Saturday, December 13, 2008

Transcending The Human

The more I notice the disparity between logic and instinct, the more I feel that there is a need to transcend the human condition. That is, to transcend the instinctive animal that humans are, and to try to become more aware of one's deepest, darkest motivations.

As heuristic creatures, humans are quite adapted to life in the "wild"...which is quite different from the highly ritualized and regimented society that most urbanites live in nowadays. Yet this adaptation to living in a relatively uncontrolled environment can have many negative consequences in a controlled environment dominated by rational thought. Indeed, rationality itself can become corrupted by untrained instinct when subconscious urges lead to an imperative to drive a rational argument to victory at any cost, even to the detriment of logic itself so long as the argument may be won.

This is not to discount the intuitive side of reasoning, whereby one is in tune with one's feelings. In fact, understanding the roots of one's intuition and feelings is a step towards transcending the animal nature, whereby one knows why one feels as one does. That not only helps avert rash acts that may be later regretted, but also prevents oneself from being manipulated by others without realizing it.

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