The Phenomenology of Being Human
I have often been surprised by the sheer indifference people have to their fact of being human. It feels like a very odd response to a profound philosophical confusion:
“What does it mean to be human in the first place?”
Before we get into that, let’s discuss the word ‘phenomenology’ first. In philosophy, it is the study of consciousness and objects of consciousness. This is differentiated from ontology, which is the study of causes and origins. So, when I speak of “the phenomenology of being human”, I am essentially investigating reasons for our behavior, our being-who-we-are, and also how being human affects us, especially as a product of the world.
It can be argued that many aspects of being human are ultimately strange, especially as expressed in our social roles. We are taught to think about that which our parents and friends want us to think about, and yet true freedom resides in having one’s will to ourselves. The way I approach stressful situations may be entirely distinct from how someone else does so. We can spend hours arguing that there is some right way to overcome our problems.
It seems that a lot of human interaction is based on appearances, insofar as we see what a person presents themselves as. Yet the real story is understood as the hidden meaning, also known as the “fine print” of reality. This is always the case when one’s fate may depend on something external, like passing a job interview, not disappointing our parents, or impressing a romantic partner. It is a conditional fact, and yet it has no business being so important.
If we are depending on an external outcome to be human, we are performing humanity!!!
Defining an end goal is difficult. There is much more to life than making money and having a family. But there is also some sense in which we define our own end goal. One must understand the relationship between their sense of self and their sense of purpose. Without purpose, we simply don’t exist.
One can imagine a world, a far different one than ours, where nobody ever lies, and everyone has utmost trust and confidence in the words of others. But, because this is not the case, it is an ideal world. The real world is filled with many snakelike and egotistical people, for whom life is a means to their end rather than an end in itself. I wish to qualify this more.
What we ideally deserve in family, friends, and partners is a sense of belonging. This comes from trust, openness, and nonjudgmental interactions. Many people in our lives, some of whom are quite temporary, tend to have their own opinions about us, and fail to understand our reasoning. It is especially true when self-interest gets involved — assuming a person can get something out of us, it is very important to guard ourselves against the possibility of being manipulated by that person.
Virtue is something which illuminates the human heart. With a virtuous person, it would seem that there’s no manipulation at all! And such people pave the way for the future generations. That is something which defines humanhood towards a higher thing. Thus, part of consciousness is the recognition of oneself in relation to others, vis-a-vis empathy and a sense of conscience.
Surely, most human beings have some basic understanding of ‘duty’ and ‘obligation’. One is generally dealing with two sets of these issues; on one end, there is an obligation to ourselves, i.e. self-care and self-improvement, and then there is the obligation to others, i.e. those we care about. This forms the basic template of humanhood, for it defines a moral imperative all by itself. If we do not have this sense of duty, what do we have? What MUST we care about? I am still looking for the answer to that question.
Another topic worth focusing on is the concept of weakness: one can easily become weak and helpless, either via certain poorly calculated actions or choices, or through unfortunate consequences like age, illness, and bad luck. It is difficult to shake off weakness, for it creeps up to the best people. One cannot become a victim of their own ignorance.
If I feel unhappy, I may have a few people to talk to about it. However, I know on some human level that no one wants to hear about my unhappiness.
The concept of unhappiness is tied to the concept of suffering. It is easy to say that a lot of suffering takes place in the world, and that much of it is greatly unfair and unwarranted. The pandemic, all the economic uncertainty, and the war in Ukraine as well, are all catalysts of great human misery.
Truly, it is not surprising that Buddha said “life is suffering”.
Yet this exact fact, the realization that we suffer, is itself capable of bringing us to the end of suffering. One must put away their faulty self, look at themselves in the mirror, and think that they can indeed do better. Why does it matter how, if at least some effort is made? Suffering doesn’t go away until we face it in ourselves.
My friends, being human is difficult. But the beauty of subjectivity is that we can see the truth in many different ways. We must forgive ourselves and others, for there is no other way to peace. I will always try to help humanity.
Thank you.
