What Is A Human Being?
Perhaps this is an odd question because we think that the answer is self evident, like water is wet. What we’ve been told is that one of the elements that helps to distinguish human beings from most other creatures are the set of connectors in our brains called mirror neuron. 
Identifying this system in the brain and understanding how it works is relatively new. Mirror Neurons seem to be responsible for how quickly human beings are able to learn tasks and distribute what’s learned throughout a culture. They are also involved with our heightened sense of self awareness (emotional intelligence) and most importantly empathy. Recently you will recall there was much discussion centered around Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor and empathy, and whether or not empathy comes into play when making a decision as a jurist.
Our Depth of Caring
We are not looking to debate what a jurist should or should not do in their roles but rather to start a conversation about fairness, caring, its specialness and power to transform. Often what causes breakdowns in our families, communities, and nations is our self-imposed inability to stand in someone elses shoes in a sense making the choice to deny our connectedness. Instead we relegate our decisions to a fixed history of ourselves and the world that may no longer be relevant or all that important. Another way of thinking about this is we make the choice – even if subconciously – to let our past dictate the future possibility of understanding where the other(s) are “coming from” and what must it be like to be them. Albert Einstein said, “A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.”
“Mirror Neurons dissolve the barrier between self and others”...V.S. Ramachandran. Humans are not the only creatures with mirror neurons but no other species seem to have the same level of empathy that we do. When we say “We Feel Your Pain” we mean it. (I do wonder about this however when I watch what I perceive to be the moods of our dog Vincent.)
When In Doubt ask,”What Would A Human Being Do?”
It would seem that we can come to better decisions by simply asking ourselves the question “what would a human being do.” Then seeking to be empathetic with the other who is not really “the other” but ourselves in a different form. Rooted somewhere in the various definitions of human potential is that we do have the capacity to do more and to positively transform the world and hence our relationships. In the diversity training of managers that I am privileged to deliver, empathy is a key objective of several modules. Lives are changed, businesses grow stronger, and our participants leave with a heightened sense of what it means to be human.
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Hi Joel and all readers:
Thank you for another stimulating post. I appreciate the book reference and will purchase & read it.
I think we are coming to a “tipping point”, so to speak, in our cultural–globally and locally, in the states–where we can no longer ignore the innate, natural connectedness that we all share. I am reading more and more articles on how policies and key decisions are beginning to be shaped with this awareness in mind. Here are a couple of questions that came to me as I read this post: How would my thoughts on X decision/initiative/project/etc. be impacted if I realized that those who will be involved and impacted are me in another form? How would my communication be impacted?
In gratitude,
Dawnelle
As always Dawnelle, thank you for your thoughtful comments. What is a burning topic/issue you would like to explore and write about? If you send me the text and a photo I would love to include it on our blog.
Nice post! Thank you Joel,
I feel that this question "What is a human being?" and its related "Who am I?" are the most basic and important questions of all. They are at the core and purpose of all myths, which are – at their heart – a projection of the human psyche into stories of creation, struggle and hopefully resolution and re-integration. Tragedies are tragedies because they end in the distintegration, separation and isolation that is mankind's greatest fear.
The development of social empathy accelerates the development of society and the valuing of human life. We can see (as in your dog, Joel!) that some animals do have some sense of self and other, but they usually have little working memory or imagination. They live mostly in the present. We are encouraged to do that ourselves and there are times when it is very appropriate to do so, but we are blessed with great imagination and (seemingly) much longer memory than other creatures. That is our blessing and our curse and the contrariness within that paradox is at the heart of being human. We can have great hopes and great fears. We can be wonderful co-operators and appalling cheats because we can imagine what other people might know and feel and what can be achieved. I could go on and and on, but time does not permit fortunately!
Thanks for the prompt, Joel.
Jonathan
Greetings Jonathan, that you for your comment. I appreciate what you have on your site.