To be able to relish any gift, the first and foremost thing we do is to open the wrapping which hides the gift. Same obviously applies in considering the gift of life too. The most interesting part of this gift of life is that it comes camouflaged with wrappers in multiple levels. It takes lot of effort, guidance, education and will to be able to peel out these layers of veils one by one, and be able to see life in its original beauty. I use this word - “life” to mean both man’s inner self, and the society, which forms an integral part of who man is.
Various philosophers have enquired into this process of peeling out the veils. This finds its crowning development in the writings Spinoza, Freud and in Marx. Most generally speaking it is about developing oneself in such a way as to come closest to the “model” of human nature or, in other words, to grow optimally according to the conditions of human existence and thus to become fully what one potentially is; to let reason or experience guide us to the understand of what norms are conducive to well being. Inner liberation - freedom from the shackles of greed and illusions - is inseparably tied to the optimal development of reason; that is to say, reason understood as the use of thought with the aim to know the world “as it is” and in contrast to “manipulating intelligence”, which is the use of thought for the purpose of satisfying one’s need. For example a person who is the prisoner of his irrational passions loses the capacity for objectivity and is necessarily at the mercy of his passions; he rationalizes when he believes he is expressing the truth.
Two most far-reaching, eye-opening critical theories at the beginning of the latest phase of industrial society were those of Marx and of Freud. During his times, Marx showed the moving powers and the conflicts in the social-historical process. Freud aimed at the critical uncovering of the inner conflicts. Both worked for liberation of man, even though Marx’s concept was more comprehensive and less time-bound than Freud’s (which is non-applicable in the current society, in its original form). Interestingly both these theories also share the fate that they soon lost their most important quality, that of critical and thus liberating thought, and were transformed by most of their “faithful” adherents into ideologies, and their authors into idols.
Similar experiment was tried by the Buddha in ancient India, as I have tried to explain in the following articles -
http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/uniqueness-of-gautam-buddha.htmlhttp://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/interesting-experiment-by-prince.htmlhttp://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/on-pain.html
An optimal living, is not just about relishing the gift of life by being able to uncover it from the packaging of illusions. The idea becomes more serious when that gift is nothing but the man himself. It becomes of urgent attention when the existence of man depends on his uncovering of who he is, and what is his relation to the world outside. It needs immediate focus when the question is related to man’s own existence and the possibility of being alive optimally.
Fromm states this beautifully in “The art of being” as follows -
“The strength of man’s position in the world depends on the degree of adequacy of his perception of reality. The less adequate it is, the more disoriented and hence insecure he is and hence in need of idols to lean on and thus find security. The more adequate it is, the more can he stand on his own feet and have this center within himself. Man is like Antaeus, who charged himself with energy by touching Mother Earth, and who could be killed only when his enemy kept him long enough in the air.”
He further says later in the same book - “.....becoming aware of truth has a liberating effect; it releases energy and de-fogs one’s mind. As a result, one is more independent, has one’s center in oneself, an dis more alive. One may fully realize that nothing in reality can be changed, but one has succeeded in living an dying as a human person and not a sheep. If avoidance of pain and maximal comfort are supreme values, then indeed illusions are preferable to the truth. If, one the other hand, we consider that every man, at nay time in history, is born with the potential of being a full man and that, furthermore, with his death the one chance given to him is over, then indeed much can be said for the personal value of shedding illusions and thus attaining an optimum of personal fulfillment. In addition, the more seeing individuals will become, the more likely it is that they can produce changes - social, and individual ones - at the earliest possible moment, rather than, as is often the case, waiting until the chances for change have disappeared because their mind, their courage, their will have become atrophied....This is not primarily a question of intelligence, education, or age. It is essentially a matter of character; more specifically, of the degree of personal independence from irrational authorities and idols of all kinds that one has achieved.”
One discovers answers to one's existential problems only when one feels that they are burning and that it is a matter of life and death to solve them. If nothing is of burning interest, one's reason and one's critical faculty operate on a low level of activity it appears then that one lacks the faculty to observe.
Being able to live life with total mindfulness, with application of reason, love and productive activities to be able to realize the truth hiding behind the innumerable veils of illusions, by being more aware and alive, is the most momentous vantage point that humanity is endowed with. This makes humanity so special, and being alive as a human so unique and precious.
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