in Hamlet the play by Shakespeare, an Elizabethan playwright, is also a hero and goes on a quest to avenge his father. On the way Hamlet must struggle with the meaning of human existence. Hamlet says that “Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table: that's the end” (V. iii. 24-28). He says this to his uncle-father after accidentally killing Polonius. In this statement one sees Hamlet’s struggle with the meaning of life. This is part of his hero’s journey. He goes into a psychological abyss as he begins the quest to avenge his father.  He then meets monsters such as the king, who try and have Hamlet killed. At the end of his quest Hamlet returns to society by coming to terms with life and showing a continued love towards his mother. He shows this, as his guard is let down as she dies allowing Laertes the upper hand in their duel. To have a hero’s journey one must descend into the abyss alone. Hamlet did this as he took it upon himself to avenge his father and find the meaning of human existence.

To Be or Not to Be

There is no single experience that defines what it is to be human, but there are many entities that commonly add to the experience. Part of the journey that is being human entails cognitive reasoning and questioning, such as considering one’s origins, as Karen Armstrong say humans do in her work A Short History of Myth. Humans’ cognitive functioning also leads to communication, whether it be verbal, written, or in some other form. Communication and interaction with others is a large part of the human experience, and to understand communication with one another, human beings must use both hemispheres of their brains (The Alphabet vs. the Goddess). This use of the brain’s hemispheres, together with the way the hemispheres function on their own, is all part being a human being. The human mind is capable not only of understanding direct communication from person to person, but also communication through other means, such as stories. Many of these stories try back into the aforementioned question of human origins. Questions of the origins of human beings are often answer by origin myths, frequently found in religious texts, such as the creation story told in Genesis.

The experience of being human cannot be thought of as definitive, simple because each individual has a unique progression through humanity, but there are certain recognizable aspects. Two very human connections to the world exist in the human relationship to nature, religion, and sacred space. These three facets of humanity are often quite intertwined. For example, if one studies the Aborigine people of Australia, it can be seen that the places they hold sacred, and places they find spiritual, are all very much in nature.  As Nigel Spivey writes in “How Art Made the World: Second Nature,” in the religion of the Algonquian people of Canada “ancestral spirits are deemed to reside in a tree of a boulder.” These are two examples of many in which religious sacred spaces are found in nature. Additionally to holding it sacred, there is another relationship between people and nature that is distinctive of humanity. For part of being human is the desire to control or manipulate things, and nature is often at the receiving end of this desire. This can be seen in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, through the character of Prospero, who not only controls the weather, but also uses it to control other people.

Love shall forever be a prevailing part of the experience of being human, and tied up with love, is beauty. Human beings feel love- for others, for themselves, for material objects. Regardless of what the love is felt for, it is a universal emotion, shared by people across cultures, and throughout time. This is seen through love poetry, a means of expressing love that is found from Ancient Egyptian cultures, to modern day American teenagers. People’s expressions of love tie back to human communication and story telling. For through all aspects of being human, the same actions apply. There are different types of love, though the one most commonly thought of in the experience of being human is that of romantic love, and it is this type of love that so much of the writing of love are written about. In addition to love poetry, there are also complete books, such as The Art of Courtly Love. Love is an extremely complicated part of being human, and equally complex is the human idea of beauty. Sometimes only surface beauty is viewed as important, as seen in The Picture of Dorian Gray, while others believe only inner beauty matters. The individual experience of discovering what true beauty means to oneself is part of the journey of being human.

Human morality and ethics are an important part of the human experience. A human being’s moral and ethical code is part of what defines an individual, as is where the individual’s moral code comes from. Many people believe God defines what is moral, and they seek to follow the moral codes presented by their religions. The Judeo-Christian Bible contains “The Ten Commandments,” a code created by God, which contains commandments about morally right actions. This Bible also includes “The Holiness Code,” which further expands on the rules for living morally presented in the Ten Commandments. Later, in the Christian Bible, “The Sermon on then Mount,” gives an even more in-depth elaboration on the Ten Commandments. In the Sermon, Jesus tries to clarify the Ten Commandments, and eliminate misunderstandings that have come from others’ interpretation of the commandments. While most people do not follow the Commandments exactly, they still lay the foundation for the personal moral code of many people. Often the moral code of individuals who do not subscribed to a Judeo-Christian religion, or even some other religion, for there are many religious codes pertaining to morality, closely resembles that of and individual who does try to follow the code, for the human experience often leads to a similar sense of personally morality. Of course, there are others who do not subscribed to this type of moral code. While many religious moral codes entail caring for other people, there are also those, such as Ayn Rand, who believe in doing only what is best for oneself. Individuals with a more selfish moral code have a very different experience of being human than those who believe in the importance of respecting and caring for others.

The Experience of being human begins at birth and ends at death. However, before death there may be steps toward the conclusion of the experience. One occurrence that may happen before death is a real understanding of oneself. When looking at the hero’s journey, an archetypal pattern followed by a hero, as described in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, this self understanding may occur between leaving the abyss and crossing the return threshold. It is here that the hero may discover what his existence means to him. The hero’s journey is not just applied to stereotypical heroes, the people out fighting evil in dramatic ways, but also to regular people, leading everyday lives. So, when regular people leave their abysses, and cross their return thresholds, they also may discover the meaning of their existences, or the truth of who they are. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Hamlet deeply ponders the meaning of human existence while he is in his own abyss. As Hamlet asks himself, “to be or not to be,” he is contemplating what his life is worth, or if it is really worth anything. And while most people do not consider this question with such an eloquent soliloquy as Hamlet does, it is a common topic people contemplate while searching for the meaning of their lives. The experience and understanding of being human is highly individualize, and yet when comparing personal lives, the journey through humanity is found to be remarkably similar for many. 

Constructs from The Simpsons

"We tell stories to try to come to terms with the world, to harmonize our lives with reality...Myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance. We all need to tell our story and to understand our story. We all need to understand death and to cope with death, and we all need help in our passages from birth to life and then to death. We need for life to signify, to touch the eternal, to understand the mysterious, to find our who we are."

I was watching The Simpsons once and Martin described a phenomenon that occurs in groups. Using sticks as a metaphor, he explained how one stick is easily broken, but a group of sticks together makes a cluster that can't be broken easily. Now even though this was solely a gag to successfully and appropriately use the word "faggot" to describe a bundle of sticks, one can extrapolate what Alan Campbell explained in his quotation to relate to this anecdote. Stories are a significant way to relate our personal experiences to the culture around us.

 Using this opinion, however, I thought: Why must we relate to the world around us? Is it necessary for others to experience what we experience? Personally, I believe this is an idea that is imposed on us by our culture. Is it necessary to survival to explain the emotional pain we're feeling? Would we die if people didn't empathize with us? The probable answer is no. The ancient humans did not need to explain to others that they felt left out because others left for the hunt without them. I think this idea of needing to emotionally relate to others is a construct. Now that is has happened, however, we do interact and use each other as tools for empathy, and stories are a common medium through which to do this.

***I do not think emotions are wrong or useless now. I only think they are unnecessary for physical survival.***

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Storytelling is a tradition as old and mysterious as humanity itself. When we write stories, even if they seem to have no direct connection to our lives, we project our personal beliefs and standards onto the page. When we read or tell stories, we gain the knowledge that others posses to further help synthesize our individual views on life and reality. As humans, we are on a constant journey of intellectual growth; we're naturally curious and hungry for understanding. Moyers is explaining that storytelling and myths are a tool with which humans come to understand the eternal and mysterious powers of the universe. Stories give us the opportunity to gain vast amounts of knowledge about life without actually experiencing the events themselves. Through storytelling, we can live the life of the ideal human or "hero", and learn valuable life lessons. Much like the hero must find the power within to follow what he/she/it  believes, we must all decide as individuals what we believe is right, wrong and true. 


Humanity would be lost without stories and myths. People are always searching for something to believe in because  it's the only way to rationalize the world and give life a purpose. This "purpose" in life can't be realized by anyone but one's self. This is not to say that religion does not help people find this purpose, but it's unique to everyone. This is partly why people get so angry when their personal religion is attacked in any way: it's not just the religion itself that's under attack, people's most fundamental beliefs on life, death, the universe and reality are under fire--beliefs that if taken away, would leave a person lost and without purpose. The Bible, for example, has given countless people the courage to enjoy life to it's fullest, simply because it makes sense of the universe. And while I don't personally follow all the teachings of the Bible, I follow other assorted stories and myths. For the most part though, my beliefs are my own, and are not dictated to me by a single source. I take things from here and there and create my own beliefs on life, death and the universe. This is just a personal choice, not to say it's right or wrong. Whatever belief brings one peace, as long as it isn't harmful to others, is what should be followed.

Faux-reality

I once wrote a paper about the effects of the romance of Disney on a the personal development of a young girl. Phenomena that cannot be explained by the human mind in concrete terms have historically been turned into a story. These tails are emotional and romantic explanations; often with a toe on the physical earth and the rest floats magically in the sky. Questions from the physical world that are beyond cognitive reasoning, are often answered by a simplistic, anecdotal, and romanticised tail. These stories aim to create a faux-reality, more beautiful than the original. It is like a Grecian sculpture of a disproportionate and inaccurate, but beautiful man.

In my paper I described the role that these stories had in changing my view of reality. There is an ease of life that comes with story. All of the beauty is surface-level in actuality, but feels deeper, because of the profound affect it causes in all the actors. However, this is only realized by an older brain. A young girl only sees the power of the script, and desires that feeling to the point of self destruction. Emotion is not so pure as is portrayed in these sorts of stories. Feelings are muddled, always muddled. I did not expect strong emotion to come in a bundle. In stories love is love, but lust, jealousy, trust, and so on are emotions of their own. Two emotions may come together, but they are not mixed. In reality, love is everything at once. It becomes clear that no feeling can be named because there are innumerable options. There are many colors, and there are many tints of each color. This is as the reality of emotion goes. We try to explain the world with stories, but our relationships are much to complicated to be expressed in words. There is no way to explain the sort of large phenomena that are trying to be explained by myth. Sometimes things just are, and cannot be reached by human hands or minds.

Standing On The Edge

While interviewing Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers said, "We tell stories to try to come to terms with the world, to harmonize our lives with reality...Myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance. We all need to tell our story and to understand our story. We all need to understand death and to cope with death, and we all need help in our passages from birth to life and then to death. We need for life to signify, to touch the eternal, to understand the mysterious, to find our who we are."

In this, Moyers is talking of a hero's journey.We all have our own journey in life, some more complex and life-altering than others. It is in this journey that we come to evaluate our place in the world and the things we hold dear. As seniors less than two weeks from graduation, we are at the end of one journey, and the beginning of another.

For me, my way of "coming to terms with the world" has always been through writing, reading, and listening to music. A jumbled mess of feelings can be straightened out as a pen hits a page of a notebook and the words flow, a character in a novel suffers a similar fate, or a lyric evokes an emotion I had been holding back. Through this I can process my own journey, understand complex ideas such as love and death, and reach a point of clarity about my own character. My journey has been one that has brought me to a sense of self-understanding, one that will help me as I face my next journey: college and the real world.

Moyers claims that in order to process the world and its mysteries, we as people must act together, and this act of unity will lead us to the end of our journey. While I agree that there are instances where a helping hand or an insightful input would aid in my path to understanding, I feel that some people, especially as a product of their individual life, may benefit more from a solo experience. I do not see myself as a hero, simply a person on one path, not predetermined by some higher power such as God or Fate, but a path that I have the ability to control. My actions determine how my life will turn out, and while I have benefited from the help of others: my parents, teachers, and friends, ultimately I am responsible for my own journey. So maybe, in the end, we all have a little bit of a hero deep down, waiting to surface at the appropriate time. Only time will tell.

It's about the Journey

During an interview with Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers said "We tell stories to try to come to terms with the world, to harmonize our lives with reality....myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for signifcance. We all need to tell our story and to understand our story. We all need to understand death and to cope with death, and we all need help in our passages from birth to life and then to death. We need for life to signify, to touch the eternal, to understand the mysterious, to find out who we are."
 Personally when I'm faced with a complicated situation I write about it. The writing is sloppy and messy, but getting the mess of thoughts out on paper is extremely clarifying for me. Like in the quote, telling stories allows us to connect with the world around us. In my case, I try to compare my personal situation to situations I've seen other people go through to try to find the best solution. Seeing everything on paper objectifies it and makes it easier for me to analyze my situation from a different angle. Later on after the situation is resolved it's nice to go back and reflect on how  I've grown and what I've learned from a given situation.

As I get ready to cross the stage and accept my high school diploma next friday there are numerous people who have helped me get to where I am today. My parents have been there for each transition in to a new school, and are now helping me get ready to move 2000 miles away to Texas to start the next phase of my life. It hasn't been easy for them, and I'm sure it won't easy for me, but no matter what the circumstance they have always supported me 100% and I feel so incredibly grateful to have them as my parents. I wouldn't be graduating without my parents.

What do I want my life to mean? I feel as though that is a more important question than what should I be when I grow up. Since I was 5 I've known what I wanted to be when I grow up. Now that I am legally grown up, and have my plans laid out to get to the career path I want to be on, I ask myself that first question. When I am on my deathbed what do I want to see when I look back at my life? The answer is simple at first glance, I want to look back on my life and know that I've truly lived, but upon closer inspection the answer is much more complicated. How do I make sure I've lived my life to the fullest? I'm just figuring out the basics of my answer. For now that means enjoying the journey I'm on and being open to the bumps and obstacle in the road. It also means straying off the path, and taking those once in a lifetime opportunites. Sticking on the path well traveled on will get you where you want to go, but you won't learn the lessons you would if you took the path not taken by many. For me Texas is the path less traveled on. Sure I could go straight in to school and then straight to medical school, but spending a year in Texas traveling will teach me so many lessons that I wouldn't get in a chemistry lab. Some people say that the path less traveled on will get you lost, but I don't believe that to be true. Just because I'm choosing to delay college for a year, doesn't mean I'm loosing sight of my goal to become a pediatric physician. In fact it gives me more motivation. I've spent the last twelve years working my ass off, and still have 8 or more years of challenge coursework. Taking a break for a year will give me time to relax so when I do back to school I'll be ready. 

In the past I've always looked forward, to next day, to the next race, to the next moment, but I've learned that the only thing that looking forward brings is disappointment. It's better to enjoy every moment, and everyday, even the bad ones, because before you know it, the moment you're in will be over. Planning and looking ahead is a great skill to have, but so is the ability to relax and enjoy the moment you're in with the people you're with. Learning that balance is a constant struggle for me, but that inner struggle between the planner part of me, and the happy go lucky part of is part of my journey, and so I embrace it. Though it may not be easy at the time, I always try to embrace my struggles, because 9 times out of 10 I learn an incredible amount from them. A teacher once told me that we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes, and I agree. Success is a wonderful thing, and I've been lucky enough to experience some success as have most people, but I'm sure they'd agree with me when I say that the journey to success would have been impossible without making some mistakes along the way.