Originally published on Jan 7, 2023
Unlike every other species, humans are “too smart” for our own good. While other animals are largely content with survival and the continuance of their genes, humans have become so masterful of their environment and so resourceful that we can afford to spend the day asking questions beyond “what’s for dinner tonight?” The history of humanity has been a never-ending quest of understanding us, our existence, and the world around us. Not for a second have we stopped asking: Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going? And everything in between.
Until the birth of modern sciences, we understood so little of the world that religions and mythologies held the key to explaining the world. We desire to know and to understand, but, when we were unable to, mythologies and supernatural forces were created to fill that gap. In the past, the power of nature perplexed us, so Greek mythologies told the story of Apollo controlling the sun and Poseidon managing the oceans. Birth and death perplexed us, Christianity then offered the explanation that we were created by the one and only God, and we would go to heaven if we followed his words. While these entities seemed to explain the world, they were more of a cover up of the question than an explanation of it. This mythization of the world robed us not only the knowledge and the command of our lives, but also the motivation to discover and learn.
As we studied math and sciences, however, the power of explanation was slowly stripped away from the hands of gods and was returned to humanity. We studied astronomy to learn about the world beyond the skies; we studied biology to discover the world beneath our skin; and chemistry, physics, and so many more sciences to explore everything in between.
While those sciences don’t directly answer philosophical inquiries, they are ultimately of a philosophical pursuit. Progress in science, and any discussion that furthers our understanding of this world, is motivated by our need to understand the world and our existence. I believe philosophical thought is a lot more prevalent than it is currently understood and that we are all philosophers to a certain extent. Sciences have dispelled the myth of the physical existence of our world, but myths of human relations still remain. Mere decades ago, women and non-whites were still regarded as 2nd class citizens because of their perceived intellectual capabilities.
Like the thinkers of sciences, we are all observers and thinkers on the level of human relations, and we all have the ability to confront the myths of human relations. Philosophical inquiry isn’t only about existential crisis on the collective level, but it is also about how we individually engage with one another, how to manage our relationships, and how to go about life. Most of the topics I will discuss here could belong to the field of sociology or mental health, but they are very much inquiries into human relations. They are topics that I believe most of us has pondered and I hope everyone can join me in this discussion.
I’ve mentioned relations a few times, and, indeed, I see them as the core of humanity. What are we without relationships? Technology may have led the transformation of our world in the past centuries and continue to dominate our lives today, but all these material things that we interact with ultimately reflect our relationship with ourselves and each other. We buy a phone because we want to stay connected to others; we play games, read books, and watch movies because we want to engage with a different world; we create and express because we want to show who we are to the world. Everything we do is really about our relationship with either a group, another individual, our world, or ourselves. I’m writing this because I’m expressing myself (relationship with self) and responding to the world around me (relationship with world). Everything would cease to exist, and nothing would have meaning if there are no relations between us.
Ultimately, I aspire to further our understanding of human relations by sharing my perspectives about the world we live in and hopefully induce discussions along the way. Though I do not anticipate discussing grand questions that religions once set out to answer, I only wish to further demystify the world by trying to explain to you the world that I see. These erroneous perceptions of women and non-whites are undoubtedly wrong and have been largely refuted, but there remain an ocean of incorrect and unkindly misunderstanding and prejudices in our world — some towards others for their differences, and some even towards ourselves for the vulnerabilities that we have.
To change the world, we must first understand it. So, I kindly ask you to share your thoughts, share your perspectives, and engage with me. I would love to learn more.
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