Mingo, Daniel J.

BS Architecture 4-2

On the Nature and Destiny of Man

The nature and destiny of man has always been a big question for everyone. For this,
there are some major interpretations from the oriental and occidental parts of the world.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are some of the thoughts of man in
oriental part of the world. In Hinduism, behind the universe lies an invariable reality. One of this
reality is Brahma or the Absolute Consciousness or the World Soul. It is said that man is the
most sacred and highest form of being since it is believed that he has a soul that is similar with
Brahma. Considering that Brahma is a deific being, a man has also a godlike feature. It is the
destiny of a human soul, in Hindi philosophy, to realize its unity with the Brahma and loosen
himself away from the life of illusion. The life of illusion refers to the physical world and all the
things in it. As Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said, true wealth is not in having, but in being. And
so to attain the Brahmahood, a man should deny this physical world and pass the five sheaths
that slows down his journey to oneness with Brahma. Aside from that, it is also a requirement for
a man to accomplish some social responsibilities or ashramas. It is composed of stages in
mans life starting from his young age as a student, to the next stage as a married man and holds
parental responsibilities, to the third stage as an old man to reflect and meditate in the forest, and
up to the fourth and last stage as a wandering mendicant.
For Buddhists, the world is full of suffering. There are old age, disease, and death. Unlike
Hinduism that recognizes a self that is ceaseless through some sort of reincarnation, Buddhist do
not identify a self that last forever thus it would be a foolish thing to crave for earthly things. For
Buddhists, the way to Nirvana is for a man to realize that life is momentary and this world
cannot offer him no happiness. An ideal man, for Buddhists, is the man who follows to the Four
Noble Truths. It states that life is full of suffering, that the cause of suffering is the craving for
worldly things, that to end suffering is through suppression of these cravings, and the Noble
Eightfold Path. It should be clear to man, according to Buddhist thoughts, that life is has an end
therefore immortal and that Nirvana is not a utopian world instead it is a complete nothingness
and total extinction of self.
There a point in the history of China when the place is administratively chaotic and the
socially disordered. For these reason, the Confucianism began and taught that every man should
be well-educated and gentle. A man should be honest and courteous. An ideal man can avoid
immoral doings. It is believed by Confucius that a man can develop himself for good only if
proper education and moral exercise are conducted thus making the world socially and
administratively stable. During education, a man should learn to practice the virtues of Jen, Yi,
Li, and Chic. Jen means the being considerate of man to others by not doing things to others
that he do not want others to do the same to him. Yi represents righteousness or doing what is
right for others without assuming anything in return. Li is for being unobtrusive and formal to
others while Chic represents the wisdom to do the proper things and avoid the undesirable ones.
When these are achieved by man he can be called superior man. Confucius also established
the Five Relationships to attain social stability and peace. It is good enough to give an effort to
create the Five Relationships yet it is not enough to attain social stability and peace. There are
other type of relationships one should consider in a macro scale.
Another philosophy from China is the Taoism. Tao refers to how the universe works and
that a man has tao in him. In order for a man to be happy, he should level up his knowledge
and see things in a different and proper perspective where he can see the unity of all things and
not the distinction which leads a man to unhappiness. He should not see the difference of
things as the right from wrong, and good from bad. For Taoists, man must follow the rules of
nature and should not interfere with it. As what a common saying says, Just go with the flow.
It is also similar to the phrase, by doing nothing, everything is done. This means that by
accepting the natural occurrence in the world and not meddling with it, you are doing something.
It refers to the Taoist idea of Wu Wei or the life of non-action. When the rain falls, a volcano
erupts, the earth collides, a storm destroys, a man should do nothing about it. He just have to
accept everything that has happened and nothing more.
The idea of man in occidental part of the world is way too different from the oriental one.
To live a virtuous life is the idea in occidental world. It is believed that man is given with reason
making him to rise above other things in the world. Man has also a soul aside from its corporeal
body. Man has the ability to think and reason unlike plants and animals. Without reason, we are
only similar to animals. But given with reason, man has the quality to rule over himself and the
world. While all men are naturally alike, they are not equal. Plato said that there are men who are
born of gold, others of silver, and others of brass.
The idea of man in Judeo-Christian philosophy is that a man is given with divine purpose
and a soul to be salvaged. It is significant for the Judeo-Christians that a soul must be saved and
give up all the things in this world. Because of the fallen nature characteristic of man, he is
subject to temptations, pride and other sinful acts thus he need Someone to bring him up and be
saved from all these sins. The epitome of man, for Judeo-Christians, is to unite in order to create
a better world of integrity, comradeship, and harmony.
Contradictory to Judeo-Christian philosophy, the Naturalist-Humanist philosophy
declares that a man is of his own destiny living in a self-existing world. Man should not look for
a Higher Being in order to help them to live their life. A man has the ability to think and react
and so has the capacity to rule the world and improve their life on their own. Man makes his own
destiny. It is possible for a man to build a progressive and prosperous life without the help of the
Higher Being but it doesnt apply to everyone. As long as there a goal and something a man fears
of and dreams of, a man can do anything. Shared life in a shared world is also possible without
God.
On the other hand, the Existentialist view of man states that we are put on this world
without explanation or without asking us if we want to exist or not. Some philosophers give their
view about the existentialism of man in this world. Soren Kierkegaard states that men can only
give purpose to his life through a leap of faith to God. It is a psychological, not philosophical,
not scientific, not political, not economical, need of a modern man to have faith in God. Contrary
to Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche debated that man do not need God or faith in God to give
meaning and purpose to his life. It is the mans will to live, his own dreams and aspirations in life
give definition to his life. A man can stand on its own and be the master of his own destiny. For
Marcel, it is self-reflection and realization that a modern man needs today. In this chaotic world,
a man should rediscover his purpose through deep reflection. Like Kierkegaard, Marcel also
believes that man need to have faith in God to surpass the depersonalization and alienation of
this modern world. For Martin Heidegger, what man will be is the effect of what a man is doing
throughout the course of life. Man holds his life whether to just exist or to live authentically.
Like Heidegger, Jean Paul Sartre explains that man makes his own life. Man creates his own
future. Man is what he makes of himself. From all these views, I prefer the view of Kierkegaard.
Most of us need a Higher Being to lean on and to ask help from. Even though we do not exactly
know whether He really exist or not, as long we have faith, it really helps us to do things way
easier than the other way around.
As for Karl Marxs theory, it states that man, not the society, is the highest ideal. Man has
the great potential to develop and create a better world. Abolishing social relations to give way to
a new social order and to self-realization is a thing that Marx proposed. Being in a classless
society, where all men are equal, there is a possibility to have another type of chaos which I
cannot think of a concrete example.