More than Survival.

In the last post I introduced the concept of human duality - the belief that we each possess both our “animal” tendencies as well as our divine nature.

You can check it here.

I’ll continue the conversation in this post, but specifically explore how the belief in this concept impacts an individual’s time here on Earth.

Let’s begin by quickly recapping a few points from the previous post.

Much of our behavior is driven by our genetic hardwiring - particularly towards survival and reproduction. Thought of another way, most human action can be linked to either our need to feel safe or our desire to secure a mate.

Evidence of this hardwiring in day to day life is not difficult to find - our obsessive accumulation of wealth, our proclivity for calorically dense food, our preoccupation with physical appearance, etc etc etc. There are countless.

These desires and tendencies we experience as a result of our genetic history are most certainly real and this model for understanding human behavior is definitely true.

But….

Is it the full truth?

Meaning, are we really just monkeys wearing suits? Or, is our story as humans more complex than just survival and mate selection?

This question leads us back to the concept of duality - that there is more to humans than just our programming to live a long time and procreate. That inside each of us is a deep desire to live as our Highest Self - our Divine Self.

The Divine Self goes by many names - the Soul, Sacred Second Self, Daimon, etc etc.

It can be thought of as who we aspire to be - the version of ourselves that is healthy, joyful, virtuous, and in service to others.

To bring this back to duality (and the point of this post), the belief in our inherent divinity deeply impacts an individual’s relationship with their “animal” nature and fundamentally alters the way they move through the world.

It moves an individual from participant to actor - capable of choosing how to express the powerful innate characteristics that are a result of their genes.

It also changes life from a quest for pleasure and wealth accumulation, to a beautiful journey of accessing and revealing our divinity.

It is this choice of genetic expression that makes us human in the first place.

It is also what makes our time here so beautiful.

In the next post I’ll continue looking at this balance of our natures - embracing our animality while channeling it for the goal of divine expression.

P.S. Writing this post and the last few has led me to many interesting places, not the least of which was a revisit of the biblical story of Adam and Eve - a parable I never gave much thought, casting aside in the category of fundamentalist, anachronistic, etc. A deeper look at the story brought me down an even windier path, eventually to the work of a Jewish scholar named Gary Rubin. It's a bit of an aside, but wanted to share a few insights from his analysis of the Adam and Eve parable that are linked to this discussion on human duality. Here are a few snippets that highlight his deep mastery of scriptural metaphor and allegory in a more traditional Hebrew context.

"Similarly, at the very beginning of the Creation story, we learn that God’s character is to “hover” over the earth, imparting His values, but forever unsure how his creatures will act when given independence. Before Genesis is over, we’ll read many examples of people who both fulfilled and confounded His hopes. Uncertainty is built into the very structure of the world."

"He notes that verse 8 describes God as “placing” Adam into the Garden of Eden to enjoy its pleasures, which focuses on the passive and hedonistic consumption of the natural environment. In contrast, verse 15 repeats the placement of Adam in the Garden, but he is now “taken” to Eden and given the task, “to cultivate it and to keep it." The emphasis here is no longer on pleasure, but on commandment. The human being now controls his environment, no longer merely existing within it."

"God directs Adam both to proliferate and to rule. He is the only creature to be simultaneously horizontal and vertical, meaning that he is fundamentally capable of animalistic debauchery or of high moral achievement. Humans are created to be ambiguous, with no hint of whether their lives will produce disaster or greatness."