The Human experience

The Human experience

We noted earlier that we humans are unique in the animal world, having a level of consciousness and awareness shared by no other creature that walks the earth.  In this experience, we are connected to the world by our senses which act as receptors of information. These then transmit information to our brains (minds), and this is subsequently interpreted and utilized by us to our advantage, and thereafter expressed in language; whether by words or actions.

Although an oversimplification, the diagram below demonstrates this in pictorial form.  Past experiences, native capacity, physical limitations and disability will all have a varying impact upon our thinking and response processes. Nevertheless, the diagram is sufficient to show the general processes in operation and the huge impact that our beliefs have upon us as we connect and inter-react with the greater world we live in.

The Power of Beliefs

From the simplistic diagram, it is evident that beliefs are very important. For this part of our analysis, whether they are true or not is really not important. Beliefs are powerful things in themselves that affect how we interact with the world, both in words and actions.

Beliefs are the product of an education or conditioning process, which includes what we call nurture. They often spring from experience, which is one reason why governments prefer to select soldiers while they are young and impressionable. It is evident that this age group have not yet fully formulated their beliefs, which makes them pliable enough to bend into the role of tools, by training and indoctrination, often to do things that they would not normally do.

The manipulation of beliefs can also be seen in the behaviour of terrorists, where seemingly rational people will strap explosive devices to their bodies and blow themselves up, as well as innocent bystanders. Beliefs cause all of us to do most of the things we do day by day, even in seemingly benign situations. As we said before, beliefs are very important and have a very powerful affect upon us, as they will influence or direct most of the choices we make in life.

Beliefs can also produce some very positive virtues. It is belief that causes a person to show kindness and compassion to the needy, to put themselves out to assist others, to act patiently, and do many other noble things.

Beliefs Affect Attitude

Beliefs are chiefly responsible for our personal attitudes. If we believe we are superior or inferior to another, it will be displayed in our personal behaviour, or what we have called ‘language’ in the diagram above.  In the diagram ‘language’ includes speech as well as body language, and the expression of beliefs by our actions. Language in this sense is simply the articulation of our beliefs & attitudes.

Attitude is one of those words that people sometimes have printed on clothing, usually with the idea that they have ‘attitude’. This sometimes means they consider their tastes and opinions as superior. Others suggest that having ‘attitude’ means that they have an excessively positive view of life. Having ‘attitude’ is often also associated with answering back, giving cheek and generally not caring what others think of you. Not a pleasant trait to observe. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that attitudes are generally the outward manifestation or display of our inward beliefs.

Interestingly, in many circles, humility and other ‘Christian virtues’ are now considered a weakness. For example, among the followers of Ayn Rand, a 20^th century thinker and writer, who based many of her ideas on the writings of Aristotle & the philosophy of Nietzsche, this appears to be the case. To those who hold to this world view, the ‘superman’ is moved by both skill and self-interest, and rises to a position of power and influence in the world. 

Many of those now in positions of power hold versions of this philosophy. Christian virtue, which is based upon humility and the sacrifice of oneself for the benefit of others, has been largely replaced by a form of hubris which, at its extremes, often leads to the sacrifice of others for the benefit of oneself. From this perspective, whether people are humble, kind, loyal or virtuous is not really relevant. These are not even considered as reasonable, praiseworthy traits. 

These are simply weaknesses to be rejected and despised, and exploited for personal advantage by the strong.

In this modern ruthlessly ‘Darwinian’ model, the strongest, the wealthiest, the most educated, the most intelligent, the most selfish, and the most aggressive are the real champions of the human race and of the world. For they believe that it is only through men of this type that humanity has progressed. Rand’s philosophy has been very influential in the business and political world, and some attribute to it the marked increase in corruption and fraudulent activities of more recent times. While Rand’s philosophy may, to some degree, describe the world as it is and as it has been, this does not mean that it is virtuous or praiseworthy. It is rather a sad indictment upon modern business, political and societal values.

The Philosopher and Economist, Adam Smith, in ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ (1759), endeavoured to distinguish between self-interest and selfishness. He concluded that self-interest was a good and virtuous trait that drives legitimate commercial activity, and it is to be clearly distinguished from selfishness which he saw as an evil trait. While there is certainly some truth in this difference, the difficulty for humanity is that the motives of self-interest and selfishness are not very far apart. We humans often deceive ourselves, finding moral justification for our self-centred behaviour in these types of distinctions. Whether any of these ideas are true and reasonable or not depends upon the source of your knowledge and beliefs. However, one thing is certain, it is imposition and assertion of ‘self’ in our personal and communal interactions that is at centre of most of humanities problems.

Given the clear difficulty of determining ‘the truth’ of any set of beliefs, it is therefore very important to ensure that our beliefs are based upon good foundations. But this in itself poses a challenge. How do we know where to found or base them? What code of ethics, what source of knowledge and wisdom is going to provide this? Is it the consensus of human opinion and wisdom? Is it inherited tradition? Is it cultural bias? Is it the consensus of scientific knowledge and the empirical method, or is it found in some other source? These are all valid questions that need to be addressed if we are to live life in a way that totally fulfils the God ordained human potential and if we are to find ‘The Truth’ about life.

Beliefs – The Challenge of Finding the Truth

We naturally form our personal world view, our beliefs, as we grow from children to adults. As the diagram above shows and as we have considered, these beliefs are often the product of our upbringing, our education, our peer group, our society, our religion and our culture. In other words, beliefs are mostly the product of our nurture. All of these things and more influence us, and work together to form the unique person we become. In our search for meaning and purpose, we are therefore in danger of simply being the product of our environment rather than having the active control and rationality that we like to think we have.

Philosophers and thinkers have written extensively upon this conundrum, and it is at the base of the ideas behind relativism. That is, your beliefs will be shaped by your environment, which is a purely subjective experience. For example, if you were brought up in a society of cannibals, cannibalism would be your normality. Killing and eating a person would pose little or no moral conflict to your belief system. Your normality would know no conflict.

Likewise, if we were raised in a different religion; Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist, or are culturally different; Western, Middle Eastern, Eastern or African, then our values and beliefs would be affected and subconsciously directed by our environment to a larger degree than we sometimes imagine, as would our understanding of what is normal.

In this regard, the message of the Bible is that originally all men knew God and His ways, but over time they moved further and further away from Him. They changed their beliefs and customs, and introduced concepts and morally degenerate practices that did not originate with God. Paul says of these, ‘who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions’ (Read Rom.1:21-28).

The sad history of humanity is full of examples like this. Over thousands of years civilisations have arisen, prospered and eventually passed off the scene. The ruins of these are in evidence everywhere. In these places men and women have lived and died, and had all the same joys, aspirations and fears that we have today. Yet most lived and died in general ignorance of the things of God. No doubt in these places men had laws and customs, religions and philosophies that the people lived and died by. Some were brave, some fearful, some law abiding and some not, but in the end and in the greater scheme of things, their experiences really amounted to little. They simply lived and died in vanity and in general ignorance of God (Acts.14:16-17, Isaiah.2:17-22, Jer.3:17). 

Paul calls this ‘the times of this ignorance’ at which God ‘blinked’, that is, He overlooked or ignored it. The Christian dispensation marked a change, for after the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel was sent forth to all people, not just Israelites, and Paul states that now God now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts.17:30). No longer was the truth of God tied exclusively to the nation of Israel, and submission to the Law of Moses.

Understanding these things brings us to the challenge of sorting through human experiences and prejudices in our quest for the truth of God and for true purpose. Below is another simple diagram that seeks to portray these things in a different way. We will call it the TTT triangle. If we are completely honest with ourselves, each of us could roughly determine where we fit into this arrangement. What influences us the most, is it Truth, Tradition or Taste? Oftentimes what we imagine to be the ‘Truth’ may rather be the inherited ‘Traditions’ we have received.

So often in our search for truth and purpose, we are waylaid by ‘personal taste’ and ‘corporate or group tradition’. That is, what we think is truth may simply be our personal preferences or, if we are part of a group it may simply be the group’s traditional position. This is the type of ‘relativism’ that the philosophers speak of. They were well aware of this tendency and noted that the differences between both individuals and societies were often simply the product of an individual’s life experiences, which are heavily affected by one’s environment. Truth and purpose in these circumstances is simply relative.

We also need to be on guard against the subtle power and influence of subjective thoughts and thinking. 

Many religious philosophies leverage off our unique consciousness and self-awareness, and end up with some form of ‘Existentialist’ philosophy, where ‘enlightenment’ is said to be found from exploring our own mind-body experience. This is commonly found in some Eastern religions, and has crept into various ‘Christian’ groups as well. We do well to heed the words of the Prophets - Jer.10:18. ‘O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps’, and of the Apostles - Rom.7:18. ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells’.

Therefore, if we are to really find ‘the truth’ about life, we will need to be aware of the subtle and powerful influences that all these things can have upon us. Many of these things operate at the subconscious level, and it takes a great deal of honest mental effort to see beyond them.

We will face these same challenges when we come to read the Bible. We all have a natural bias, which is called normalcy bias, to interpret the words we read according to our ‘tradition’ or our personal ‘taste’. By using this approach we will end up only finding ‘affirmations’ that confirm our pre-existing position and beliefs. It is very difficult for a person to see beyond their natural and acquired prejudices. The cognitive dissonance created by the experience will work against us, and limit our ability to really hear what is being said.

The process that we naturally follow can be likened to pouring a liquid into a mould. No matter how we go about it, we will always produce the result that is predetermined by our beliefs. We rarely challenge our beliefs, as it is natural for all of us to think that we understand and that we are always being perfectly honest.

In the diagram below, the mould is like the model or world view that we have already acquired. As a consequence, the outcome of our efforts will always produce the same results. It takes great effort, courage and honesty to really question whether the model we have already accepted is truthful, and in accordance with that which is presented in the Bible. This was the same challenge that the Jews stumbled with in the days of Jesus.