Man is An Enemy Unto Himself
Uploaded by professorzo on Mar 15, 2014
Man Is An Enemy Unto Himself:
BY: Lorenzo Davis
Since the beginning of human evolution to the development of modern societies, man has emerged as an enemy unto himself. He has struggled with his own identity and battled with his consciousness to be free of the external controls, which engulfs his reality. He has surrendered all of his hopes, dreams, and aspirations to an unknown personality, and his concept of self is largely diminished by corruption, greed, hate, and envy. How can this man survive in such an unforgivable world and to what extent does he strive for the potential of peace? Perhaps the answer depends upon the level in which man is willing to sacrifice his idealized self. The political institutions of power cannot transform his character.
As such, man continues to believe in a utopian world in which he would like to inhabit, but the complex interplay of values, morals, and dogmas have conformed him into an animal. His motivations for pleasure-seeking has disrupted his human dignity, and he no longer has respect for truth. One might ask what is truth and who defines it as such? Is truth a universal concept or a culturally relative etymology? Truth is that which cannot be proved false; it is the dimension of one’s inner core and the realization of spiritual enlightenment. Therefore, man and his social context will not be able to liberate his identity because he is invisible to all things, all matter, and all connections of divinity. The need for visibility stirs up conflict within man, and notable researcher Anthony ( 2014) provides a rather convincing account of this dilemma. Anthony contends that one’s perceptions, attitudes, attributions, biology, and social-economic background influences his response to powerful social forces. Therefore, man struggles with his ability to free himself from the prevailing norms and practices of control. In some ways, as Anthony argues, man is a clone unto himself and unknown to the material world. However, I would like to add to Anthony’s account of the nature of man by suggesting that man is more than just a clone, but rather he is an enemy that is involved in a perpetual war with the social construction of meaning and the individual development of purpose.