Ah... hello? Testing testing
Do I really
Really have to write this? It's so scary
Hello? Anyone?
Suppose we define a human being's existence in terms of their inputs, process, and outputs, what would it look like?
Input:
Spiritual input, sensory input, social input, and physical input (consumption)
Goes to
Body and brain works together to process the input and release output
Output:
Waste excretions, physical movements, social output, spiritual output, mental output, creative production, biological production
What I find particularly interesting while writing this is that the mental output is wonderfully recursive. Any input you receive, most of it is processed in two forms: body processing and mental processing. Not only the food you eat become nutrients for your body, they become part of your thoughts, they become part of your memories. And these thoughts themselves can generate another thought, which can generate another thought, and so on. You can think about the act of thinking itself. The mental output itself becomes the mental input! The world reacts to you, you react to the world, and you react to your own reactions. Therefore, even if you were born in this world as a disabled person who does not have any senses except the sense of touch and hearing — you can still have as much thoughts, with the same or greater quality, than those who were born with their full senses intact and functional! And even if you were to lose both your sense of touch and hearing after that? You can still float and think endlessly in your clouds of thought! Unlike an AI who lose their sheep if they are trained in their own outputs, the human mind actually grows more and becomes more precise when they are trained in their own outputs.
Zamn, what about those monks whose minds are trained using the input of emptiness? Can that even be called an input? This goes to show that existence can be meaningful and varicolored even with so little inputs and outputs.
I think spiritual input and output is necessary to add here. For the input, it is because the human race would immediately fall into dystopia without the invisible spiritual hands that have prevented countless more man-made catastrophes than what we have experienced. As for the output, I think it is not far reaching to think that the spiritual energy invested in every born human being grows during their continued living and reclaimed completely in their deaths. That aside, we can say that the aiming for transcendence and understanding of the concept of "God" is also a form of spiritual output, regardless of how crude it may be. Maybe it can be seen as a regular dividend return on investment.
The definition of input would dictate that something must enter or pass through a human being in some way, usually the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious ways. However, I propose to add the postconscious and superconscious ways of the being. It has been said that for one to reach psychological homeostasis or personality individuation, one must make the unconscious conscious. But what happens after that? Does the stairs disappear, does the progress end after the unconscious has been made conscious? Is the unlocking of consciousness in everyday life, already the highest pinnacle of being?
That's why I made the concepts of postconscious and superconscious, not only to raise the targets higher and the standards of psychological striving but also to create a new word that can describe another dimension to human experience.
Let's say you have already made your unconscious conscious, that you are now aware of every dangerous and brilliant thought you have in your mind. What's next? Naturally, one will aim for transcendence, to go above and beyond self-imposed limits and socially imposed limitations. Take note that transcendence is not about obsessing over productivity or climbing skyscrapers, it is more about staying true and close to yourself, discovering your true nature as a unique human being with unlimited potential. To aim for transcendence is to aim for postconsciousness. A world that lives not just consciously, but also postconsciously, is a world that I can happily and safely entrust my future students and children with.
Returning back to the topic, spiritual input does not belong to postconscious, although those who are postconscious may be more aware of it. I believe that spiritual input is within the realm of the superconscious. If the unconscious is like the deep sea, the subconscious is like the twilight zone, and the conscious is like the surface level with abundance of sunlight; then postconscious is like the sky itself, while superconscious is the outer space — something that's still beyond reach for the current humans, a consciousness so vast, incomprehensible, and indescribable that we may not have enough words to describe it, at least not until several millenniums later.
Then does that mean that the goal of human existence is to reach a higher state of consciousness? Or is it to become true to yourself? Neither, because I don't like their cliche wording. The goal of human existence is to embody the state of what it means to be human, the truth of being human, the essence of being human. And what other truth can we be sure of, other than the truth about ourselves? Indeed, this is the only truth that we can experience as a human being.
To be normal is to comply with the standards of society.
In this perspective, normality is simply a job we take to get along with others. And jobs do not define our identity, much less our existence. The right word we are looking for is "natural".
To be natural is to align oneself with human nature.
Everyone is actually a human being, they're just not as human as I want them to be, they're not aligned with their true nature, their human nature. Just as how fishes live like fishes and trees live like trees, humans should also live like humans. No, I do not mean following every intrusive and impulsive thought you have. After all, a human being isn't just any other animal. We all know what a human being is. But what is the highest form of being human? What is the highest ideal of being human?
Honestly, I don't wanna answer that. It would be nice if you can figure it out your own. So go ahead and think. Go figure.
Hmm you're not supposed to think about it that hard. You already know. A human being is an intelligent, expressive, and unique creature with dignity. I believe that the most natural of human beings, is someone who is aware of their thoughts and feelings, someone who cares for others, someone who dances whenever they are excited, someone who sings when they are sad, someone who does not compromise who they are, and someone who is irreplaceable. Dancing and singing does not require talents or skills, they are natural, even ancient forms of self-expression.
I think getting along with others and being human, does not conflict each other in any fact. In fact, I believe they complement each other. One does not have to stop being human, they don't have to stop being themselves, just to get along with others. Well... it would be nice if that's always true. But regardless whether you are human or not, there's just some people you can't get along with, and that's part of being human. No one expects a fish to climb a tree. No one expects humans to be inhuman either. Remember who you are, show everyone who you are, and do not ever forget it. A human being does what a human being does. Born as a human, live as a human.
So go ahead and say what you want to say. Move your arms and feet where they want to move. You'll still stutter and fall. There's still people who won't like you. Your words may come across as ignorant and rude even when you didn't mean it. Hell, you may even get crucified, exiled, or burned lol. And you know what? It's still beautiful — being human, that is.