The true value of Human life
Question from the Internet:
“Do some people want society to function as if human life has no value or that only their life is worthy to be spared and not many others? Do you notice the error in that?”
In truth, all of us forgot the true value of human life. More precisely, we could say that none of us actually know the tru value of human life. After all, we do not even know what it means to be “human beings”; we do not know why we are “humans” compared to others animals, like the other developed primates, for example.
We equate “being human” with basic functions and desires that rae not dissimilar to how other animals live. Our lives, the way we cater for the desires of food, sex, family, power, wealth and knowledge might be more sophisticated and complex than how animals care for and cater for such desires, but the basic instincts and principles are the same.
And in today’s totally consumerist society, we simplified this even more. We value humans according to their material possessions, how wealthy or powerful one is, what position one fulfills in societies human pyramid, how much influence and manipulation one can exert over others through social media or other channels.
There is nothing actually human in any of this.
So what is it that makes us “Human beings”; what elevates us above other animals?
It is our unique emotional and intellectual capability.
Animals feel themselves and their offsprings, they might feel the general herd they belong to in an instinctive way and use that collective feeling for survival in the most efficient way. And the whole process is totally instinctive and automatic.
Human beings have a much greater and much more complex ability to feel and observe others. Our whole life is built upon comparing ourselves to others, want what they have. Our whole self-assessment and self-justification is based on the constant comparison to others and where we place ourselves in society’s hierarchy.
We do these measurements consciously, and we also consciously try to change our position and self-assessment actively to improve on our perceived status compared to others.
By default, we use all this emotional scanning and self-improvement in a totally egocentric, subjective and individualistic – or nationalistic way. All we care about is our own personal life and status, and we are ready to sacrifice others and everything necessary for improving our own status and self-assessment against others.
And as long as we use our unique “human”, emotional and intellectual abilities only for our own sake, we are remaining similar to animals – except that we are worse than that, since we do not care about and we sacrifice the general well-being, general homeostasis and balance for personal benefit. Which is also futile, since as we learn today, in nature’s totally integrated and interdependent system, true self-benefit is completely intertwined and cannot be separated from the well-being and benefit of the whole.
And here, again we are unique. We are the only beings in nature that can assess their default state and development and can consciously and purposefully change and adapt. We can recognize that our original and present style of existence and behaviour – always selfish and egocentric, succeeding at the expense of others and nature – is self-destructive and will cause – and already causing – our downfall and possible extinction as a species in nature.
We have the actual and practical ability to shift from our instinctively self-serving, self-justifying and subjective lifestyle and development to a selfless and unconditionally serving, mutually responsible and mutually complementing lifestyle, similar to the rest of nature.
But we will achieve a nature-like existence together consciously, against and purposefully above our original nature. And this gives us unprecedented understanding and insight into how nature works. Since we have the contrast between our original “unnatural” existence and the “natural” existence we consciously achieve, we will see and tangibly feel as if we ourselves designed and governed nature.
And this is the true value of Human life – to become “truly Human”: beings that become mutually integrated each other for each other’s benefit and by that become similar to nature and thus also becoming nature’s conscious and equal partners. True “human value” is not in self-service and self-justification, it is not in amassing wealth and gaining control over others. It is in learning how to become each other’s selfless and unconditional servants and mutual partners, so as a result, we would also become nature’s only conscious entity and “supervisor”.
It is in our generation that this transition from a blind and self-serving “hardly human” existence towards a conscious and mutually integrated “truly Human” existence starts.