To be a human.

Nature does nothing vain, and things that exist in nature do so with a purpose or they couldn’t exist. The problem with people is they want to deny their nature’s ability to perfect their nature through working on it, or they want to indulge in the nature that was given to subsist on. In nature the behavior of an individual changes before the structure of its physiology, and when we change our behavior as individuals it changes our characters. People are a lot like water. The essence of water stays the same no matter where it goes but changes in composition due to its environment. Water became as it is in essence over many years through processes that existed before us. We wouldn’t want to force the essence of water to be different than it is in nature, but may want to put it in different environments to shape its composition the same as an individual’s character.

Nature can come in the form of virtues or vices and the virtues are those things like water we want to build on, and work with the current the way it wants to flow. When we try to run against the current we find more discomfort than a current that may be coming into new environments the direction it was meant to. Change can be painful but if we roll with it instead of against it by accepting the way things are we’ll find much less discomfort. We can consciously watch ourselves flow, but don’t change our flow consciously. Things that can cause discomfort are a person from a small town coming to a large city. In a small town people tend to have similar customs that develop similar characters to suit that environment. A small town is like an organ of its own where everyone identifies as cells of the organ, but a city is more like a human body and crossing into different organs feels uncomfortable, and that’s why civilization makes us uncomfortable. Our essence will always be established by where we started more than anything else, but our character will alter to fit the new environments to identify with a new organ. The reason most people die within fifty miles of where they’re born is because they tend to be drawn to their natural habitat where the customs feels the most natural.

We can’t change our essence though our characters might adapt to new habits through new behaviors. The essence is the thing we want to focus on the most though. The essence of our genes makes us human and where we grew up is the most prominent social essence that points out our socializing direction for life. The genes and the environment we were raised in that develop our core characters shouldn’t be resisted. All character beyond this is the adaptable kind that exists on the surface. I’ll say the genes are emotional and the environment and language are social. Since our essence is to be emotional creatures we should just become as our essence wants us to and try not to work against this nature. Our experiences in different environments and the language we use constantly go into our memory banks so we naturally react a certain way in certain environments and situations when we come into those familiar places again. This is where my determinism comes in claiming that people will try to convince themselves that they can will themselves to be something they want to be, but I’m going to say something can’t come from nothing, so all physical past experience creates all present physical reaction due to memory. In the process of reaction come new memories for the future potential experiences. The illusion of free will is one that allows us to think we made something possible through creation, but it’s more like physics where chain reactions are taking place.

People who aren’t doing well the same a sickly plant won’t do better unless they randomly have a new experience that creates new reactions in their lives that can relate to old reactions so they want to change. Something has to pull them by the social essence they came from. People in a poor neighborhood won’t leave unless something new that connects to something of the past to pull them from where they are to a new environment. Just like the water has an essence that allows it to be water, we have an essence that allows us to be human. What does it mean to be human? To be human is to be an emotional creature that seeks validation and love, and we shouldn’t force those who don’t seem to give this to us into our lives. We don’t need to rationalize how we can pound square pegs into round holes. If something doesn’t feel right it isn’t mean to be. This shouldn’t be confused with the pain of adapting to a new environment. That’s a different kind of pain. The pain I’m talking about is people oriented. Its people that things don’t feel right with that shouldn’t be forced in our lives. What we tend to do is take the stories of past people in our lives and try to alter this story to fit present people in our new lives. We should be doing the complete opposite, because the people of our past are the environment we came from that shaped our core characters, and this is our social essence. We don’t want to alter the story of our social essence, but seek people out that fit this mold we already exist in. These people who suit us will make it easier to adapt to environments that would otherwise be more painful. Bringing people from the past new places with us is a good way to do this too so we’re never alone in our changes.

To be human is to roll with the thing that feels good while it feels good, because our essence is already made for us. Our genetic essence is to be emotional and social. Our social essence and the character built around this that will learn to grow the way it was meant to once put into motion from where it started. This is why the environment a child is raised in is more important than any other environment, because this will shape a person’s social essence for life. The most important is the family where we all start, and the institutions surrounding this family will add on to the social essence in a child’s upbringing. If someone is emotionally broken as an adult they may always be broken and we should accept this, because their life has been determined by the past from which they came, and this is why we shouldn’t try to change people who don’t fit the organ/story that we already belong to. We are only a chapter in a greater story produced by history and the society as a whole must change its composition before the characters of all the people in it will become better people in the future. Those of us who don’t shape this structure should stick to our story within it. We get to shape our chapters/characters in the book and nothing more.

It’s true that we can find our essence of being human in times of seclusion where we can reflect on ourselves, but to live in reflections our whole lives doesn’t help us in experience. We can be authentic temporarily, but what’s the purpose of being authentic more than not if we can’t share this with people? Authenticity is merely a reflection of reality, and reality is more inauthentic but is the way that lets us know how to live. Conversations with friends will bring out realizations we don’t find as easy on our own contemplating, because we are only one mind gazing into reality. Being human is about knowing how to exist through trial and error, and reflection should be minimal, because it takes away from the human experience. The more things we try or teach young people to try the more they’ll try new things with time so they should be encouraged, but it’s also wise to put the variety of things we think they should try close to them so they’re more desirable than things we think will hinder them. By the time people reach a certain age they’ll know what they want because they got all the trying out of their systems. All the character shaping has completed itself by this point, and we will learn to react quickly in our older ages to the best of our abilities. Being inauthentic is actually more desirable. Being part of an organ is better than being a single cell. All the philosophies that preach individuality are lying to themselves about being human, because being human is about doing things with other people, and being a person in action. The being of a human is really a human doing things the way water was meant to flow in a current. Just go with the flow and don’t rationalize away from this.