Human being and his choices  

                        – Krishna Nagarathinam

Being born and dying are common to all living things. What animals do with their ideology of life is to eat what they get, excrete what they eat and reproduce. The French philosopher René Decartes called the thinking capacity of humans by the term Cogito. He says that it is thinking that guarantees human existence. Ironically, history shows that a thinker who fails to hold his tongue will end up prematurely, and a good example of this is Socrates. ‘Passengers who use language against the authorities will be punished’, is written on the immigration officers’ notice board at Chennai’s Customs Air Department. However, there is no explanation as to whether the remarks made by agents against passengers are punishable.

The theory of life is quite simple for most people today. To quote Socrates: ‘Life is not living, but living life well’. For the average person, a good life has been determined over the course of time by the society around them. As far as our society is concerned, life consists in knowing how to live well, i.e. having a nice house, an ideal wife or husband, a couple of children, a car and so on. According to Socrates, living well means ‘living by values, and for values’. And the European way of thinking is to live for the moment without worrying about what has happened or what is going to happen. No matter how much a man is swept along in the current of society as an average individual but he will float like a leaf without being submerged, and such a life is certainly preferable. This is because dry leaves floating on the surface are more likely to be washed ashore than stones rolling along the bottom of the water.

The life cycle is common to all living beings, including humans, animals and plants, with no major differences. However, plants are better than the first two animals in terms of life choices.  The reason is that once they fall into the ground as seeds, they have the power to maintain their existence without the help of others until they germinate, become a plant and grow into a tree. Those trees are lucky enough to grow in the forest or elsewhere without the help of others, and when they are well grown they host mushrooms on their woody bodies and allow birds to nest in their branches. When animals and humans eat the leaves, pods and fruit, they enjoy seeing them too. But what about human beings? From conception to efflorescence, he needs the help of his parents and others to feed, clothe and understand the world. What happens after that? His nation is nothing but his own interests and those of his loved ones. At this point, all the others are aliens to him.

Here, we need to understand the nature of man and his choice of life. Whether European or Asian; American or Nigerian; Malayali or Tamil; Christian or Muslim; rich or poor, educated or uneducated, everyone has hungers, desires, likes, dislikes, kindness and anger. There is no difference between human natures on all these fundamental points. But it’s when he crosses the thresholds of the aforementioned where differences between human beings appear.We are scandalised when we read in the newspaper that the man who until yesterday was known as the Great Saint has behaved badly towards his female followers. Again, the question arises as to why a religious leader who not long ago preached love is now inciting his followers to take up arms. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant also had such doubts. The explanations we have drawn from his research have led us to conclude that the human being is a mixture of Gandhi and Godse, a mixed incarnation of Kannaki and Madhavi. At birth, man is an average human being, neither Rama nor Ravana, and after growing up, he incarnates according to circumstances. This is what the French philosopher Sartre (Jean-Paul Sartre) said about human’s nature: Existence precedes essence, in the sense of existentialism.

 Human beings are governed by their Adaptive Behavior. This Adaptive Behavior is the process by which human beings adapt to their environment and take on a new form, staging an action. Behind the scenes, it’s the lessons they’ve learned in their everyday lives and the prevailing circumstances that determine their attitude. In the survival and operation of social organisms, the adaptive functioning plays an important role, either directly or indirectly. In this way, the adaptive process that remains  such that a human being’s innate power also acts according to circumstances. Hunger is a fundamental need of a being, but the adaptive functioning that determines which of the available foods will suit him and why. In another situation, a blind man is waiting to cross to the other side of the road and many people pass him without any consideration, while a few come forward to help him. Here again, adaptive behaviour interferes not only with people who have ignored the blind man, but also with those who have helped him. So, whatever the subject, adaptive behaviour plays a major role in each individual’s decision-making based on his or her existing state.

Many people work hard to earn their keep, while others cheat and steal. Both have the same goal, but the way they have chosen to achieve it is different. “Needs not in words to dwell on virtue’s fruits: compare The man in litter borne with them that toiling bear,”  says Thiruvalluvar, the great Tamil poet, through his Thirukural. This virtue is nothing other than their own choice.The person carrying the palanquin and the person sitting on it have each sought and obtained what they wanted. The answer to the question ‘What is our place at this moment? is obtained on the basis of our choices up to the previous moment. Each planet, whether Mercury or Neptune, turns not to write the destiny of human beings, but to write their own destiny.  In this sense, it is we who are responsible, and no one else, for our good or our evil.

There are three things we can’t choose: our parents, our race, our mother tongue; and apart from that, we can choose everything: education, work, life partners, friends or enemies, books to read, game to play, pleasant or unpleasant words, laughter and tears, morals, anger, peace and so on. Each reaction and its effect depend on the choice of two elements with contrasting characteristics. In this choice, we try to ensure that the concept of the right decision is in our favour and that the other is contrary – in other words the second choice is also a kind of decision. Yet this alternative is perceived as a rejection. To say no: we can frown, say enough or thanks without wishing to, refuse politely or argue vigorously. In extremis, we can step back, walk away, sometimes even run. Knowledge and the senses are the keys to our choices. And the man sitting on the palanquin may be a human being who chooses knowledge over emotion. To continue along this path, he needs to make the right choice every day.

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