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The Evolution of Humankind
| Philosophy 101 |
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The Evolution of Humankind |
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JP Senior Member
since 1999-05-25
Posts 1343Loomis, CA 
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I had a vision one day, let me share it with you... Below me I see an ocean in the grip of a violent storm. As I look forward I see the storm rages stronger, behind the storm subsides. I see buoys set at great intervals on this ocean, stretching past both horizons. My attention drifts down to the sea directly beneath me and I see a series of seven small boats which are tethered together. In each of these boats sits a man. Intrigued I look closer to see what each man is about. The first boat is far, far ahead of the others and the man inside is rowing furiously forward. The strain of his effort shows in his face as his eyes constantly search the horizon ahead; his ears listening for the ringing of the bell on the next buoy. Occasionally he glances back and shouts instructions to the men in the boats behind him, telling them the way through the great swells and surges of the tumultuous sea. The man in the next boat watches the other's progress. At times he sits, watching without rowing. At times he rows forward, adding his strength to the other's forward progress. He listens intently for the instructions from the leader and relays them to the boat behind him. The roaring of the wind makes this a difficult task and every so often the message gets confused in the melee and he is unsure of what to do; but he constantly urges the boats in the rear to come forward and catch up. Following that second boat is a group of three, tied together side-by-side. In the left boat sits a man with glasses, the middle boat holds a man in a blue suit and in the right-side boat sits a man in a black turtleneck sweater. The three men seem to be in constant argument over the best way to circumnavigate the great swells before them. The man on the left rows strenuously to his left, the man on the right rows fiercely to the right. The man in the middle watches the two other's to see who makes the most progress, then lends his hand to that man for a short while. They can barely hear the instructions being called back to them, mostly due to their constant argument. At times, however, they hear enough and heed the directions. But more often than not, they continue their own struggle to move ahead. Their efforts seldom seem to do more than counteract each other, but overall, with the pulling of the lead boats they do appear to make gradual forward progress. In the next-to-last boat the man sits, huddled against the storm, his hood pulled over his head, his hands covering his ears trying to block out the screaming fury of the storm. His oars drag in the water and he makes no effort to row forward, or even to stay his gradual forward motion. He neither advocates, nor questions, the direction or progress of the lead boats, yet he resignedly allows himself to be pulled slowly forward. The last boat I see is smaller than the rest and is facing to the rear. The man inside has his back to the raging storm and is staring longingly to the way from which they have come. He rows indifferently, not struggling in his endeavor to go back. The pining look on his face deepens as he sees the buoys they have past slowly fade from his sight. Overall the journey of the boats is painfully slow and seemingly futile. The progress made hardly seems to be worth the struggle the men are putting forth. But as I watch, I notice the men in the boats gradually change as they approach and eventually pass each consecutive buoy. Then, the truth of their journey and struggle dawns on me. I see life, the physical world about us, the mental and emotional challenges presented to us every day, the societal influences and fluxes (science vs. Religion, political and moral changes, etc) that constantly buffets our existence as being represented by the stormy ocean. This is the plane on which humankind must make its arduous journey of evolution. Where this evolution will lead us I can only speculate, but I believe it to be another level of existence. A changing of our human form and its limitations to a less corporeal form which embodies the finer aspects of humanity; intellect, inquisitiveness, tolerance, patience and understanding. I look now to the boats and the men in them. The boats themselves represent the vessel we use for our journey, which of course is our physical bodies. The men in the boats represent the various "mindsets" of humankind. The first of these depicts the visionaries, or the greater thinkers/philosophers of our history. These are the men like Socrates, Plato, Siddartha (Buddha), Jesus, Neitzsche, Bertram Russell and others, who constantly scanned the horizon of our existence and sought out the path to our next level of existence. They constantly strained and struggled in their efforts to reach their goal, and indeed made the effort to pass the directions on to the rest of humanity. These instructions were passed to the man who is a "forward thinker," the man looking for the way who is willing to do what is necessary to gain ground. But this man still has his doubts, and his insecurities. He relays the information he has gained to the rest of society but is hampered by his weakness of conviction to move ahead or to remain with the crowd. The three men side-by-side signify science, politics and religion respectively. Science and religion are constantly trying to move forward by going their own way, arguing with the others on the proper course. Politics stands idly by, waiting to see who gains ground and then back that faction. They do on occasion heed the instructions from ahead but usually not. This brings us to the sixth boat and man. Neitzsche called the man "the herd," I prefer the term "the 6th man." This poor soul huddles down, trying to protect himself from the tempest. He neither has a desire to move ahead or go back, he is content to be pulled along like a dead weight by the struggle of others. Finally we come to the last man. He who longs for the past. He who desires the simpler, less violent (according to his clouded reminiscence) existence which is now gone. Fortunately for the human race this man is smaller than the rest and he pines for the past more than trying to regain it. Each buoy humankind reaches and passes marks another stage in our evolution. The journey is an arduous one. It is a journey which we either pursue deliberately or are dragged on willingly or not; but we are all making the trip. ------------------ Dum spiro, spero JP |
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| © Copyright 1999 JP Burns - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
I enjoyed reading your vision but disagree that it is an accurate metaphor for human existence. My point would be that even the one in the first boat is influenced by all the others. You still seem to be implying that there is a 'right' direction and that some people actually know what that is (am I reading into this too much?). Furthermore, your examples are all philosophical figures (are we moving back into Plato's philosopher kings -- always thought that was a bit self serving). Again, I don't think there's any magic to the belief systems we hold, nor do I believe that some people have a secret that I don't see. It might be there; it's certainly possible but I would argue that if you include the time of a man's life in your vision, you need to have bridges between the boats. We all ride more than one boat in a life time and not mentioning that essentializes a value system that most people would call fascism. I'm not calling you a fascist by the way (I know you're not) but do you see how your vision could be interpreted that way? Brad |
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JP Senior Member
since 1999-05-25
Posts 1343Loomis, CA |
But Brad my friend, you place too much emphasis on the individuality of my vision, you focus on the men in the boats as 'men in the boats' rather than what I felt they symbolized when I reconstructed this dream (yes it was actually a dream). The men are not men, to me they are characterizations of mankind, the elements which make up the whole of humanity. Yes I do believe that humanity is progressed only by the direction of a blessed few. However, I am want to place any claim that a particular way is the right way - more that the altruistic paths laid before us by a plethora of visionaries leads us to the path of our ultimate evolution. Jesus, Mohamed, Siddartha, Nietzche, Burke, King, Jr., all these and a few others (Plato, Einstein, Mother Theresa, Dear Abby...) these are humanities guideposts. These are they who have heard the call, saw the path and called to the rest of us to follow, it is in the path of these, and others, that humanity will achieve its ultimate destination. ------------------ Yesterday is ash, tomorrow is smoke; only today does the fire burn. JP |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
You may be right. I am often accused or reading things too literally (a mistake that I have no intention of changing  ). Still, it seems that you subsribe to the 'Great Men' theory of history. I just don't buy it.Would like to hear some other opinions on this one. Thanks. |
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JP Senior Member
since 1999-05-25
Posts 1343Loomis, CA |
Damn! There's a theory about that? Everytime I think I have an original thought someone comes along and tells me there is already a theory! ------------------ Yesterday is ash, tomorrow is smoke; only today does the fire burn. JP |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
For Brad's benefit (since JP has seen it), I'll add my original reply when this was posted in Prose: As far as the content and philosophy, there are a few points where I might differ, though I suspect the differences are minor. For example, I personally feel the difference between what you call the "greater thinkers" and the "forward thinkers" is not one of conviction, but rather of originality. I suspect many of our greater thinkers (though certainly not all) were as plagued by doubts as any other human (which is why they never stopped looking for better answers). And I have certainly read (and met!) forward thinkers who were utterly convinced they were on the one true path to enlightenment. No, I think the greater thinks could simply see farther, were able to make some kind of intuitional leap beyond the few hundred yards of white-capped water in front of their boats to a hidden expanse of water they "felt" had to exist. Also, while I couldn't differ with your depiction of the battle between science and religion, I think I would probably feel a need to expand on it. I feel rather strongly that at some point, as that 3-boat team passes one of those symbolic buoys, the scientist and theologian will discover they have nothing to argue about. I think they will find they each hold a different view of the same Universe - different, but not at all conflicting! Indeed, I think the time will come when one reinforces the other, and I strongly suspect that buoy isn't as distant as some might think. We might even have already passed it! (Oh, while we're still talking about the 3-boat team - I suggest the politician should simply be thrown overboard.) Finally, I would buy into the ocean and storm metaphors, but with a few elaborations. The ocean is infinite (the journey has no ultimate destination) and the storm never, ever completely subsides for long… [This message has been edited by Ron (edited 11-18-1999).] |
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Angel Rand Member
since 1999-09-04
Posts 134London UK, and Zurich Switzerland |
Would any of you be surprised if I suggested Aristotle as the most important philosopher and thinker?  Angel ------------------ "I swear -- by my life and by my love of it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged "Any alleged "right" of one man, which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right." Ayn Rand |
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