Human Person
Nowadays, human
being seems to have a control in everything. Transcendent Being or God seems to
have a very little role in the life of human person. Human persons are acting
as superhuman or to borrow Nietzche’s term ‘ubermensch’. From different spheres
in human society, man seems to be superior. Man shows his superiority in every
field he belongs to. In the sphere of
politics, leaders cannot agree on crafting specific laws that would serve the greater
good or the interest of the public. Leaders are putting premium on the interest
of the self. They fail to put forward the interest of their constituents. In
looking on other field in human society, people engage in business are showing
superiority by manipulating other individuals. Greater profit is the driving
force for people in business world. Most often, they disrespect the rights of
their employees and customers. Improper compensation is still the cry of many
employees today. Inequity is still present in the business world. In the field
of science, man’s superiority is also present. Man seems to have a total
control of the development of human person. The presence of cloning is an
evident that man is trying to control even the creation of a living creature.
In this manner, man is no longer subordinate to the Creator but he shares the
same power with the Creator. In the field of education, man of today fails to
realize the very essence of educating oneself. Man of today always equates education
with schooling. Schooling, most often promotes the attitude of superiority.
Students, in order not to fail, would cheat during examination. Learning is
most often measured through grade that’s why students use any means whether it
is by hook or crook, just to pass from the subject. This attitude towards
learning produces many individuals who are merely schooled but not educated.
Schooling, sometimes promotes negative attitudes to the students who are not
willing to submit to the discipline of education. All these examples are
realities of today. These are realities that show that man is indeed trying to
control everything-an attempt of superiority over the Creator.
Despite the effort
of man to control everything, he could not still explain why there are circumstances
that give him no control of everything. The death of an innocent child,
accidents, and plans that were never materialize despite the efforts that man
exerted- all these are uncontrollable instances. Man seems cannot hold
everything. Uncontrollable events cannot be comprehended by human mind. The
deepness of the meaning of the event is not easy to understand. He cannot be
certain of the reason why such event happened. In this point, man’s innate
attitude of searching for Higher Being becomes notable. When everything left to
be complicated, man moves to search for a reason or purpose why such event took
place in his life.
St. Augustine as a
Christian philosopher understands reality always in relation to God. His
understanding of reality would never be isolated with his understanding of God.
God for him is the Ground of all truth (Copleston, 1950). St. Augustine found
truth through introspection (inward thinking). In knowing ourselves and in
knowing that man can know the truth, he is led to affirm the existence of God.
It is only in God that one could find truth. In searching for truth, St.
Augustine regarded sensation as a way of acquiring truth. Senses never lie or
deceive if human being is just true of what he feel or see. If corporeal things
are taken as corporeal things then there will be no problem. If man sees a
green chair then he should say that the chair appears green to him. In that
sense, he is faithful to the senses. Senses are mutable things (Copleston, 1950).
In this light,
human person as described by St. Augustine, is a rational soul using a mortal
and earthly body (Teske, 2001). The soul is in possession of a body but does
not consist of two persons but one man. The soul being superior to the body
cannot be acted on by the body, but it perceives the changes in the body due to
an external stimulus. The soul of human person apprehends indestructible truth,
which shows that it is itself indestructible. The human person consists of soul
and body can reason and can know the truth unlike the soul of an animal. This
soul is created by God. In this manner, human person always reaches out to his
creator in order for him to determine himself. Human person do not have the
capacity to fully understand himself and others without the illumination of
Transcendent Light (God), as contrary to the first paragraph of this essay
which expresses man’s superiority. Human
person having soul should go beyond corporeal entities in order to find bliss
which is one of human’s purposes in life according to St. Augustine. If human
person will insist to determine himself, it will just end up in following a
path that will mislead him to his Creator.
Bibliography
2001.The Cambridge
companion to Augustine, Edited by Kretzman, N. and Stump, E., The Press
Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, UK.
Copleston, F.,
(1950). A history of philosophy (Mediaeval Philosophy Part I :Augustine to
Bonaventure) Volume II., Newman Press , USA.
