Post by donq on Nov 21, 2022 9:50:23 GMT
Even more than 2,000 years ago, two Chinese philosophers had different opinions on human nature.
Mencius believed that “human nature is good.”
Xunzi believed that "human nature is bad."
Sure, there was also the believe in-betweens:
"Human nature is neither good nor evil".
As for the last one, by using its own logic, the in-between believe seems neither right nor wrong. I mean it doesn't leave a room for us to tell if it's really right or wrong. It's like when I said, "don't believe what I say". Then, if you believe it (what I said), then you don't believe me [which also means you believe what I said that don't believe me]. But if you don't believe what I said in the first place, you still believe (agree to) what I said (which is don't believe me) anyway. Hmm...or I have missed something here?
I recently read a book and kind of like the following quote:
"The contrast between man’s ideological capacity to move at random through material and metaphysical spaces and his physical limitations, is the origin of all human tragedy. It is this contrast between power and prostration that implies the duality of human existence. Half-winged – half-imprisoned, this is man!"
— Paul Klee, Pedagogical Sketchbook
So, being human is not easy. While our minds can go to the moon, stars or even the entire universe, our bodies can only be here.
While we can think, know, and speak fluently about being good persons and doing good things, but we still cannot deal with our anger or pain (both physical and mental one) in the real life situations.
Somehow it's always easier said than done, isn't it?
That said, we always have our choices to do good or to do bad. We can turn our curse into our gift.
Oh, night that guided me,
Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover,
Lover transformed in the Beloved!
— John of the Cross (Spanish mystic)
If I haven't made a mistake for some times, it's possibly that I will make it so soon as I tend to be careless. On the other hand, if I've just made a mistake, I will be so careful and will not make it again too soon.
And I like what Nietzsche said in his "Thus Spake Zarathustra":
"Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and stopping.
"What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under.
