The Human Condition – A Perspective

If we wish to know about a man, we ask ‘what is his story, his real, inmost story?

Oliver Wolf Sacks

Series Parts:

Part 1 – The Human Condition – A Perspective

Part 2 – A Theoretical Approach to the Human Condition

Part 3 – A Synthesis of Three Theories

Table of Contents

1. Oliver Wolf Sacks
2. The Human Condition
3. References

Oliver Wolf Sacks

Oliver Wolf Sacks, a British biologist, neurologist, psychologist, writer, who is lauded for his writings on several collections of case studies of people with neurological disorders, once said, “If we wish to know about a man, we ask ‘what is his story, his real, inmost story?’ for each of us is a biography, a story. Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed, continually, unconsciously, by, through, and in us through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken narrations. Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives, we are each of us unique.” His simple yet powerful definition of the human condition sums up the lives of each individual client who walks into the counselling room; it is non-discriminating. Each human being, be it the CEO of a multinational company, an autistic child or a secondary school teenager, has a story to share; each story a depiction of the condition of their lives at various developmental stages, their experiences in a cultural, social and personal context. And each story told in their own unique language.

To quote Greek philosopher, Socrates, “Remember, no human condition is ever permanent.” This sense of transience, of impermanence, leads to the question of existence. How can a human being form a secure sense of self amidst a force which is dynamic, ever shifting?

The Human Condition

In the postmodern world, with its understandings of reality and truth, there seems to be a constant tension between two forces, that of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’, of continuity and of change. We are hard-pressed to say, in postmodernism, that reality and knowledge can be seen as constant. Hence, there are numerous theories and approaches from which one might enter into a discourse on the human condition, on being human.

It is a mapping of the human being, drawing out each element intrinsically woven into a detailed fabric, where the core is the individual and its patterns, the colours of external influences. Each human being endures a lifetime series of ever changing human conditions and experiences. Each experience is determined by the human being, based on the life skills one possesses. The functionality, and dysfunction, of each human being is co-created by the person, the tools of the person and the experiences.

In his book, The Art of Counselling, Rollo May (2007)^[1] asks, “What is a human being?” May believed in traditional existentialism, that in order to understand what it is to be human, one should first determine the concept of personality – what determines personality, the freedom of personality and the individuality of personality. He then placed the individual human being in context, the social setting, within which each human being embarks on the “search of one’s self”. Perhaps it is in this search of one’s self, the creation of individuality where one begins to experiment, experience, learn and apply what is deemed “normal”, where normalcy is defined by personality and by context, religion, society and culture.

May (2007)^[1] viewed the source of dysfunction as stemming from personality, from “creative tension”. He wrote that the source of personality problems is a lack of adjustment of tensions within the personality. This tension is the stretching, the pulling and stressing of a one’s personality. He cautioned that “to speak of personality without tensions – to imply, for example, that the healthy mental condition is a blissful absence of tensions” is a serious mistake. He offered that what is desired is “adjustment of tensions, not escaping them”. One might then consider that problems arise when an individual lacks the tools, life skills, to cope or adjust to tensions, or by escaping them with maladaptive coping behaviours.

References:

[1] May, R. (2007). The Art of Counselling. London: Souvenir Press.