Philosophy Now Forum

we have two aspect of being human...
we have a body and we have, for lack of a better
term, a soul.....a soul, consciousness, whatever you
want to call it...

the body, that is the part of us, of human beings, that is physical..
the body is what is animal.. we hunger and we thirst and we
become addicted and we want, greed lust and desire, with
the body....

but the soul, that is the human part of us... there are those who
want to transform the body into soul.. that is the basic religious
desire... read the mystics and they want to turn/transform
the body into soul.... better to meet god... for we cannot met god
as body, but we can met god as soul..... even Buddhism is
really about turning the body into soul... so as to be free of
being reborn... the great release from the universe....
to return to the, again, lack of a better word, void... to become
one with nature or god or the nothingness that is all around us...
that is the goal within Buddhism....

and within Catholicism... to return home, to whence we came from...
be it god or nature or the great nothingness of the Buddhi...

the striving and battle of the human being is between the ongoing
struggle between the body and the soul...think of the soul as
Freud did, as ego, id and superego.... that works as well as any
analogy....so, we stive to overcome our bodies, and we strive
to tame the soul parts of us that are in conflict..

The times I did ''bad'' things, I did them from ego and desires
of the body...the human goal in one real sense is to overcome
our ego and desires from our bodies which lead us to making
choices that are well, frankly bad choices... when I was
young, I stole things.. it was ego and desires that lead me
to do so... but I haven't stolen anything in 40 years...
I was able to overcome my ego that wanted something
but couldn't afford.. I overcame my bodily desires...
it was another step for me to work my way from animal
to animal/human... I was able to make my own choices..
and that is human.. If I am unable to control myself
and steal or lie or try to force myself on women,
my body is in control, I am not...part of the battle
to be human is to overcome one's basic desires and lust
and greed... overcome the body.....

now one may make the conclusion that the body is bad or
something that needs to be turned into spirit... but no...
the body is good, to remain human is to remain within our
bodies and eat and drink and seek out what our bodies need,
but not as a compulsion or from an addiction aspect...
but to desire from a choice... to make a choice is
to move from animal to animal/human and when
we move from our lives being about our choices,
then we move closer to being human, fully human....

when I control when I have sex or who or how
or when I control my needs, to exercise choice over
my bodily needs and desires, I am closing in on
becoming human... when my needs and desires become
choices, not from compulsion, but from freely made choices...
I am human, fully human.... when I escape addictions that
we moderns have, addictions like money, sex, gambling,
power, material possessions and fame, then I am one
step closer to becoming human...

what happens when the body and soul are united in
their choices? when the body serves and obey the soul,
that is being human....to act from emotions, to take
an emotional reaction to what we must do, is not becoming
human... for emotions are not making choices... we are
forced to act because of emotions, then we are not making
choices...we are acting because we must act and we have
no choice... that is animal... for being human is about
choice and the more possibilities that we can have in
making choices, the more human we become....
thus we can work out the other aspects or possibilities
of being human, which is our reason vs our emotionalism...
the enlightenment vs romanticism... we have few
choices in Romanticism, whereas in reason, logic, rationality,
we are about making choices... we are not persuaded by
the body to make choices by desires or ego...
that is animal... to be rational or reasonable is
making choices from the soul.... the entire
point of the Enlightenment was to work out our choices
and to be rational about them... Romanticism was about
making choices from the desires or ego we have...
which is no different than what animals do...
the point is not to end the control of the body over
human beings, but to make those bodily needs being
choices...not of necessity... or addiction which means
having no choice...

so, when the body and the soul act as one, we have a
human being who is in control over who they are
and what choices they have....

and what is ethics/morality given this understanding of
what a human being ought to be, which is choices,
and not acting from necessity..

Kropotkin

and what of the human need for property and goods
and wealth and possessions?

that they are bondage is quite clear... the more possessions
we have, the less in control we are...for to buy a car
is to be forced into debt, which is animal, for we no
longer have choice... we are only human when
we have choices that we can fulfill... and when
we buy cars or houses or TV sets, we are held hostage
by the state/society because we can do nothing but to
stay put and work off our debt.... possessions, wealth,
fame, power, material possessions are a burden to us,
because they force us to work off that debt and become
tied to the state/society.. regardless of what other
choices we have, in gaining wealth or fame or material possessions,
we are now tied to the land, to the state until that debt is paid
off.. we are no longer free...seeking wealth or property is
a chain that ties us to the state/society for as long as we
own that wealth or property.....but the other aspect
of seeking wealth or property or fame or titles is
that we do so from weakness, not strength....
we are driven by ego and desires to be wealthy
or powerful or have many houses..... ego driven
pursuit is not about choice, but about greed and desires...
and those are the animal in us... not the human side of
our existence...

make a choice, am I going to follow the path of animals
and allow my greed and ego and desires drive me,
or do I make choices about who I am and what I want...
which is to say, becoming human...

decide and become that, either animal or becoming human...

Kropotkin