What is human nature? What is it that makes us tick and who we are? Why does it exist? Where did it come from? Did God create it? Why is it so selfish and evil? Apparently few understand this subject.
Human troubles and evils have been prophesied to grow far worse in every age. Appalling violence, terrorism, and war are escalating as human nature hurtles further out of control. But can you understand both this world and the cause of its troubles? There are some that tell us that understanding human nature is the key.
All human beings possess human nature. The selfishness, rottenness, violence, and terrible evils that spring from human nature have plagued the world for thousands of years.
The entire world likes in wickedness.
St. John
The cause of this condition lies directly at the feet of evil human nature. But this begs the question of whether all human nature is evil. Or are some naturally predisposed to evil just as others are good and decent?
Every supposed expert out there has a different opinion about what human nature is and where it comes from. Yet none understand the answers to these questions or the question of why human nature exists. This is because they reject the source to understanding the answers to all of life’s greatest questions.
Consider the paradox! Think of all the wonderful things the mind is capable of producing. Its ingenuity and inventiveness are practically limitless. Yet it cannot solve the most basic of life’s greatest problems—poverty, ignorance, immorality, crime, war and misery. All of these problems are by-products of unbridled human nature!
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Humans are naturally independent of the influence of culture. The questions of what these characteristics are, what causes them, and how fixed human nature is are among the oldest and most important questions in Western philosophy. These questions have particularly important implications in ethics, politics, and theology. Is it partly because human nature can be regarded as both a source of norms of conduct or ways of life, as well as presenting obstacles or constraints on living a good life? The complex implications of such questions are also dealt with in art and literature, while the multiple branches of the humanities together form an important domain of inquiry into human nature and the question of what it means to be human. The “nature versus nature” debate is a broadly inclusive and well-known instance of a discussion about human nature in the natural sciences.
The existence of this invariable human nature is a subject of much historical debate and continues into modern times. Against this idea of a fixed human nature, the relative malleability of man has been argued especially strongly in recent centuries. Since early in the 19th Century, many people, such as Nietzsche and Sartre (and others), have argued against fixed or innate human nature. For the Socratics, human nature, and all natures, are metaphysical concepts. Human nature is an example of a formal cause, according to Aristotle. Their teleological concept of nature is associated with humans having a divine component in their psyches, which is most properly exercised in the lifestyle of the philosopher, which is thereby also the happiest and least painful life.
Habits, though, are, by definition, acquired, and different habits will be both the effect and the cause of very different societies. Different human societies have held very different moral codes. Thus, regardless of whether objective morality exists or not, humans are clearly capable of imposing a wide variety of different moral codes on themselves. Some have argued that the role of nurture comes not from the absence of impulses in human nature but from the plethora of such impulses—so many and so contradictory- that nurture must sort them out and put them at a higher level.
Some believe there is no single universal law of behavior that holds true for all human beings. There are many such laws that apply to the majority of individuals (an example might be individuals who try to avoid dying), but there are always exceptions. Most animals, including humans, have an innate self-preservation instinct (fear of injury and death). The fact that humans may override this basic instinct is seen as evidence that human nature is subordinate to the human mind and/or various outside factors.
I have always found it interesting to observe how people behave and treat others that they may or may not know. Sometimes, you have to go with your gut feelings on things, especially when it relates to another human being. No wonder why some people end up making the bad choices that they do. Then, later on, albeit far too late, the person regrets these poor errors in judgment.
I will venture to give an example of the point I am attempting to make here.
Recently, I had two multiple-day stays in the hospital due to a severe infection and an open wound on the bottom of my foot. The second of these recent hospitalizations resulted in another surgery on the foot, and now, several weeks later, I am still not back at the office, and all these supposed well-meaning friends and family have basically deserted me, not even calling or messaging me to seek if I am alive or dead. Let alone inquire if I need any help whatsoever. That is with the exception of a few people who shall remain nameless, who I do hear from on a regular basis. Yet, when push comes to shove, all those people who claim to want to help if needed basically either disappear off the face of the earth or just have no time whatsoever to be of help or be there for you. What a sad state of affairs this is and a sad commentary on ourselves and the world we live in. I know there are people who do step up and give of themselves, but the others outweigh the positive.
There is no worse feeling than to be totally alone and have no one there that truly cares about you let alone willing to help. Especially when you are the one that always is there willing to help and pitch in and do more than what is expected.
