In the end

For centuries people have tried to define what it means to be human. They have used stories, religion, emotions and science to explain what makes us special, different, and unique. Humans have questioned and search for answers and meaning to make sense of our existence. In the first unit we looked at the way we think and our desire as humans for answers. In the nature unit we looked at the role of nature in human life both spiritual and worldly. Love, beauty, and art dove into the experiences of these three interconnected supernatural concepts. Through the law and ethics unit we saw the human craving for rules and the balance of right and wrong. Finally in the last unit we looked at the journey and the struggle, the fight for life and enlightenment. Through the class, we studied how each of these topics helps to paint a picture of humanity and to explain the marvelous miracle that is human nature.

In the introductory unit the basic ideas of human life were touched upon. Our brains, the way we think, our use of language and storytelling set us apart from animals. Shlain wrote about the right and left brain characteristics and learning. In this way human’s divide knowledge and learning between the right-emotion side and the left-logic side. This concept looks at the way humans learn. Since the beginning of time people have used stories to make sense of the world. In Genesis we read the Biblical story of how the world, and humans, came to be. Through my research for my research paper I read creation stories from around the world. Each one gave an example of the human need to explain their existence. In the packet “North America’s Mother Earth, Father Sky” we read Native American creation stories. John Bowker wrote of the use of rituals, music, art and myth in the human experience. Across civilizations there are similarities in these cultures, these patterns make up what makes us human, what unites us, and what separates us.

The way humans interact with nature, nature vs nurture, and our sacred spaces are unique to the human beings. In the National Geographic’s Australia's Aborigines documentary it told the story of the way they connect with nature. It is a huge part of their religion and customs. Over the years many civilizations have moved away from a life as centered around nature as the Australian Aborigines. This constant pull and push with nature as humans try to discover their place is integral to the experience of humanity. Timothy Treadwell found his place in nature among the Grizzlies in Grizzly Man. He believed it was his duty and place to take care of and protect the wild grizzly bears. Herzog, the director of Grizzly Man believed that nature was much crueler than Treadwell seemed to think. Finding our place in nature and the world is part of defining who we are. Different civilizations look at the placement of humans in nature in different ways. The poem, the “Waters of Lung-Tou” the immensity of nature and the insignificance of humans a reflection of chinese ideas. These concepts are also reflected in the art of asia. The 17th century Chinese landscape painting featured in the Second Nature packet displays these ideas by depicting the houses and evidence of humans small against the huge landscape elements. Part of becoming human is discovering your relationship with nature. Through the unit project many people researched famous sacred spaces as well as wrote about their own. An underlying aspect of these places was the natural element. Anthony’s presentation on the Devil’s Tower reflected the importance of nature white literally with a huge landform. Taylor and Abby’s Ellora Caves represented the way the natural caves were incorporated into the man made temples. My own sacred space, the ocean, also reflects this spiritual connection to nature. Discovering humanity's place within nature is one of the main experiences in being human.

Love, beauty and art are inexplicably interconnected through life and the experience. We are drawn to them through a combination of emotion and logic. In The Picture of Dorian Grey  Wilde explored his ideas of the connections between love, art, and beauty. Basil creates a spectacular painting depicting Dorian. Basil’s love for dorian as well as Dorain’s beauty shape the painting. However Dorian is distraught by the idea that his beauty will fade. Art goes against nature and time. It seeks to preserve and create the ideal perfect form. In the Aesthetics packet Aquinas's opinion on the intellectual aspect of art, the medieval ideas of God and art, and Kant’s believe in beauty being subjective all come together to give an evolving picture to the relationship between these three concepts. They all seem to have both supernatural and very real aspects, universal and personal emotions, and subjective and objective aspects. In our first thoughts packets as well as our blog posts we explored these concepts for ourselves. In The Shape of Things we saw the way that love can hide the truth as well as how love can shape the truth. Through his love Adam accepts Evelyn’s lies. He is blind to the truth and allows his love to cloud his judgement as he morphs himself into what he believes Evelyn wants him to be. As humans we all experience love, beauty, and art as well as the unusual and intricate bond between them.

Our conscience, our experience, our knowledge and our understanding of right and wrong make up our laws and ethics. For many people their religion dictates their ethics. The Hebrew Bible’s “Ten Commandments” and “Holiness Code” dictate a set of rules to live by. The Utilitarians believed in judging the action by the consequences. Bentham writes that people should pick the route that gives the greater good the greatest amount of happiness and the least amount of pain. In The Stranger we read about one man’s lack of ethics. He seemed to be unfeeling and emotionless. He killed without remorse or regret. In Crimes and Misdemeanors the main character has a murder take place on his behalf. At first he is distraught by the fact, he is horrified by his actions, but in the end as he gets away with it he no longer feels any issue with the events. It is in human nature to create laws. We organize our lives and balance our own desires with those of the greater good as we separate right and wrong. Sometimes we come across people who don’t share the same laws and ethics as those around them. In these cases humans devise punishments such as those given to Meursault in The Stranger. Laws and Ethics are entirely of human design. They are devised to give us a sense of control in our experience.

Finally through all of these humans journey to find themselves and discover the meaning of human reality. It seems that suffering is the key to understanding, or at least a key to the human experience and journey. In the book Siddhartha, In his search for enlightenment Siddhartha experiences. He experiences suffering, luxury, devotion, pain, loss, and finally love. In Hamlet, Hamlet also experiences suffering and loss at the loss of his father. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh loses his best friend Eniku, in The Story of Job, Job suffers at the hands of god, and in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at his fate. It seems that part of what makes us human, what connects us, is suffering. We all at some point suffer.

Despite the fact that we are all human, defining what it means to be human is almost impossible. Through the units, the importance of experience has shone through. It seems that to be human we must experience, think, consider, and formulate a concept of our reality. As a whole the class taught the importance of asking questions, of diving into the material, and of looking for patterns and connections. Each experience, while divided into different units, is fundamentally connected and each part is crucial to understanding the complicated experience of being human.