Humankind: Back to the Basics
In this article, I interpretatively explore three statements on humankind released by famous French philosophers and their underpinnings:
1. René Descartes (1596-1650): “I think, therefore I am.”
In original Latin, it appeared as “Cogito, ergo sum.” with its French translation “Je pense donc je suis.” It was first published in Descartes’ Discours de la Méthode (“Discourse on the Method”) from 1637.
My interpretation: We are thinking and feeling entities. Some in the New Age scene argue that we are eternal beings having a temporal bodily experience on this rock rushing through space. In my humble opinion, we, taken both individually and as a species integrated within the specific ecosystem of the Earth, are much more than just insignificant parts of a whole greater than its single elements. It is important, though, to remember that we are by no means exclusively rational beings which can find the best solutions to everything if only they would listen to their rationality and behave accordingly. The fact that our emotions, reflexes and pre-conditionings from earliest childhood more often than not force us from the depths of the unconscious to take catastrophic decisions and to act upon them, is scientifically proven more than enough. Therefore, learning how to work with emotions and not trying to control or repress/suppress them, is the way to go. We have feelings and we have reason – we are complex beings. While survival is our system’s primordial priority, we can learn how to allow ourselves to be good despite our animalist nature.
2. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): “Man is but a reed, the most feeble [thing] in nature, but he is a thinking reed.”
Published in Pascal’s Pensées (“Thoughts”) from 1670, the French original was “L’homme n’est qu’un roseau, le plus faible de la nature, mais c’est un roseau pensant.”
My interpretation: This highlights our fragility – which is also our greatest strength. Again, incorporating in our very system both emotions as the language of the body and thoughts as the language of the mind, we can learn to make the best use of our strengths while learning to cultivate and take care of our weaknesses. Hard-work is a strength while also leading to workaholism which is an addiction-like disturbance employed to avoid unpleasant realities and lacks in one’s life. Niceness and wanting everyone to be happy is good, until it turns into pathological people-pleasing and even codependence which is a highly destructive pattern of behavior. Being overly rational and, accordingly, rationalizing everything is beneficial until the absence of emotions and empathy results in narcissistic or psychopathic/sociopathic attitudes which are extremely detrimental to oneself and to others. It is precisely the fragility of our position within the food-chain and of our biological structure which forces us to take into account weaknesses and strengths and to combine them in a balanced manner for an optimal result.
3. Voltaire: “Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.”
Maintained by Pangloss and his student Candide a short novel titles Candide published in 1779, the original statement in French was as follows: “Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.”
My interpretation: There is a lot of talk in mass-media, on social networking sites, and on all sorts of platforms about how bad this world is and how fast it is getting increasingly bad. Statistically, though, we live in the most prosperous age of history with an unprecedentedly high number of people living in abundance and stability. This difference between the subjective perception of reality and the objective display of reality leads many of us to think of ourselves in terms of negative outputs and negative outcomes despite our best efforts. This, in turn, metamorphoses into what is generally called a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, so that the outside reality reflects our inner perception, processing and expectation of reality. While I do not encourage magical thinking of the type promoted by the apostles of the Law of Attraction, I do encourage to do one’s best to see the silver lining in everything that is happening in the world, both in the immediate environment and in the larger perspective. Regardless of how desperate, dark, bleak, hopeless a specific situation, person, encounter, relationship, result might appear at some point, there is always, always ALWAYS something good to be extracted even from the harshest realities. This ability to see the good in things is not wishful thinking, victim-blaming or delusional optimism: this is the ability to take radical responsibility for one’s life and to be open to learn from everything, to see life as a continuous journey towards the final end – which is unavoidable. So, while there are times when things seem hopeless and dark, we only have this one life, a couple of decades on this incredible rock rushing and swirling through space: So, let’s do our best while we are here.
