Douganator!

People are objects, till you say HI!

Objects or people?

So the other day I was cruising through uni on my skateboard with my headphones on, weaving through people, totally oblivious to people, and entirely wrapped in my own world. I realized how much most of the time people are just objects to us, moving objects, living objects, yes. But still objects. It is only until we engage with their minds that they become so much more than an object, it is humanities ability to relate to one another that makes us more than objects. Other people become something to us when we relate to them, it is because they become more than objects they become "beings". Things which have established a meaningful relationship and unique relationship to the world around them. They have a completely unique way of coping with existence and moving through it that we can peer into when they open windows into their existence.

I think at times it’s easy to forget others exist, not in the physical sense, that would be stupid, but in the sense that they are beings in the world with purpose, perspective, perception and subjectivity. It is impossible for this to manifest to us as an individual as we don't have the time to perceive most people as anything more than objects. The only value we can have of another being until we have experience some form of communication with it, is a base level understand that they exist on all the levels that we do, even though we don't acknowledge their existence on anything more than a physical level. For this reason people just blend into the world of objects most of the time, merely things to be avoided because we do not have the time to communicate with them. Nor any reason to expose our own vulnerability by sharing the fact that we exist on any other level rather than just the physical.

However people’s existence only becomes pressing to us when our mind is directed towards someone’s existence. When we see someone in pain our mind acknowledges their existence as a being with feelings and therefore wishes to help them because, (personally at least) we have created a system for ourselves which wishes for us and others to avoid unnecessary pain.

Something I have noticed with uni, is this theory I have called "stalker theory". You meet someone by chance, say you are introduced by a friend, or just decide to sit and have a chat with someone. I notice that with these people whom I had never previously seen before in my life, they keep cropping up around uni, in a way that seems almost like destiny. I think the reason being is that our mind is directed towards them because no longer are they an object but they now become a being and therefore our mind acknowledges them as an anomaly amongst the objects and is directed towards them. Hence while it seems like they are popping up all over the place, the truth is they have always been there and you have probably even walked pass them as many times in the months pre-acknowledging them, but now they are a being and not just an object therefore drawing the attention of the mind.

I also find Jean Paul Satre's perspective on a range of emotions. We only feel things like shame, guilt and amusement because of others. Without the existence of other beings we could not feel things like this. It is only the realization that their mind will be directed to a certain aspect of our character if we do abnormal things that we feel these emotions. It is for this reason why I feel mildly embarrassed when I fall off my skateboard or rollerblades in front of strangers, as I no longer exist to them as an object but a being whom hasn't the mental capacity to cope with existing on wheels, traveling at high speeds!

What’s also interesting about the phenomenon of people as objects is also the reverse. While you might see this way of viewing strangers as shallow and not valuing people as they should be, I find the reverse is also true. Those who are close to you become virtually unlimited beings, beings who exist on more facets than we can imagine... sure we can categorize their facets into a range of levels such as emotional, relational creative etc. however like any model this requires a certain abstraction from reality and does not do a person in reality justice. This is the beauty of relationships, is once in one, one has the pleasure of pluming a virtually infinite being. A being that can exist alongside of you in the world rather than outside of you as an object. Something you can share existence with and acknowledge one another on every levels rather than just the objective physical one.

It is this perspective on existence that has partly led to my belief in the Christian God. A God who unlike anything else is an infinite being, tied to nothing, but still very much alive. For how can we know God if he does not exists physically to us? Well we can know him on every other level through reading the bible, prayer and generally relating to him, and we can witness his physical work through his creation. We can share our existence with him alongside of us, sharing with him our lives on every other facet except the physical at present.

It is this fact that makes Christian living worthwhile and exciting. We have not only our present being in the world, but also our being outside of the world to look forward to sharing our relationship with God. I used to question the idea of eternally being in heaven, and whether I could be satisfied and content for an eternity. However my own experience of relating to finite beings, humans, who are tied to the world and being unable to truly know them over the course of one life time has led to continued satisfaction and contentment. How much more wonderful, content and satisfied will one be experiencing an eternity of knowing an infinite being, tied to nothing, together with those finite beings, in heaven?

1 Corinthians 1-31
21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

So yah that is my thought, enjoy :)

posted by Douganator @ 3:40 PM