The agreement about what we will consider real and what fiction or illusion is, is the basic starting point and dividing line of the world’s image. By agreeing in the 18th and 19th centuries that only what the five senses can recognize will be considered real, the scientific elite paved the way for unlimited dominance of the sensory. Consequently, a tremendous potential for manipulation of desires, cravings, and fears of modern man was opened, giving rise to the usual companions of cultures in decadence: atheism, materialism, and hedonism.
Today, we live in a world that is divided multiple times in the universal struggle for power, where the animalistic and instinctual often prevail over the human. Human values, those that distinguish humans from other beings on Earth, and which are manifested through culture as creative expression and preservation of values, justice, beauty, and nobility, are increasingly marginalized today.
Forgetting fundamental life values and obscuring natural laws make man irresponsible for neglecting the importance of respect towards these values is the best way to descend into savagery. This neglect slowly leads a person towards imbalance, personal disorders, and depression… ultimately bringing them to the brink of self-destruction.
The fundamental instincts for life preservation, competition, and reproduction, deeply ingrained in the human genetic structure, are shared with animals. However, humans must primarily cultivate the humane dimension of their being through care for their own soul. This is how humans maintain their humane state amidst the constant pressure of instincts that, with their sluggishness, pull them towards the animalistic. If this vigilance and attention towards the spiritual are neglected or lost in civilization, then it descends into barbarism regardless of technological advancements.
The traditional worldview teaches us that in the long process of evolution, we have developed aspects of minerals, plants, and animals, which have enabled our survival and development. However, as human beings in the evolution of our species, we participate in the development of humanity, which is only possible for humans by nurturing and expanding their humane nature. By maintaining a proper relationship between the human and the animal, with an emphasis on the human aspect, we ensure that the balance is upheld. This relationship is depicted in traditional folklore as that between a rider and a horse, where the rider represents the human part of a person, and the horse represents their animalistic side.
Choosing what we pay attention to, what we deem important, and consciously investing effort, we shape ourselves and the world around us. This is our fundamental duty and responsibility. The question of whether we will blindly give in to our instincts or strive for human dignity is our Hamlet-esque question.
BETWEEN TRUTH AND LIES
If we take a closer look at the events that characterize our era, we can see that disasters, fanaticism, hatred, and fear take center stage in the media’s attention. Meanwhile, the good, humane, and cultural aspects are pushed to the periphery of societal consciousness and conscience. Mass manipulation has reached perfection through the manipulation of knowledge and information, by encouraging instinctive behavior and creating artificial consumer needs and habits. All of this It blurs the criteria, confuses the ordinary person and enables a modern oligarchy, i.e. the rule of a wealthy elite that colonizes the entire planet. As minorities secure privileges, collective desires and fears are extensively exploited.
The statistics of the 20th century speak even more clearly about the state of the world today. For example, 8 out of 10 leading scientists Nobel laureates work for the military; less than 1% of the country’s population controls over 80% of the resources; 200 million people are modern slaves, without any human or labor rights; taxes are such that two-thirds of income goes to the state, which is more than ever in known history. 168 million people have been killed by their own governments, 40 million people have died in 20th century wars, while 2 billion people live on the brink of existence and malnutrition… The 21st century is making a serious effort to surpass these tragic figures.
A person necessarily has to wonder what to do in such a world: how to live with it and be human? adher indulge in predators following the law of the jungle, return to the pack, or choose the seemingly harder and more arduous path – to be a human in a modest, natural, and dignified way? The experience of our predecessors teaches us that it is possible to live in the most unfavorable conditions and still be human, and the traditional worldview conveys models and archetypes according to which this is possible and actually the only path for a human being.
Instead of lamenting and withdrawing, it is better to recognize the drivers of this unnatural worldview and, realizing that their ominous shadow looms over every human being, make an effort to uncover the causes and eliminate their consequences. For immersing ourselves in the masses and shedding the burden of individual responsibility gives us a superficial sense of liberation, but at the same time, it is the most common source of constant irrational dissatisfaction, which gives birth to violence and is the main source of suffering and misery in the modern world at all levels.
Will our world remain a desolate valley of tears and what will we do about it? Leaving a legacy for future generations primarily depends on us, not on anything or anyone else. Taking responsibility for our own lives and actions is something we must eventually accept in order to break free from the cycle of pain and suffering, stand tall, and walk as Humans…
The sacred texts of all civilizations and all great philosophers say that progress is only possible if a person starts to change themselves, their behavior, and thus their character. The path of human evolution involves living by virtues, giving importance to what is fundamentally human, what connects us with the divine within us – our immortal soul.
THE PATH OF HUMANITY
In the ancient Mahabharata, Krishna teaches his disciple Arjuna about the essential difference between the mind and reason (which we mostly equate today) based on the fact that reason is constantly influenced by senses and urges that provoke it, while the mind masters urges, as it is above them.
This seemingly small difference between the mind and reason, which modernity does not fully understand, is crucial on the path of human evolution. It attaches almost no importance, echoing through the cultural traditions of the old world in myths and forgotten teachings. In them, we discover traces of universal wisdom that transmit to us the secret of our origin, meaning, and purpose of existence. It teaches us, therefore, the humanity that is always connected to accepting responsibility for our own lives and actions in striving to be human through constant improvement. Otherwise, we are just passing strangers, individuals thrown into a meaningless and insignificant world, condemned to freedom, as existentialists described it in dark colors after World War II.
The path of humanity is the path of struggle and victory over oneself, the establishment of self-control, which has always been considered an expression of noble refinement. Just as cultivated plants need attention, watering, and love, while weeds grow on their own, so it is with the two sides of human nature. Instincts developed during endless evolution are stronger and more cunning in the fight for their own interests. This is the egoism and the struggle for survival. To seek at all costs. Our fragile consciousness, the Promethean gift of the gods, survives if we take care of it, make an effort, and learn to use that potential power.
Clement of Alexandria, a Christian philosopher from the 3rd century, says about it: “Man’s knowledge is the understanding of what we are and what we have become, where we come from and where we are going, what we strive for and what our salvation, redemption, birth, and renewal are.”
Philosophy as a way of life is knowledge that helps a person understand the roots, causes, and consequences of slavery to instincts, and as the aforementioned Christian mystic says: “A serious dedication to the ideals of humanity and living in accordance with the values we recognize is the path of liberation of man from external and internal chains and a good and proven way in which we can change the world… primarily and simultaneously by working on changing ourselves.”
1 B. Klaić: lat. instinguere – to sting, to incite. An action performed out of unconscious impulse, without thinking, usually without awareness of the cause and c. On the subject of procedures and methods of implementation.