2. Human
Person's
Limitations and
Possibilities
It is a must that the human person must find meaning in his existence. He
must be conscious of his distinctive existence so that he can strike a sense,
purpose and direction in his existence. Finding meaning to one's existence is
an important mission to every human person. This means that he cannot
forcibly impose and make his existence meaningful. The meaning of his
existence can be found and eventually realized in the actual living and
existing as a human being. Hence, every human person is called to find his
existence meaning-full. This is indeed a universal imperative.
Because of the massive advancement of science and technology in this
contemporary world, the human person is "devoured of homelessness", lost
in the darkness of his life, existentially devastated, a value-less being
(because he finds no time to confront himself with those needs in life) and is
already uneasy with his life. He has no "self". All these advancement and
progress lead to loss of identity, meaninglessness and despair. Human
person's existence imposes limitations. These are the views of the
existentialists. The existentialists, such as Heidegger and Kierkegaard,
stressed the difference between existing and living. To them, man must not
only live but also to exist. To them, the contemporary human person is only
living and not existing. The human person should exist so that he can stand
out, emerge, engage and assert himself in this current predicament, problems
and difficulties in life. He must soar up to the limits of his capabilities in order
to be something to achieve his possibilities.
3. Limitations and
the Possibilities
for Their
Transcendence
The human person is the only kind of being that exists,
according to Heidegger. Only him has existence because he
is the only kind of being who knows he exists. He is the only
kind of being who can question his existence because he is
the only being who is conscious of his existence. Existence
is always a starting point - a beginning. Existence is not full,
not whole and not perfect but such limitations can become
possibilities, that life is going to be full, to be whole, to be
complete and be perfect. This means that the human
person is capable of transcendence. He can go Seyond
what is actually his limitations.
5. The human person is not just an
embodied spirit. He has to establish a
relation to others. He is the man being-
with-others-in-the world. This does not
mean, however, that he has to depend in
others in terms of realizing his existence.
It is a healthy way for man to be with
others in the world but not to resign his
freedom and possibilities to those
"others". According to Heidegger, if the
human person "falls: to "others", he will
lose his own identity.
6. How the Human Person Body
Imposes Limits and Possibilities
for Transcendence
The human person existence is not complete because it is
wrapped up by limitations and possibilities. The human
person must recognize that his human body imposes
certain limitations and possibilities. These are:
7. 1. The
Concept of
Dread.
Dread is not fear or anxiety. This
means that man is simply thrown into
the world and is left alone to face what
he can do because he did not will for
it. He is thrown in his life - his physical
appearance, parents, cultures,
civilizations, among others. He must
therefore starts from nothing in order
to achieve something.
9. 2. The
Concept of
Being-Others-
Related.
Although the human person is
"thrown" into the world, he does not
start from being others-related. His
existence as a "Dasein" (man) is not
an "alone existence forever. He has to
establish relationship with others - in
the world". That does not mean that
he has to depend from others to
realize his existence or resign his
freedom and possibilities.
11. 3. The
Concept of
Concern.
Human person's relatedness to entities is
basically things which he encounters in the
world. He never reveals himself in isolation.
He is always "together" with others. Thus,
human existence is always an existence of
relationship. The world cannot exist without
the human person. Since everything in the
world has meaning to him, as a person, he
always exists with the entities that are in the
world. Materials of nature such as chairs,
tables, ballpens, etc., which are made by
men including those nature such as trees,
oceans, rivers, etc. are entities that have
meaning to man's existence.
13. 4. The
Concept of
Guilt-Feeling.
In philosophy, guilt-feeling is
something that is lacking or missing in
a person. As such, the human person
is a guilty creature, as pointed by
Heidegger. Thus, he has no will. His
will is missing and this prevents the
person to decide for things. This
makes the human person guilty of his
existence.
15. 5. The
Concept of
Conscience.
Because the human person is self-loss
into this world, he can recover his given
origin and make this origin a starting
point for his projection of his possibilities.
His conscience plays a primary role in
recovering from being "lost or fallen" in
the world. According to Babor (2001),
conscience enables man to find himself
again, because it is a voice, a voice
calling the Dasein (man) to own himself
as a self who is fallen into the
everydayness. Thus, the human person
through his conscience has to rise up
again from his guilt-feelings.
17. 6. The
Concept of
Resoluteness.
Resoluteness is man's readiness to be
called by conscience (Babor 2001). It
is resoluteness that the human person
resolved to accept himself and make
up his mind to exist in the way he can
call his own and understand himself.
19. 7. The
Concept of
Temporality.
Temporality imposes limits to one's human body.
The reason is that all human activities always
happen in time and through-time. The human
person projects his possibilities. This projection
happens in the ecstasies of time - the past,
present, and the future - which are the
fundamental outward striving of man.
The human person's life is temporal. He is not in
time but he is time and this "time" is an event or
happening that is extended right at his birth until
his death. Thus, the human person has a
beginning (an event in the past) and he has an
end (an event in the future). In between the past
and the future is the present event or
happenings, which is very crucial in making life
meaningful.
21. 8. The
Concept of
Death.
The human person's temporal existence
will find its end on death. He has to admit
that he is subject to death because death
is the final direction of man's existence.
Death is one of human person's
possibilities but it is always a possibility
that surely happens. Death is our
inevitable possibility for nobody dies for
another. Death is present in all human
beings. It does not come only in old age,
but is intrinsically present in everyone.
Because death is a possibility, the human
person has to anticipate it as a dread.
