How to be Human

I’m a philosophy and religious studies major.

Deep questions are my jam.

I love asking questions that begin with “why” and “how,” especially as they pertain to the human experience. I am most drawn to the kind of questions that force us to reckon with who we are, why we’re here, and what we ought to do about it.

It’s been one of my life’s greatest misfortunes to find that that’s not the case for everyone. Many people are often bothered by philosophical conundrums.

For a long time, it seemed to me that most people just didn’t care.

I think, while that may be part of it for some, it’s more often the case that many of us are simply uncomfortable with these kinds of things.

These are questions that require some serious critical thinking, which often brings us to the mirror. And boy, do we love the mirror (*insert sarcasm here*).

“I don’t wanna look inside myself, cause then I’ll have to change something else,” sang Hawk Nelson.

Self-reflection forces us to deal with the stuff about us that we don’t like.

It invites us into change, and self-transformation is the hardest change of all.

It requires a surrender of self… an invitation to humility.

To begin with any of this, we gotta learn to kill our pride.

I heard it in another song once that we don’t swallow pride unless it’s bottled with some Tylenol.

We’re incredibly proud, yet dangerously insecure.

Our shields are always up.

We reject vulnerability and consume whatever we can to numb ourselves.

I could go on. We’re the most medicated generation… ever.

I don’t have any psychology sources or data to back any of this up, but I think anyone who’s reading this would agree with my intuition: our mental health is a problem, and it forces us to shy away from the tough questions.

So, how do we start?

I think it begins with courage.

CS Lewis once said that courage is the form of every other virtue at its testing point.

To be humble, you need the courage to surrender your own selfishness.

To be honest, you need the courage to tell the truth.

To forgive someone, you need the courage to turn the other cheek.

I believe we need the courage to reckon with ourselves.

We need to be willing to deal with ourselves, which requires asking hard questions.

So, per the title of this article (the first in a series), it seems to me that some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves deal with our humanity.

What does it mean to be truly human?

True, we’re always “being” human, but are we rightly being human?

Are we good at being humans?

Are we bringing justice to the human experience?

How does a human thrive, and not just survive?

We seem so focused on surviving, socially and mentally. We just want to “get by.”

We are content with being “fine.”

It is my conviction that we were meant to live for so much more (Switchfoot, anyone?).

We were made in the image of an infinite, good, true and beautiful God, after all.

We’ll unpack that a bit next time.

Until then.

Don’t forget to tip your drivers.