The Human Condition

Rene Magritte

Michelangelo The Creation of Man

Poems by e.e.cummings

Aspects of the human condition adapted from the class:
-All people are born
-All people experience concupiscence
-All people are dependent.
-All people are finite and limited in what they can know and in hthier ailibty to put that knowledge into "words".
-All people are influenced by their enviroments
-All people suffer
-All people are constantly making decisions
-All people seek happines and/or desire to be accepted
-All people have the desire to survive
-All people are naturally self-centered
-All people die.

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Ignorance, illusion is the natural state of man.
Plato's "allegory of the cave"

For Plato all men are born in chained to illusion. Ignorance is man's beginning state and for many they never leave their cave.. Aristotle said that all men are born with their mind as a "tabula rasa' (a blank slate).

Pain and suffering are unavoidable in life
Buddha's Four Noble Truths

For Buddha all men are born in a state of suffering; their life is dislocated, something is wrong. The cause of this is their own natural self-centerdness,a nd thier liberation can only occur if they can extinguish their self-centeredness and move to be be centered on all existence.

Men are imperfect beings in an imperfect world
Christian idea of original sin Man is an imperfect being in an imperfect world. He is born in a fallen state andin need of redemption. Though born into this fallen state, he is called to a divine life.

Blaise Pascal's thoughts on the Human Condition

Pascal believed people know down deep there is a problem but avoid this by diversions and indifference.

Erich Fromm
Man is born alone and dies alone; his whole life is an attempt to bridge that aloneness.

Man is a complex being; mind, body, feelings, spirit, social relationships. All are important aspects in the goodness of his life.

All persons die
For Pascal, the most important question is "what happens after death?"

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