Welcome to San Francisco!.
I “immigrated ’cross-country” to the Bay Area late 1979, drove from Boston, blessed to have friends back then and never lived in San Francisco.” I am a visitor with a senior pass for public transportation. First time to be officially welcomed with a beautiful smile.
Reminds me, what matter “Human Nature?” Whatever is “Human Nature” Theoretically it’s a quality of us all—we are all human and if it is “natural” for humans to have this quality, then we all (should) have it, And we cannot avoid or escape having it—we are by definition this quality.
If behaviour is human nature then we all do it, if the feeling is human nature then we all feel it .
What is it that is the “Human Nature? ” Is it the behaviour? Is it the feelings?
People can feel the same feeling and respond differently—some feel a hurt and anger and strike out violently hurting others and/or often hurting themselves, while others find, or develop ways to deal with the negative energy positively, or at least not negatively.
Perhaps its a wonder that in the history of human injustice, and human sadness, most people need so little reward to keep going.
Is there such a thing as “Human Nature?” We use the word regularly, that is just the way people are,
“That’s life, What’s Life, a five cent magazine. I don’t have five cents, That’s Life.”
A Great Depression (1930s) conversational parley. Life was a popular magazine featurnig phorographs
We would think that if something, such as behavour or feelings, are “Human Nature,” then we all do it or all feel it, to not do so would not to be a human being.
But we see such things as compassion, empathy, and remorse, often said to be “Human Nature.” are distributed along a quantitative continuum—some people have more than others. And then we have the category of “sociopath” which is m by definition, a person who has none of these qualities.
Often some groups of people identify their behavour as “natural” and the different behavour of others as “unnatural.”
Hetro- and homo sexuality for example—some will say that homosexuality is unnatural but if so, then why do people do it? Because they have fallen by the way? succumbed to the Devil? or more contemporary , brainwashed by the wrong political ideaology.
Alameda Creek
That’s the problem with the concept of “Human Nature.” We are both subject and object and cannot separate from ourselves. Why are some behaviours and some feelings natural yet not everyone does them. Are human beings naturally good? Naturally bad? A product of their experiences.?
Who defines “natural?” What is the standard ? If war is part of our nature, then we will always have war.If murdering people is part of our nature then we will always have murder. Society has some different “life openings” –social roles—for individuals , does a society, for its own survival, naturally generate a social structure which fills those roles with specific individuals?
Another way of looking at what is “natural” is to use the points (a line) of survival, the things we do are the things that enabled us to survive and are the things we should do now and in the future.—We know that these work because we are here.
These include every thing humans did through history, a cacophony of good and bad things. I wonder if both good and bad behavior are necessary to be present in a society to enable survival, are necessary for survival or just sufficient for survival?
Not the survival of an individual, people are social, live in a group, it is group survival but it is the individual’s behaviour which— the good and bad behavior—which generates the structure of society.
Perhaps for a society to survive there needs to be individuals who behave both good and bad behavior.Still if murdering people is very successful the society will cease to exist. Just enough so the the murderers can serve as an example of what not to do so keep enough people in line to keep the society surviving.
Its human nature to want to see others as bad or good, not just because it makes us feel better or as some people would have us, be afraid,
In order for there to be good people there must bad people. It is the presence of criminals that create law abiding citizens; and vice versa, compassionate people create non compassionate—the job of social outliers is to ensure the survival of the society of “normal” people.” by a social structure which needs living examples of not what to do in life.
Perhaps it is the society seeking its own survival at the expense of the individuals,—or perhaps some of the individuals— which shapes and directs the behaviors of all individuals to create the society, the social structure of human behavior..
EndPapers
What was interesting is that the vertical line of the mirror cuts through the image of the person ,i.e. the person is reflected in the mirror.
A blue tattoo, blue underwear and a blue mask.
I made this sketch from a series of circles in rows and columns, the beige background is the same color .. Something will come of this later, but its a long term effort and anticipates fun. .
Interesting with the blue background below.
I am across this map of Xinjiang dated 1759—shows the topography, cities, villages and roads with the military posts in the Xinjiang. Also shows the administrative system and local divisions of Xinjiang before the 24th year of Emperor Qianlong (1759).is my understanding that the name Xinjiang was not used until the next century generally the area was known (in China) as the Western Frontier.
This are has long been populated, and it was part of the silk road for many centuries. Uyghurs, longtime residents of the area, were not always muslim. This area was very wealthy, populated with peoples from all over Central Asia. and traders from Eastern China to the Mediterranean. Pre-muslim, the Uyghurs, had warm and cool relationships with Chinese, Dynasties perhaps beginning from the Han dynasty where they served with military leadership off and on through the Tang Dynasty. “Conversion” which was relatively late in their history involved one of the Mongol Khans invading and converting.while many others just left the area.
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寒山;Hanshan (Cold Âountain) is a figure associated with a collection of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the Taoist and Chan tradition. No one knows who he was, when he lived and died, or whether he actually existed.
If another excels accept him
If he doesn’t excel don’t
If you excel there’s room for others
If you don”t there’s none for you
Loving the adept consoling the inept
a disciple of Goodness finds his place
I urge you to follow Tzu Chang’s motto
and ignore Po Shang’s advice
Han Shan The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain translated from Chinese by Red Pine
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