Words&Dirt

“With reflective consciousness, a human being can turn itself into a ‘mirror neuron’ for the universe, because humanity is the only thing on Earth that tries to understand what it is all about.  I hasten to add that this is still largely a potential; what has emerged so far is a pretty reluctant mirror neuron.  Of course, reflective consciousness also creates burdens that are unique to humans, especially our knowledge of our mortality and the limitations we face in controlling our lives.  The biblical story of the shameful feelings experienced by Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge symbolizes the reflective mind’s existential angst.

Further, the sense of a conscious tension between one’s actuality and potentiality is uniquely human.  A reflective person can ask not only what is good and desirable, but also what is ultimately good and desirable.  Humans sometimes struggle between immediate present concerns (such as saving our own lives) and concerns that exist in our reflective consciousness––for example, concern for posterity or the perceived command of a god.

Strangely, these ‘higher’ motivations can be even more powerful than those involving biological survival.  I believe Einstein’s dictum ‘A person first starts to live when he can live outside himself’ applies well here and can have two levels of interpretation.  First, to ‘live outside himself’ implies empathetic regard for, and identification with, one’s fellow human beings (beyond intimate relations and institutional tribalisms).  But at a higher level, that regard can extend beyond humanity to all of life––and even to the universe in which all of life was born and evolved.”

––Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential: A Cosmic Vision for Our Future Evolution, by Ted Chu, pg. 122

“I sat very still and listened to the evening grow quiet outside the open windows.  And very slowly I grew quiet with it.”

––The Lady in the Lake, by Raymond Chandler, pg. 156