GuidoWorld

Human Ideals?

May 12, 2008 on 3:30 pm | In General |

In the last post I discussed the fact that human experience has two essential components a subject (experiencer) and an object (something to experience). Yet, despite this rather obvious observation we find that the goal of human life from the perspective of spirituality or psychology is often to deny or overcome either the subject (ego) or the object (the world).

The ego is often viewed as a self-centered prisoner of his own making. Whose endless babbling prevents him from fully appreciating his experience, and making his life unnecessarily painful and trite. The world, on the other hand,  is often viewed as an illusion or as a temptation keeping us from recognizing true reality which is the transcendental world of spirit, the sacred and God. In either case the source of all human suffering is in the deceptive ties individuals have with themselves or the world around them.
This view makes sense when one views human experience as a negative and something to avoid or overcome. In order to escape or reduce pain it is often beneficial to distance yourself from the situation, or disassociate oneself from the experience. When one looks at the painful history of man it makes sense that we were advised to remove ourselves from the world, or remove the world from ourselves. In modern psychology this was known as a coping mechanism, a way to survive and minimize the damage caused through chronic pain.
In my book Exploring  Intimacy  (available  in the words section of this site) I analyze the benefits and short coming of this reaction to the fight for survival in terms of its roots and effects on human history.

Yet, since life can be relatively pain free and pleasing to the senses, why don’t we have a  philosophy which celebrates life on its own terms? Why can’t we enjoy both our ego and our body living in the world?

I find it odd that the same mentality which attacks the ego for being a removed babbler during life, praises this same consciousness (spirit) in the afterlife. Those who attack the ego (conscious mind) for not being present in human experience, often make a body-less  mind the goal of the afterworld. Those who die live in heaven and watch us on earth. These spirits being devoid of a body have no sense experience and therefore must just be a spirit of endless thought.

I must admit I’ve always been baffled by this paradox. I cannot imagine any experience without senses and a body. All experience takes place in space and time and seems to require a body of some sort capable of being a subject to experience an object. A spirit who has shed this moral coil is by definition body-less.

As I noted in my last post, my body and consciousness are intimately tied to each other.  My thoughts and ideas are born out of my senses and experiences, and conversely my thoughts and ideas shape and guide my experiences. Any experience I could have without my body would no longer be mine in any tangible sense. Any experience by my spirit not filtered through my body would not be part of my experience, but an experience of another person.

If my consciousness were to live on past my body as either a spirit or in another body it would no longer be me in any linear sense. It would be a new ego (consciousness) in a new situation.  My experiences would be highly altered if I were to experience them in your body with your eyes, ears, nose, etc. Though all our bodies have similarities I am quite sure that there are substantial differences in perceptual abilities and preferences which are pivotal in our individuality and uniqueness.

The highest goals of humanity stated in science, philosophy and religion often seem to be so self-hating and defensive. The goals always seem to be a denial of human life, or a desire to distance, remove or disassociate ourselves from either our bodies, minds or the world around us.

I myself, find life fascinating and awe inspiring.  Though it be true that disassociation is a valuable technique to reduce or avoid pain, I think it is also true that disassociation reduces and removes so many positive experiences from mortal experience. While at times it may be prudent to remove oneself from our experiences, at other times it robs us of so much depth and richness. A richness and poignancy dependent upon the integration of mind and body, of ego and our sensations and perceptions.

In Exploring Intimacy, and in most of my posts, I am attempting to articulate and foster the beauty of temporal visceral experience. I feel fortunate to be a feeling, perceiving sentient being immersed in a world which I help create each day.

I find much of the idealists and human psychologists to be imprisoned in a world of self-hatred, where denial, repression and disassociation are both over identified and passed unnoticed as a pillar of their strategies. Avoidance of pain is an anaesthetic not an embracing of life. They deaden not only pain, but one’s experience of joy.

Jim Guido