What Is This "Human Nature"?

Some people find the bad things that human beings do very easy to explain. It’s all to do with “original sin”.  Many Christians believe that when Eve tempted Adam to eat that famous apple in the Garden of Eden, and God expelled them from Paradise, the result was that all humans are fated to carry the burden of that sin in perpetuity.

 In his fascinating book The Unitarian Way, Phillip Hewett speaks of “the outlook of those forms of religion that lay heavy stress upon the depths of depravity to which human nature can sink – an outlook illustrated classically in the words of the Westminster Confession: ‘we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite of all good, and wholly inclined to all evil.’” I would imagine that if you have to repeat those words (or similar sentiments) in church every Sunday, it would be difficult to have a hopeful view of the potentialities of human nature!

And if you look at any newspaper, this pessimism may seem to be justified. Or is it just that decent behaviour seems less spectacular and is less often reported? Perhaps the reason for this is because we instinctively expect such behaviour, and therefore feel it unnecessary to call attention to it? Perhaps this is more a Unitarian view of human nature. I believe, as many Unitarians do, that every human being has a divine spark, "that of God" within us, which can guide us to do good, if only we will listen.

As I see it, our job as Unitarians, as human beings, is to be constantly aware of the “divine influences” around us, in the world, in our fellow human beings, and to recognise that there is that of God in everyone, and that we are all connected to each other, on a very fundamental level. If we approach life and our relationships to the rest of humankind with these thoughts in mind, surely we cannot write humanity off as evil or depraved? I think that we have to believe that there is good in the world, and that we can help to make it a better place. Otherwise, what is the point of living?

Another way of putting it is to agree with Phillip Hewett that “Unitarians are committed to an affirmation of life in face of all life-threatening forces [and] a hopeful belief in the potentialities of human nature.” If we believe that Life with a capital L is fundamentally good (although our individual lives at any particular point may be fairly horrible) and that all human beings have the potential to be good or evil, then we must commit ourselves to doing our best to live our lives as well as we can, in accordance with the best we know, and to make our lives and the lives of those we touch as good as we can. This is what being part of a Unitarian community is all about.

This is not to say that there is no evil in the world. But I think that we have to believe that on an individual level, each person can choose whether to behave in a good or evil way, and that most human beings would instinctively choose to behave in a good one, left to themselves. It is when humans allow themselves to be influenced by others to commit evil acts, or believe evil things, that problems start.

I think we have to accept that the polarity between what we call good and what we call evil is present in every individual, as well as in humankind generally, but that it is up to each one of us to make a conscious effort to choose the good over the evil, and to make of our lives a greater whole. This might be easier to do if we understand how our human nature works. And fundamentally, it works through our relationships with and reactions to other people, and other living beings, and events.

Unless we walk through life with our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts shut, we will inevitably be influenced and changed by the actions and words of people with whom we come into contact, whether it is a casual encounter in the street, a member of our family, or of our spiritual community. And by things we see, and by things which happen to us. And of course our actions and words influence everyone else. I suppose another way of putting it would be to quote John Donne’s famous meditation:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” 

So what should we as Unitarians do about it? We are all human beings, we are all members of many communities – our families, our friends, our colleagues, our church – and we are all members of the human race. What difference can we, as individuals, make to those communities? We need to be aware that we are in a living relationship with the rest of the world, and that our words and actions can influence the fate of that world and its inhabitants, our fellow human beings, not to mention all the other living things. Whether our influence is for good or ill is up to us.