"The modern conception of man is characterized. more than anything else, by individualism."
- David Banach
David Banach declares man an individual. Not much of a surprise when you consider everybody lives their own life, has their own friends, their own family. However, at least for me, I have always heard of the concept of man being 'mankind', the idea that we are all united and share experiences and similar hardships. David Banach clearly disagrees.
I have to say, after reading over the first section of a lecture given by Mr. Banach, I have to agree with him, but under conditions. Now he does state some things that I agree with. When I was a little kid, I couldn't fall asleep. So I would lay in bed and think about stuff to try and fall asleep. Not normal things people use to sleep, like sheep or counting them, but rather I would think about my body turning blue or being an alien or even developing tentacles in place of my arms. When I wasn't thinking about being deformed beyond belief with tentacle arms, I would think about how I had no idea if the world I saw was the same as the world everybody else saw. I would think about this in the most extreme of possibilities though, and I would think about it in every aspect imaginable. I would think about how I hear the word "Hello" and I see my friend Cole with a clear, normal, human body. From there, BOOM, I thought about ho he could be experiencing things as a five armed, one legged alien named Glee-Borp telling me he wants me to explode into little larva chunks (Because to him I'm just a little larva). And this FASCINATED me.
I couldn't stop thinking about how I will never know what he saw, and he would never know what I saw either. David Banach talks about this in a very similar way, albeit less drastic (And let's be honest, less fun). It is for this reason that I agree with much of what he says. The concept he proposed that nobody can experience what anybody else experiences intrigues me. In reality, we can't. This reminds me of a fatal flaw in cloning somebody like say, Einstein, and getting the same person. Every factor of the outside world affects a person and unless every single experience with every single person, looks, sounds, smells, and so forth exactly the same, the resulting feeling is not the same. The experience itself is not the same then. So every person is a unique individual who experiences things nobody else can.
Another concept that he David Banach talks about is best summed up as people have to have no outside influence in order to be a true individual. To be an "absolute individual" we have to be trapped in our minds, with no distractions at all. I take this as earplugs in, mouth closed, eyes shut, no smells, suspended by wires in the air so we can't touch anything. This is clearly not a suitable way to live life, and I think that we don't have to go to such extremes to be an "absolute individual". As he himself said, everybody experiences things differently, no two experiences the same. There is an old saying saying your experiences shape you and I feel that holds true and coupled with the prior statement of experiences being unique can lead to everybody being a unique individual, free of enclosure in ones mind.
Henry, i like the way you were able to casually express your feelings in an educated way. While you do tend to rant about the alien fantasy, I can clearly see your point and even though the example you used was a bit silly I could still get the gist of what you were saying. You mentioned in the beginning that you hear the phrase "Human Nature" a lot which I assume you meant to contrast Banach's idea, thus "Human Nature" implies that we all share a similar experience. I'd like you to expand on the idea of "Human Nature", does Banach disprove it? if we can't share common experiences then can there be a human nature? Silliness aside, nice work, I think you have some already good ideas, if you expanded on them they could be great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI love your post, especially when you say, "I would think about how I had no idea if the world I saw was the same as the world everybody else saw." When i was i always had them same thoughts. I guess all kids do at the age which is something people don't realize. Basically our life is an imagination. We really won't know if we see what others see. I like how you brought in in that fact because it made me more observant. When i look at things now, i might just change the color of it. That thought really has we wondering right now. I think you should really go more in depth about the images we portray .I would love to see how your thoughts start developing on that aspect. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHenry,
ReplyDeleteI know you already have 2 comments on your post but I had to comment it. Your own experiences with the idea of how limited we are in terms of the lens we perceive the world through remind me of some of my own. The extreme examples you gave might not make much sense but it does prove a point. Knowing that we are trapped in our minds where we can only interpret our surroundings based on the information our senses give us is weird especially when the human race loves to think that it knows the world better than any other creature.
I remember how I used to confuse myself with thoughts similar to your alien story (well not really that similar). I would think well, what if the corner of this chair looks round to another person? What if the sharp I feel is the curve she feels? What if the edge that digs into my skin is what she interprets a curve thing to do except that instead we both call it sharp? I see words as just representations of what we see, feel, and sense. It never does the description of an object justice.
"To be an 'absolute individual' we have to be trapped in our minds, with no distractions at all. I take this as earplugs in, mouth closed, eyes shut, no smells, suspended by wires in the air so we can't touch anything. This is clearly not a suitable way to live life, and I think that we don't have to go to such extremes to be an 'absolute individual'." This made me question whether absolute individuality is really that important. Why do we stress over it so much? It's like setting a goal we know we can not reach. What is so fascinating that lies after the achievement of absolute individuality? I feel like everyone is striving too hard to reach an identity that is different from everyone else, like absolute individuality would do just that. I mean even if a person does come to a state where he becomes an absolute individual, then who knows if his ideas will still end up being the same standard ideas everyone else has? We don't know because no one has ever been in that position before. And that is why we are so obsessed with the idea of individuality because we like to be different and becoming something no one has been before.
While reading your post, I found dozens of questions popping up in my mind so I knew I had to write them down. One thing I suggest though is pointing out some of Banach ideas that you disagree with since you said you only agree with him under conditions. And maybe posing some possible alternatives that can get us as close to absolute individuality as we could without being (as you said) blindfolded and suspended into the air.