Why are human beings so dysfunctional?

[Damir Elezi]

I was contemplating this question a bit today. Why is it that every other life-form seemingly realizes its potential and lives as nature intended it to live, while human beings have all forms of diseases and psychological dysfunctions, making it a life long journey just to become "healthy" and "natural"? What are your opinions on that? 

[Samra]

Very interesting subject to contemplate about Damir.  

In my view, there are couple of ways of looking at it. One is that everything is as it should be. Everything is perfect. So the way human beings are also the way they should be.

Another way is that, any form, that goes through change, re-manifestation, needs to breaks it shell, its cocoon. We as species are constantly evolving, seems faster than some other forms of life. We make a lot of mistakes along the way, which can be painful and costly. We may not make it. Our constant change makes it risky. Some people may say technology brings us comfort, but look at all the loneliness and dysfunction it is creating at the same time. This is all part of growth. 

I do believe that one day , we will evolve from this form too. Who knows, maybe we will be a more whole being. More conscious, more natural. Whatever it may look like.  

[AxelK]

It has a lot to do with evolution. You see, the processes of evolution takes a long time. But the changes in our society is just speeding up, we're living with brains and bodies designed for a completely different time. That can contribute to a lot of problems, unless we're mindful and knowledgeable on how to deal with it. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by AxelK

[khalifa]

we're just badly programmed you could say, we're not very efficient emotional robots

[Faceless]

Good question 

Seems obvious to me, could it be the resistance to the reality in which thought has created.

[Damir Elezi]

@Samra So you see it as a necessity? Like in order to evolve to a higher being, this suffering is necessary for the human being? Very interesting view

[Damir Elezi]

@blazed I'd love to agree with you, but at the time I'm still sceptical about this infinite reality notion. Interesting perspective though

[Leo Gura]

@Damir Elezi It's just the trade-off of having a complex and powerful mind.

When the mind is powerful enough to invent illusions like money, history, society, culture, art, language, science, etc. it's also powerful enough to create the illusion of a separate self and all the suffering and lies that go into maintaining it.

It's sort of like you asked for a very sharp knife and then you get upset at the guy for selling it to you after it cuts your hand. Well, what did you expect? That's what sharp knives do!

[Samra]

On 25/01/2018 at 11:15 AM, Damir Elezi said:

@Samra So you see it as a necessity? Like in order to evolve to a higher being, this suffering is necessary for the human being? Very interesting view

@Damir Elezi yes sort of. The suffering is a signal. Discomfort. How we choose to deal with that emotionally depends on our level of consciousness. It is not necessary a bad thing, even though it can be hard to deal with. It is just a signal. 

Their is a type of huge deep sea Crab which breaks out of its shell when its too tight, once a year. If it doesn't, it will get crushed from within. But while they are breaking the shell, they can be hunted by other predators, cause they are too soft and exposed. Vulnerable.  

Maybe we are in a similar situation. We need to evolve, because we are getting signals. But in the process, we might be eaten. But the difference is, we are also our own worst enemy. We are the hunters and the hunted. 

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by Samra

[YaMayka]

Well, maybe it’s because we are self conscious and in fact we are making effort to change not only the world but also ourselves. It must create problems. We are messing with our own code. I find it a bit funny when reading that we are eating wrong now, giving birth wrongly, even shiting in a wrong way (apparently), all not in the way we were designed to do. We modified everything. We want to improve nature’s work but with not enough insight. Bit arrogant. The original sin

[mandyjw]

 

My best theory would be that' it's all because we have removed ourselves from the natural world so much.

But does ever other life form live as nature intended? Animals naturally get rabies, brain tumors or go mad. I once got within 5 feet of a moose in the woods (by accident, I didn't see it) and she half-heatedly bluff charged but didn't touch me.  She kept coming closer and closer to people's houses so a game warden shot her. Apparently moose occasionally get meningitis. 

The other question is, is rabies bad or unnatural? Is human unconsciousness bad or unnatural? Or is that judgement just more unnatural behavior on our part? 

[Nahm]

@Damir Elezi Fucking great question man. Worth deep contemplation. Materialistically, animals have no ‘human complexity’ of brain (sans a few, like dolphins), so they have no worries. Existentially, animals have no brain, and are the absolute, appearing as far from the absolute. It’s deceptive in appearance. Which reveals something shockingly extraordinary about humans, and the nature of the illusion. 

[Faceless]

@Damir Elezi

Not escaping suffering is necessary. Most people escape to various illusions to find security. Use the energy brought about by suffering to fuel ones inquiry. And then if or when one becomes free from the self there is an infinite amount of energy in this empty mind. 

This is a timeless realm?

 

[RawJudah]

I think, like a few people have said here before, is that we’ve gone so far from what we’re naturally supposed to do that it’s rotting our brain, making us not able to concentrate, always having to distract ourselves from reality and it’s making us all depressed and anxious all the time.

What I hate the most is that businesses know this harsh fact and then try to make money from our weaknesses.

Fuckers.

[Nahm]

The root, is that fear is perceived to be real.

[CuteCornDog]

We're insecure.

 

I have Borderline Personality Disorder, Language Processing Disorder, Homosexual OCD, and dyslexia.

[Epiphany_Inspired]

@Damir Elezi I think it's mostly a generationally passed cultural issue. Most of our neurosis come from early childhood.... try connecting with your "inner child" and you may see what I mean... but I don't know for sure...

[Saumaya]

On 26/01/2018 at 4:35 PM, Leo Gura said:

@Damir Elezi It's just the trade-off of having a complex and powerful mind.

When the mind is powerful enough to invent illusions like money, history, society, culture, art, language, science, etc. it's also powerful enough to create the illusion of a separate self and all the suffering and lies that go into maintaining it.

It's sort of like you asked for a very sharp knife and then you get upset at the guy for selling it to you after it cuts your hand. Well, what did you expect? That's what sharp knives do!

^ We are the only creatures who have the intellect as an instrument. First it creates a distinction between self and other then the whole story begins. Illusions causes neurosis and psychosis so they make us dysfunctional in a way.

[WaterfallMachine]

I don't see how other pieces of nature aren't dysfunctional. I've been reading The Inner Ape by Frans de Waal, a leading primatologist, lately. I read a case where chimpanzee females often have to protect their babies from their fathers, because they often kill them when they get the chance. A case where two apes killed the tribal leader for ambition for their own power. Cases where apes steal the food of others, and so on.

I've also seen a TED talk about someone who specialized in the mental health of animals. There are depressed dogs, cats and many other similar cases in the animal world too.

Other species can be rather similar. Many animals kill each other all the time. I'd go so far to say that human beings are a lot less dysfunctional than many. Put random apes in an airplane from different tribes and they will go crazy to murder each other. Put human beings who don't know each other from different countries in an airplane  and most often, they'll have the discipline to sit down peacefully where they are. Or at least, peacefully enough that they won't resort to violence.

Why is nature seen as something good here? It's a neutral thing. Viruses that kill animals and humans are part of nature, but no one ever tells you that they're "good". If anything, I'd say our intellect is what may give us a better chance to go against our nature. We're definitely far from perfect and there are kinder animals than many of us, but to see it in a way that's so black and white seems like a bad idea.

Human beings often like to forget it, but we're not above nature. We're part of nature. That's why we're like this.

Edited February 18, 2018 by WaterfallMachine