Higher Nature

Where are you on the human journey? I’m not asking how far into the journey you happen to be or how close to the end you are in chronological terms. This isn’t a question of what you have experienced or how much of the world you have seen. The human journey refers to an evolutionary path whereon each of us is discovering or waking up to our higher nature as a human being.

So where are you?

Obviously, it is impossible to answer that question without some understanding of what our higher human nature is or might be. In this post I will offer just such a standard model which can be used to assess where we are individually, as well as where we are as a collective average across our species today.

My objective is not diagnostic but inspirational: As we get a better sense of where we are on this path to becoming fully human, we will have a clearer view of what is possible – of what still lies within us and ahead of us.

The basic ideas in my standard model are both borrowed and new.

• From the philosophy of George Santayana I’ve taken the concept of animal faith, defined a bit differently but still essentially the same as in his thought.
• From the mainstream of self psychology comes the notion of ego strength, a critical achievement in personality development and identity formation.
• Finally, creative authority is largely my own term intended to summarize many of the virtues recognized worldwide and throughout history as the high marks of human awakening, liberation, and enlightenment – of coming into our “higher Self.”

My model arranges these three concepts into developmental and evolutionary stages progressing sequentially through time, with each stage also serving in the spatial sense as a relatively stable location (or ‘platform’) at which human consciousness engages with reality and gains a new perspective on life.

Two more terms capture this nuanced distinction in the concept of stage. Fulfillment refers to the overall progress in development and evolution relative to what we might call the ‘epigenetic aim’ of human nature (the Human ideal). A second term, wellbeing, refers to the degree of self-actualization achieved at each stage of development.

It should be obvious that neither term is being confused with happiness, which is a more subjective and circumstance-dependent quality of experience.

As we explore the model, try to be as honest as you can in assessing where you are on the human journey – not just what stage you happen to be on (or transition between stages), but how you “measure up” to the standard of human wellbeing and fulfillment. Again, even though one’s degree of wellbeing and fulfillment have a direct impact on personal happiness, try to keep their distinction in mind as we go along so as to minimize the risk of reducing your progress on the human journey to how you may feel today.

Infancy, Early Childhood, and Animal Faith

Ideally a human infant is brought into the world by caretakers and providers who do their best in cuddling, nurturing, protecting, and responding competently to its basic needs. Even in unfavorable circumstances and conditions, responsible ‘taller powers’ can be highly effective at instilling in the newborn and young child a deep visceral sense that Reality is provident and benign (i.e., essentially good).

This inner release in basic trust (c.f., Erik Erikson) to the present mystery of Reality is what George Santayana called “animal faith”: a precognitive and unconscious (spontaneous) assurance that Reality is as it is perceived. Santayana’s concept, however, is more of an extroverted confidence (outward oriented, to the environment) than the introverted intuition (inward oriented, to the ground of being) that Erikson identified as so foundational to human development.

Erikson’s “basic trust” is what I mean by animal faith – “trust” being the etymological root of the widely misused term faith, and “basic” going deep into the nervous system and visceral network of our human animal biology.

Your default internal nervous state today, set somewhere on a continuum between serenity and anxiety, holds the “echo” of your earliest experiences of Reality as managed and mediated by your taller powers.

Animal faith, standing opposite on the continuum from anxiety (Erikson’s “basic distrust”), is the standard of wellbeing in the early months and years of childhood. If today you have a relaxation and meditation practice that helps you cultivate a deep sense of inner peace (serenity), the benefit of your intention is in strengthening animal faith. Dropping from your center of self-conscious experience (ego) and into the sentient-animate consciousness of the body is a principal objective of meditation practice.

Late Childhood, Adolescence, and Ego Strength

As your personality developed on the foundation of animal faith, a portion of consciousness was gradually siphoned, sequestered, and shaped into its own center of self-conscious experience called ego. Animal studies give strong evidence that consciousness of oneself as a separate individual is a product of socialization, and hence depends on the coordinated influence on development by the herd, troop, family, clan or tribe.

We’ve already acknowledged the profound impact of taller powers (caretakers and providers) on the depth and degree of animal faith in your physiology. As we would expect, the inner fortitude or fragility of your animal faith continued to have its effect on the degree of success in your development of a stable, centered, and reality-oriented ego (Latin for “I”).

Ego strength is actually the opposite of egoism – or we should better say that egoism demonstrates a deficiency in ego strength.

When animal faith is compromised and the default state of the nervous system is set more to the “anxiety” than the “serenity” side of the continuum, the ego picks up and incorporates this insecurity in habits of neurotic attachment, selfish ambition, and dogmatic belief (close-minded conviction) that serve as refuge, but also quickly become a prison.

A secure, centered, balanced, and well-adjusted personality is the standard of wellbeing in this “middle trimester” of the human journey. With a self-confident and socially responsible identity in place, you can respond appropriately to the challenges and opportunities that come your way.

Maturity, Adulthood, and Creative Authority

Being securely centered in yourself (by virtue of ego strength) enables a positive and productive degree of freedom in living your life. An important aspect of this freedom is not having to cling to others for safety (attachment), chase after the promise of happiness (ambition), or close your mind inside fixed beliefs (conviction). On the positive side, your higher freedom opens the channel of creative authority whereby you can take responsibility for the world you live in.

“World” here is not a synonym for Reality or what is sometimes called the real world. In this context, your world is the construct of assumptions, beliefs, agreements, values, habits and expectations that conspire to shape your view on Reality.

Because a world construct is a collection of stories – in the technical sense, a mythology – that hangs like a grand tapestry between the mind and Reality, waking up to your creative authority is tantamount to coming to the realization that your world, as well as your identity in that world, is to a great extent, if not entirely, your creation.

You are its author, which means that you and you alone have the power to change the story and thereby change your world.

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Where are you on your human journey?

If animal faith was compromised early on and subsequently complicated the successful achievement of ego strength, you likely find the prospect of creative authority a bit intimidating – maybe overwhelming.

The good news is that there are things you can do (and things you should stop doing!) to cultivate faith, strengthen your center, and exercise your authorial rights in creating a New Story.

Feel free to start any time.