Human Being Ness  

Human Being-ness                                                                                             

 James  Mills 

What does it mean to describe oneself as a human being? Why a being and not a doing?

Surely we spend most of our lives doing things, therefore would it not be more accurate to describe ourselves as such?

If we look at the etymology of the word 'human' it derives from an Indo European word ‘ghoman’ which means 'of the earth' or 'earthling'. A synonym for garden compost is humus which is derived from the same root word.

We are therefore creatures of the earth in these terms - earth beings. We are part of the natural world intrinsically as humans. And we be and dwell as such to be fully human.

Looking at humanity at this present time when the emphasis is on busyness, information accumulation and doing, it should give us pause for thought and reflection what it means to be human. What do we value and maintain as essential human activity and what are we relinquishing to Artificial Intelligence to do for us?

What does it mean to 'be' rather than to 'do'? Perhaps that biblical phrase 'Be still and know that I am God' is a clue. The quietening of body and mind as we know brings about an ability to observe inwardly thought, feeling and action and by so doing understand what it means to 'be human’. Self knowledge and acceptance being healthier and more humane than a constant striving for perfection.

Considering that this indigenous ‘being-ness’ is a fundamental quality we share with all creatures in their diversity and richness it would seem appropriate to recognise, value and cherish the variety of qualities and forms in human beingness from country to country and region to region as customs and cultures change organically across the Earth.

We are as humans perhaps naturally best living in connected but distinct groups. Being Unified in our Diversity rather than becoming Uniform as I discussed in my last talk. Governance coming from decentralised groups of sovereign human beings rather than the Orwellian alternative of centralised control by a form of World government under the pretext of Crisis management.

As Charles Eisenstein wrote in a recent sub stack article on the value of Central Bank Digital Currencies:

“…there is no such thing an an autonomous individual. The true nature of the human being—indeed, of being itself—is relationship. Only a system (or society) built upon that metaphysical understanding can hope to durably fulfil the hopes that we invest in it.”

It would seem that we need to create new Ancient stories to inspire us and help us re-member, literally put back together, ourselves as a beautiful heterogeneous mix of diverse creative beings and communities who have the wisdom to see our technology as our servant and not our Master.

Another word that derives from the root word ‘gohman’ is humility - being close to the Earth. And this human quality can help us reflect on our actions and responsibilities as part of a vast family of Life embracing all minerals, plants and animals.

There has been a trend in public discourse recently to identify the human species as the problem on the planet, like a virus that needs to be controlled but this is surely a gross distortion of the true situation. There are significant problems in humanity’s relationship with the natural world but there is natural genius in humans to create solutions and find new ways to live that are in balance with Nature.

Perhaps true creativity comes from Being and not from Doing. And this relates back to the Heart Mind balance. When the mind is the servant of the heart, things are wisely done as our hearts understand Being-ness instinctively.

It would seem that creativity is at its most inspired when we remember how to play and explore like children with open curiosity and trust in our unique human being-ness. And through this our innate genius individually and collectively can arise spontaneously and naturally to bring us back into balance and make us truly human.