Human Person

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.