The Proper Study of Mankind is Man
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was right when he says that the proper study of mankind is man, but he implied that when we study man we are not studying God. Rather than adding further to our dualistic dilemma, we shall study Human Divinity as the proper study of mankind.
We have pretty well finished the geographical exploration of the earth, we have pushed the scientific exploration of nature…but the exploration of human nature and its possibilities has scarcely begun. A vast New World of uncharted possibilities awaits its Columbus. Julian Huxley
The natural sciences study nature; the humanities study human nature; theologians study God’s nature; metaphysics studies the meaning of all three.
The science of human nature has never been attempted as the science of nature has. Neither physics nor metaphysics has touched it.
Henry David Thoreau
Throughout human history, we have discovered many things about nature and human nature, but we are still just in Phase One. The greatest discoveries and revelations are yet to come. I say revelations because we don’t discover everything. Most things are revealed. Most great breakthroughs were accidents or synchronicities, right? The aggressive masculine mode of research and investigation starts the ball rolling, but the feminine mode of receptivity or revelation is where the breakthroughs most often occur. The Sufis have a neat saying that you can’t find by seeking, but you don’t find without seeking.
I have an unshakable faith that mankind’s higher nature is on the whole still dormant. Helen Keller
The greatest discoveries and revelations are yet to come. Psychologists are researching human nature, as well as doctors, anthropologists, social workers, psychiatrists, sociologists, physicists, biologists, philosophers and theologians. People everywhere assume themselves to be experts in the knowledge of human nature. We all believe we know what makes people tick, and why people do what they do, don’t we? We are special experts on our spouses, parents and kids. We gossip about human nature all the time. Our movies, televisions shows, media, newspaper reporters, journalists, commentators, preachers, comedians and politicians all have notions about what human nature is.
And so I shall join the crowd and give my opinions. I believe that every thought, word and action reveals our view of human nature, and I believe that it is all projection. I believe that my world is made up of the kind of people that inhabit my brainscape.
The fascinating thing is that everyone has a small piece of this magnificent puzzle, this secret knowledge. Everyone knows something, no one knows it all. We all have access to discovery and revelation about the nature of things. Ask a child or ask the elderly what they know about human nature.
Let us explore the question: “What is human nature?” I don’t believe that we know what human nature is, or if we do know , we have forgotten the essence of it. That is why thy mystery remains, and that is why we are in such a symptomatic predicament.
All of the crud in our lives doesn’t seem to be a mystery, but it is. All of our dirty little secrets have not been explained. Everyone has a theory about why people are criminals, but do we know? Everyone has a theory about mental illness, but do we know? Everyone has a theory about teenage killers and child molesters, but do we know? If we know, why do such problems continue?
Our dirty little secrets, and even our hidden crimes, are mediocre. Only their motivation remains a mystery. We catalog many human behaviors but we cannot truly diagnose them yet The meaning of our human behavior and motivation remains enshrouded in mystery, even in this 21st century of information explosion.
People have always tried to analyze why people do stupid self-defeating things, but the Big Secret has not been revealed until this present time. We have excused or condemned every human depravity and fault, but we have not understood them beyond a very superficial level.
But now our survival depends upon the depth comprehension of the meaning of human behavior. Before now, if some kook shot somebody, it could be shrugged off. Now we have mass weapons of destruction and the means of lightning fast communication which demand that the mystery of life be discovered and revealed.
So in this study, we are seeking to find and we shall be willing to be shown the true meaning of human nature. My role here is to focus the flow of this dialogue according to what I have discovered and what has been revealed to me: that man is an infinite being with a finite belief system which perverts the whole picture.
We will look at two themes here: (1) the proposition that the world that you experience is a perfect mirror reflecting your consciousness; and (2) the proposition that there is evidence everywhere of your infinity, and of your resistance to your infinite nature
• A Hebrew king named David asked “What is man that thou art mindful of him?”
• A Greek philosopher named Diogenes spent his whole life searching for a true man but found none.
• They said of Jesus that he “knew what was in man.”
• Jesus asked his students “Who am I?”
• Neitzsche pronounced God dead and announced that man is Superman
• Freud said that man was driven by the Id and unconsciously programmed by trauma.
• Jung said that man is governed by the archetypes in his unconscious
• Psychiatrists have studied the insane man
• Doctors have studied the sickness of man
• Theologians have studied the sinfulness of mankind
• Maslow studied the healthiness and successfulness of humanity
• Transpersonalists study the contemplative man
• Kierkegaard found man to have a sickness unto death
• Criminologists study the psychopathic personality
• Sociologists study humanity as a community animal
• Skinner studied man as a stimulus-response mechanism
• New Agers study humankind as creators
• Marx studied man as a victim of economics
• Anthropologists study man as a product of culture
• The average person views humanity as a product of the environment
• Biologists study man as a genetic being
• Darwinians study mankind as a survival of the fittest
• Philosophers consider man as any and everything imaginable
• We are studying man as an amateur god
Although these statements are vast over-simplifications, they do indicate that man is a many sided, complex being. We have tried to simplify all of this and study man as a finite/infinite being because none of these disciplines seem to focus specifically on this kind of inquiry and research. Our intent here is to make this study relevant to living life now.
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was right when he says that the proper study of mankind is man, but he implied that when we study man we are not studying God. Rather than adding further to our dualistic dilemma, we shall study Human Divinity as the proper study of mankind.
We have pretty well finished the geographical exploration of the earth, we have pushed the scientific exploration of nature…but the exploration of human nature and its possibilities has scarcely begun. A vast New World of uncharted possibilities awaits its Columbus. Julian Huxley
The natural sciences study nature; the humanities study human nature; theologians study God’s nature; metaphysics studies the meaning of all three.
The science of human nature has never been attempted as the science of nature has. Neither physics nor metaphysics has touched it.
Henry David Thoreau
Throughout human history, we have discovered many things about nature and human nature, but we are still just in Phase One. The greatest discoveries and revelations are yet to come. I say revelations because we don’t discover everything. Most things are revealed. Most great breakthroughs were accidents or synchronicities, right? The aggressive masculine mode of research and investigation starts the ball rolling, but the feminine mode of receptivity or revelation is where the breakthroughs most often occur. The Sufis have a neat saying that you can’t find by seeking, but you don’t find without seeking.
I have an unshakable faith that mankind’s higher nature is on the whole still dormant. Helen Keller
The greatest discoveries and revelations are yet to come. Psychologists are researching human nature, as well as doctors, anthropologists, social workers, psychiatrists, sociologists, physicists, biologists, philosophers and theologians. People everywhere assume themselves to be experts in the knowledge of human nature. We all believe we know what makes people tick, and why people do what they do, don’t we? We are special experts on our spouses, parents and kids. We gossip about human nature all the time. Our movies, televisions shows, media, newspaper reporters, journalists, commentators, preachers, comedians and politicians all have notions about what human nature is.
And so I shall join the crowd and give my opinions. I believe that every thought, word and action reveals our view of human nature, and I believe that it is all projection. I believe that my world is made up of the kind of people that inhabit my brainscape.
The fascinating thing is that everyone has a small piece of this magnificent puzzle, this secret knowledge. Everyone knows something, no one knows it all. We all have access to discovery and revelation about the nature of things. Ask a child or ask the elderly what they know about human nature.
Let us explore the question: “What is human nature?” I don’t believe that we know what human nature is, or if we do know , we have forgotten the essence of it. That is why thy mystery remains, and that is why we are in such a symptomatic predicament.
All of the crud in our lives doesn’t seem to be a mystery, but it is. All of our dirty little secrets have not been explained. Everyone has a theory about why people are criminals, but do we know? Everyone has a theory about mental illness, but do we know? Everyone has a theory about teenage killers and child molesters, but do we know? If we know, why do such problems continue?
Our dirty little secrets, and even our hidden crimes, are mediocre. Only their motivation remains a mystery. We catalog many human behaviors but we cannot truly diagnose them yet The meaning of our human behavior and motivation remains enshrouded in mystery, even in this 21st century of information explosion.
People have always tried to analyze why people do stupid self-defeating things, but the Big Secret has not been revealed until this present time. We have excused or condemned every human depravity and fault, but we have not understood them beyond a very superficial level.
But now our survival depends upon the depth comprehension of the meaning of human behavior. Before now, if some kook shot somebody, it could be shrugged off. Now we have mass weapons of destruction and the means of lightning fast communication which demand that the mystery of life be discovered and revealed.
So in this study, we are seeking to find and we shall be willing to be shown the true meaning of human nature. My role here is to focus the flow of this dialogue according to what I have discovered and what has been revealed to me: that man is an infinite being with a finite belief system which perverts the whole picture.
We will look at two themes here: (1) the proposition that the world that you experience is a perfect mirror reflecting your consciousness; and (2) the proposition that there is evidence everywhere of your infinity, and of your resistance to your infinite nature
• A Hebrew king named David asked “What is man that thou art mindful of him?”
• A Greek philosopher named Diogenes spent his whole life searching for a true man but found none.
• They said of Jesus that he “knew what was in man.”
• Jesus asked his students “Who am I?”
• Neitzsche pronounced God dead and announced that man is Superman
• Freud said that man was driven by the Id and unconsciously programmed by trauma.
• Jung said that man is governed by the archetypes in his unconscious
• Psychiatrists have studied the insane man
• Doctors have studied the sickness of man
• Theologians have studied the sinfulness of mankind
• Maslow studied the healthiness and successfulness of humanity
• Transpersonalists study the contemplative man
• Kierkegaard found man to have a sickness unto death
• Criminologists study the psychopathic personality
• Sociologists study humanity as a community animal
• Skinner studied man as a stimulus-response mechanism
• New Agers study humankind as creators
• Marx studied man as a victim of economics
• Anthropologists study man as a product of culture
• The average person views humanity as a product of the environment
• Biologists study man as a genetic being
• Darwinians study mankind as a survival of the fittest
• Philosophers consider man as any and everything imaginable
• We are studying man as an amateur god
Although these statements are vast over-simplifications, they do indicate that man is a many sided, complex being. We have tried to simplify all of this and study man as a finite/infinite being because none of these disciplines seem to focus specifically on this kind of inquiry and research. Our intent here is to make this study relevant to living life now.
posted by Dr. Joe at 6:07 AM
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