Okay, third time’s a charm, or so they say – So what are we; what’s a human being?

First I wrote about what we claim to be and that we simply aren’t it. We are not and cannot be what we like, and see, and hate, and look like, and do. There is something else behind them and we know it, yet decide to ignore it, and assume the outside defines us.

Then I wrote about how we need to be open to challenging our perception- our knowledge, beliefs, and ideas- in order to see what we really are.  Knowledge is never enough. We can have all the answers and lie to our selves our whole lives. I touched on this and mentioned how the desire for comfort is a huge part of what we are. Now I’m going to expand on this and the other half of what we are, because when you get to the bottom of it (us) we are much more personal and important than we make ourselves out to be.

Humans, all of us, are internal. We, and other lifeforms, are not driven by something outside of our selves. Now we just have to recognize the self part. So what is it- what is the core of our self or humanity? Like I mentioned before, we all know the answer- we are our minds- the brain and it’s effects is the engine that drives us and allows us to live.

Our mentality is our humanity- it makes us what and who we are. Do you think for a second you would want, act,… ‘or think’ without your brain? We wouldn’t breathe, pump blood, sense, eat, drink, walk, or talk. We wouldn’t think, imagine, hope, know, believe, assume, or understand. We wouldn’t exist in any fashion. No other part of us has nearly this much power.  Do you need other parts of your body to live? Well need and live are relative, because theoretically if you could supplement the other functions you’d still live and be human. If you had another way to oxygenate and deliver blood properly, you could keep your humanity without your heart. But in no way can you replace your brain and maintain any reasonable life or humanity as we know it. It, and in turn we, are just freaking incredible in that way.

So, what is our brain/mind though? If that’s our humanity, then of course that’s the ‘thing’ to figure out. We are two ‘translations’ of mental functionality at our core- desire and consciousness. ‘Before I continue I should state that I am not educated in any way about biology or neuroscience. All of these interpretations of our humanity are based solely on my honest perception as a single human who cares about his humanity.’  With that out of the way, let me explain desire and consciousness.

I call desire that base necessary drive, or information in any ‘brain-having’ life-form, which only interprets other information in regards to what seems satisfying. In other words, something within us ensures that we MUST try and be satisfied, no matter what. Think of another animal; any animal with a brain. It simply cannot act outside of the desire to be satisfied. Lizards don’t not eat when they sense hunger. Birds don’t dive full speed in to rocks, because they sense a bad, or at least non-satisfying experience from doing so. Even Lemmings must sense some benefit to jumping off a cliff, whether it’s ignorance or for a ‘perceived’ good reason. Everything we determine and end up doing is because we want to be satisfied- we have desire as our motivation. But what satisfies us? That is the determination part and it is the one practical/alterable ability of the mind, or the part that decides everything we are, and therefore what we can be as well. I’ll mention desire again later, but it will make more sense when you combine it with that consciousness.

Consciousness is the necessary ability of the brain to interpret new information based on that desire (core information). In other words, it’s the operating or deciding system, going off that established rule or code. From the example above, all of those beings have one operating system- a subconscious. It is the main operator or process for life’s decision-making. The lizard that eats, the bird that avoids crashing in to rocks, and the Lemmings that walk off cliffs, all have this form of consciousness to credit. We are special in terms of consciousness, and I’ll get to that, but we possess this subconscious as well. So not just to understand other beings, but to understand our selves, it only makes sense to be fair about how the subconscious interprets that core desire to be satisfied- what is a beings subconscious desire?

I already mentioned it in part two, but it happens to be the ONE determination that holds us back from improving our humanity… and it also happens to be a necessary part of it… so I think I’ll mention it again- COMFORT. Every single being with a subconscious, which includes us, will only decide that ‘perceived comfort’ will satisfy them in every instance they’re alive using that form of consciousness.  This is the truly important part of your humanity to recognize. Without additional mental effort on your part, every single determination you have made and will make, is simply to ‘seem’ comfortable. We are an interpretation of desire, and by default we only desire feeling good, perceived safety, and what ‘seems’ best for our own survival.

The problem, and potential solution, that arises, which other beings don’t have to ‘and can’t’ worry about, is that we have an entirely different form of consciousness as well. And it interprets data an entirely different way, so even if we don’t sense a conflict, there is always one going on within us and therefore in our outside worlds as well. We possess a conscious as well. We have the ability to choose what we sense, or in other words, to think. No other beings, that we know of, can do this. Subconsciously, other life MUST get the added information from the outside in order to determine and act. Your dog couldn’t have ever sensed fetch unless it was shown. Your cat cannot imagine a new way to clean it’s litter box. And your snake cannot choose a different method for eating mice, or even know what eating is. They are all just seeking comfort in the moment, based off of what they sense and have sensed, without any realization of meaning. The fact that we can sense far more is what makes us more powerful and more ‘subjectively’ valuable- but what good is power and feeling good if you are limiting your own potential and ‘actual’ worth in the meantime?

You see, our conscious (a big part of us) likes reality. It/we like thinking, imagining, analyzing, considering, being logical, and improving our interior and exterior reality. Comfort and our subconscious seem to always be there, and we can never shake that desire completely (a very good thing), but by exploring our desire for dealing with reality it ends up satisfying both forms of consciousness anyway. It is genuinely beneficial for us to fight for a more balanced consciousness- where our subconscious isn’t just running away with the show, while we have fast cars, big houses, hot wives, and no beneficial effects from our lives to show for it. At our core, we are the desire for comfort and the desire to deal with reality- a subconscious interpretation of desire and a conscious one.

It is the most difficult mental task we can achieve, to improve the balance between our conscious states in regards to our behavior, because one of them takes an early lead and doesn’t play fair. The subconscious is the big man on our mental campus, and for good reason. Life has gotten this far because of it. You don’t want to be thinking when a predator is near. You don’t want to be thinking when you’re hungry. You need to just instantly determine and act in order to stay alive. There isn’t time to stop and understand in the wild. That automated desire to just seek comfort comes in really handy. But what about when you’re so far above the food chain, that you don’t need that instant decision making to stay alive? What happens to that desire for comfort, when a being is so capable and advanced, that it has manipulated reality and created its own world where it is its only threat? The answer is that our subconscious desire to seem comfortable does not stop just because we are already safe in our social worlds. So what happens is that we still want to be safe by default, and interpret our man-made surroundings in regards to just what seems comforting. The bigger the house, the more comfortable. The fancier the car, the more comfortable. The hotter the wife, the more comfortable. The more money, the more comfortable. What do you think this American dream stuff is all about at its core?

One problem with not addressing our own consciousness, is that they both get used even when it’s only in regards to the exterior. Our desire to understand and our desire to be comfortable created our societies, money, cars, roads, computers, weapons, TVs, homes, clothes, food, etc. But when left unchecked, subconsciously controlled, they both get used for slavery, deforestation, pollution, segregation, war, oppression, crime, racism, bigotry, etc. We affect the outside world (including other people), whether we take a look at why we are doing it, and try and change it or not. Another problem (the big one) with not addressing our own consciousness is that we never stand a chance at being everything we are. Improving the outside can never be the goal that gets us to change our humanity. We have to look inward in order to change.

Our negative traits; conceit, vanity, greed, hate, laziness, prejudice, pride, etc., all exist because of a lack of control over our selves (consciousness). We are extremely uncomfortable dealing with where our mistakes come from. Even our ‘positive’ traits; love, sympathy, joy, compassion, etc., often exist without self realization and choice. We have to deal with the reality of our core mentality in order to improve it. If you are conceited jerk who thinks you’re better than others, you will always be less than you can be until you deal with your two translations of desire (what you want). If you are sweet and always help others, you will never know if there’s a better choice, until you honestly confront your comfort and your understanding.

When two completely contradictory and extreme decisions satisfy you, and one just wants what ‘seems’ easy, you have to really fight your self to be more than you will be by default.