The Human Being

What does it mean to be human? Do we know who and what we really are? 

Looking around me these days it seems like more of us than not would ramble on a bit before admitting we don’t really know the answers to those questions. So, as is my custom, I gave these questions some brain space lately, and have come up with my answer. Perhaps it can help you answer the questions for yourself. 

First, I noticed that “human” and “being” are two separate words. We tend to think of all that we are as one entity, but clearly, we are not. If you are lying on a slab minus a pulse and brain waves with a tag on your toe, you are still human. At a core level, a human is a mass of trillions of cells all vibrating at different frequencies, making up the parts of the body. This is not rocket science…it’s 7^th grade science. We have actually dug far deeper into inner space, but for the sake of this discourse, let’s just apply the basic science to the idea. 

So, human we are. Each as unique as a snowflake, but all human. Different colors, shapes, sizes, and genetics, but no less human for our individuality. What, then does it MEAN to be human? It means we are a species on the planet – like a tree or a fish or a rock or a bear or a bee or a lizard. Part of the synergy of this planet in space. We are not bigger, or better than anything in nature at a core level. We are a part of the equation, not the creator of the equation. Nature treats us all the same, and we are subject to the laws thereof. Our species has grown a bigger, more complex brain over the years of necessity. Among the species of the planet, we are actually rather disadvantaged. We are born naked and helpless. We require protection from the elements. We are not quite as hardy as most species. Our brains enabled us to think, to reason, to figure out how to use tools, and fire and iron and wheels. They have been used to invent ways to manipulate elements of nature to our survival advantage. This makes us unique, and rather special. 

Enter the second word: BEING. Human Being is not a compound word…it is two totally separate words. One is human...discussed above. But what of this other word: Being? What is that? Simply stated, it is the animating force which couples up with a body sometime before its birth. It is the intangible element that is the difference between alive and dead. A human is a human, but a human without its being is a dead human. A human with its being is ALIVE! 

Whatever this force is, it combines with the physical elements of a human body and produces a personality, thoughts, ideas, movement, emotion, and feeling. It brings the cells of the body to life, and interprets, via the brain, sensations of the human senses: Sight, touch, taste, sound, smell, pain and pleasure. It is this element of the human being that we need to explore if we are to live our full potential. 

We are not unaware of any of this, either. Goodness, whatever people have thought of this essence in time past has got its own religion, to be sure. We call it soul, spirit, higher consciousness, higher mind and a host of others. Pick what works for your vocabulary, I guess. What we need to remember is that we are all trying to define the same thing.

So, just what IS this being? How far down the rabbit hole should we look? Let’s just try and keep this to what we can know about it. What we do know is that a human does not function without one. We can keep a human body alive, but the being brings it to life – to conscious uniqueness. To a body that says, “Hi!”, and recognizes the world and people around it. They work in tandem.  However, if we watch a human being in action, can we tell what comes from the human, and what comes from the being? Can we separate these two, if only for the sake of clarity? I think we should try. 

If a human being likes carrots…who likes the carrots? The human, or the being? I think the human is largely responsible for it. The carrot is tasted in the mouth, smelled with the nose, crunched with the teeth, digested by the alimentary system and the cells of the human feel energized. So yup…it’s the body that likes carrots. Oh..but wait. What if you give carrots to a lifeless human? It  doesn’t seem to enjoy them very much. Why is that? I hypothesize that the BEING took all the sensations of eating a carrot, and relayed them throughout the body and said, “This series of synapses is good!”. And so it is.

But what of something a little more complex, like feelings, and emotions? No body hates another body based on its cellular structure. No fights at the morgue, y’know? So why does one human irritate, enrage or otherwise despise another human? More importantly, why do we love other human beings so ferociously?  I’d have to deduce that it’s the Being – in concert with the environmental and physical factors – that call this shot. If you have hurt my human, it will register a negative picture of you in its brain. It will fire all my adrenals when I see you, and instigate a fight-or-flight response in my physicality. Just like most other species, we then lash out instinctively at whatever it is that is threatening to us and the life of our human. Animals do not kill each other for the fun of it. They have vestigial reasons, like food and the territory thereof. As do we. The body does not like to have its functions disrupted. It’s an amazing machine, perfectly tuned and aligned to life on planet earth, and wants to continue to experience it. But what gives any meaning to the cellular, biological responses is, in fact, the Being. 

An oversimplification to be sure – but ponder this a while. We have a Being inside of us – it in fact IS us. It is subjected to the structure we have called the body. If the body is born without arms, or with a neuromuscular disorder, the Being is subject to that cellular and genetic circumstance. It is subjected to the environment and conditions of that body also. If the body gets too cold, and the cells begin to die, the Being will lose its host.  So, how much influence does the being have over the body, itself? We don’t really know, but based upon human behavior, I think it has about as much say in the matter as we allow it to. 

This has been taught in Christianity as spirit and the flesh. I kinda like that…good word picture. We often quote the Bible, “…the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The apostle Paul laments his conflict in wanting to do one thing, but doing another instead.  Who can’t relate to this? We know we shouldn’t overeat, but damn! That tasted so good! Our senses would like another bite, please. Our Being is telling us, not such a hot idea. A more dicey example might be in the sexual arena, where what we want in our physical body is perhaps not what our spirit is telling us to do. 

So, again, what is this spirit, and where did it come from and where does it go when It’s done with its human? I have the answer to that…and so do you. Because the Spirit IS you. Ask your Being. Your dead body doesn’t care if it’s raining, or if you get poked with a stick – your spirit-enhanced body does, because you have thoughts on the matter. The old, “I think…therefore, I AM.” True story!

Now, we have unfortunately been influenced by cultures and religions that would have us believe that certain things about the human and its impulses and energy are somehow bad. As if the less-than-wise choices we make, such as overeating or too much alcohol or socially inappropriate sex, are somehow wrong, or “sinful”, or an intrinsic  error in the system. Not true. The human is NOT flawed. Even the bodies that were born of a “less than perfect” nature are not flawed. They are the perfect vessel for the Being within it. Chosen, as Christ’s was, before the foundation of the world. It is our culture that teaches such things from early on, and we register this in our brain for the Being to deal with. We think we are sinners, so when we act upon a moral value not accepted in our culture, we feel shame and guilt, and can shuck any responsibility, because ‘I was born this way’. Your spirit, I believe, begs to differ. 

You always have a choice. And there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ choice. There are only consequences of your choice. If you choose to be unfaithful to your spouse, you will deal with the emotional blowback. Own it. You chose it. If you can’t seem to put your fork down, you will deal with poor health. Your choice. The body doesn’t really have too much power when certain choices have been made…but the Being does. If you let it.  If you eat too much, your body cannot help but collect fat. That’s what it does. It is your Being, however, that is telling you to stop eating so much. If you cheat on your spouse and your family explodes, your body will be on high-alert fight-or-flight for one hell of a ride…but your Being will have better directions for you to take. 

We are all, at one time, both victims and owners of our very lives. Your human is pretty much a victim. You got the genes you got. You got the environment and family and values you got. Over such things, you really had no choice – according to your body. If we don’t realize who or what we really are, we tend to spend our humans life griping and moaning about our victim status. Life becomes one great big done-me-wrong song. He made me… she made me… the devil made me… god made me…ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I’ll say it again: You always have a choice. Even the darkest of your human’s experiences can be redeemed by the Being, if you allow it. 

Your Being does not have its origins in the planet. No amount of Mother Nature’s bounty is needed to keep the Being alive. Your Being is not tied to this planet. Your Being and your human have in insanely personal relationship – for this season only. The human is finite – but the Being is infinite. The Being is eternal. It is energy, and black holes notwithstanding, energy cannot be destroyed. It can be changed, but will never cease to BE. As such, the Being seeks for the highest good at all times in all things. Your Being does not want it’s human to live as a victim of its planet. When the human is hurt, the Being seeks to heal. When the human is helped, the Being manifests love in its members. This is not exactly a new concept. Our Beings are ALL ONE. We are members of one body. Christ was not talking about our physical humans. He was talking about our spiritual BEINGS. Our Beings very much want everything to work out in order and peace, to the evolution of our Being.

Our humans have been culturally conditioned to a valuation system that decries this. We place value on what the human does, what the human has, and what the human accumulates in terms of wealth and knowledge and power over other humans. The Being sees no distinction. This is where we need to connect the dots and remember what and who we are. 

We are HUMAN BEINGS. We are not human DOINGS, we are not human ACTINGs, and we are not human HOLDINGs.  If this were true, if your human were to suddenly be unable to perform its tasks which bring it supposed value, you would cease to exist. Your activities are dead, so would you be. You are not your activities. If you lost all your money, prestige, and power, you would cease to exist. You would be nothing more than a human body. Toe tags optional.

But you are not any of these things. You are a human BEING, and as such, you have no equal. There is no opposite to BEING. All other definitions of human have an opposite – doing or not doing; action or inaction, wealth or poverty, power or powerlessness…to BE is simply that. There is no such thing as not being. 

Are you getting  a small glimpse of just who you ARE? You are part of the eternal. The infinite, indefinable, life force of forever. Yes, you. Not flawed, not sinful, not useless. Do yourself a favor. Next time you have the opportunity, hold a newborn human in your arms. Behold its wonder and beauty and perfection. A newly married couple - Human and Being…with all the hope and promise of happiness and LIFE itself. Relish the thoughts. Then remember: THIS IS YOU, TOO. All that you were as a new born human being – you still are! Same being – human all grown up and influenced by your environment. Had abusive parents, perhaps? Human then hates daddy or mommy, or maybe even all men or women for this. It was hurt deeply and profoundly.This creates conflict in the human, because Being sees the abusive parents as the Beings that they are: grown up human beings who were influenced by their culture and environment and did not take good care of you. They were acting out of human experience, not out of Being wisdom, and have perpetuated a cycle of hate and hurt. Your Being will tell you that this should end with you – if you will let it. Your Being will give you the most blessed gift of the experience of forgiveness if you will accept it. Talk to survivors of such parental atrocities. They gave it to their Being to deal with, and not only survived, but thrived. Not always a happily-ever-after picture to the human eye, to be sure, but they live with a peace of mind – a healed human…Being.

Our culture has indoctrinated us into “an eye for an eye” mentality. Our human resonates with that on a guttural level. Our Being is pushed into the background as we march our human into battle. But look at what this has created! Nothing good, that’s for sure. Humans dying, hurt, sad, angry…perpetuating the violence for no reason the Being can even understand. Bringing it into a different light, if you knew you could not die, how afraid of bullets are you? If you know that you are connected to the source of all life, how concerned can you be with acquisition of your daily provisions? How differently your human would live its life, if it knows how powerful and eternal its Being truly was.

Digest that. YOUR BEING IS ETERNAL. Nothing on this planet can affect your BEING. Only your human. 

When you find yourself in an unthinkable situation – hard times – difficult places….remember this! You can turn the reigns over to your BEING – your Higher Self – your Spirit – Your Soul – your Life Force – the impenetrable, incorruptible BEING you are, and your human will cope a lot better. I KNOW this to be true. I have actively experienced the peace that comes from cooperating with your Being in times of terrible stress. In fact, it is through these stresses and struggles that our Being grows stronger in its influence over our human –and the quality of our life improves. Maybe not circumstantially, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Your Being enables you to rise to a place of thought where you can see the whole picture, and you realize that your Being rises far above it, in a place of infinite peace. And when you have tasted that peace, it’s all you can do to try and NOT turn into a complete peace freak. You want everyone to know this peace. Because it is the end of all strife on the planet. It is, in fact, the Peace of God. 

Regardless of what any religion in our world teaches, I have come to realize that we – our BEINGS – ARE GOD. The Being in you was outlined in wonderful detail in the story of Christ. Same, same. Everything He did, you can do. Everything He was, You Are. We have unfortunately assumed that all the love, comfort, strength and peace that we pray for is somehow outside of ourselves, and we spend lifetimes struggling to find it, to feel it, to know it. But we already have it, right there in your name: 

HUMAN BEING.

To understand this is to open the lock on all that has held us back in fear, anger, hatred and war, and opens the door to the Peace that Passes HUMAN understanding.