Last week, I posted the Nicene Creed, and talked about how I have knowledge, rather than faith, that God exists and pays attention to us bugs he created, and kind of wondered if that was good enough in the end. For all that it's a bad movie, Constantine articulates it well right around the minute thirty mark in this clip:
A good friend mentioned in the comments that he had faith in human nature.
I do, too.
I have faith that humans tend to be venal, petty, self-concerned, and self-absorbed. I have faith that we can be horrible, evil, shallow, petty, nasty creatures. I have faith that, if someone can demonstrate that they are a selfish ass, they will at some point.
I also have faith that they're capable of more. I have faith that any human can rise above the animal nature, should they so choose to.
Unfortunately, it's something that the current culture is telling our children and young people that they shouldn't worry about--that acting on their impulses is "normal and natural" and nothing to be ashamed of.
I have faith that, while the possibility is there to be more, most will choose the easy path of self-indulgence. Just because it feels better, or is what's convenient and/or easiest at the time.
Sorry if I'm a little bitter, tonight. Despite my faith that humanity can and will live down to my expectations, I'm still depressed and disgusted by stories like this.
58 minutes ago
I'm inclined to agree with you. I do occasionally see people overcoming their baser natures to do something inspired. But then again, there are so many people who seem happy to wallow in the mud of animalism.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say "I hate people," that's shorthand for "I hate how venal people can be. I hate how selfish people can be." On the rare occasions that I say "I love people," it's because someone has overcome their lower nature to do something noble.
And I agree with you that our culture isn't helping any. Self-control gets a bad rap these days. Unfortunately, lack of self-control then leads to problems, which then leads to "Someone must DO something" meaning we get laws like Bloomberg's ban on biggie drinks. Because people are told that they don't have to exercise any kind of self-control.
Frank Herbert's Dune actually talks about the difference between H. sapiens and actual humans. I tend to think that that's the difference we're talking about here, just not everybody has actually read the book.
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