What does it mean to be human?

Writing this has been an incredible experience. It took me a lot of researching to come up with this — I read philosophical articles, chapters of books, watched Youtube videos, and other relevant and really good references that I would like to share with whoever would be interested.

“What does it mean to be human?” — A question that many have attempted to find an answer to. Scholars, educators, and researchers have spent their lifetime studying just to understand what it truly means to be a human being. Humans or homo sapiens as defined in the world wide web are intelligent species which are considered to be a close relative of primates and apes.

The study of what makes humans, human, is actually an entire field. Today, scientists who specialize in studying the root of being human are recognized as anthropologists. Anthropologists dedicate themselves to the research of human experience, behavior, evolution, etc.

In this write-up, I will be answering the question “What does it mean to be human” through an experience- and reflection-based approach, and through extensive understanding and critical analysis of our life experiences and characteristics.

To be human means to be free and curious. To have cognitive abilities. To be empathetic.

As human beings, we have set social functions, a unified purpose based on our own beliefs, unique life visions that we build through experiencing life, and various other characteristics that shape us whether or not these characteristics are distinguishable. Religion, philosophy, science, and the dictionary each have their own unique interpretations of what humans are, what humans should do, and what the standard is for someone to be considered ‘human’. A human used to be simply defined as an intelligent species with specific physical features, but now that studies and research have progressed, there have been discussions on the morality, ethics, and values an individual should have to be human. These questions of morality and ethical concerns were results of the increase in serial killing, immoral and unethical human experiments, and other extremely questionable acts done by humans. Such inhumane activities and crimes have given neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other researchers in different studies a floor to study human behaviors and cognitive development in their attempt to determine why such acts are performed by people. What variables or factors inspire someone to do such crimes? Freedom, curiosity, intelligence, and empathy — These are some factors that cause us to perform various activities. These are human traits, they are what make us human, and they are what set us apart from other species.

Freedom

We, humans, have freedom which is in fact our birthright. Our freedom gives us the physical and mental ability to exercise our free will which also gives us the power to choose, make decisions, create our paths and vision, ability to explore, create experiences, etc. Our freedom is part of the basic fundamentality that made us what and who we are today. All the choices and decisions we made built our present. Similarly, the choices and decisions we will make will build our future and turn our vision into reality. To be human means to be free, free to experience life and what it has to offer, free to be challenged, and free to journey to a path we have no clue of.

Human curiosity and cognitive intelligence

Human curiosity is the driving force that leads us to discovery and knowledge. Human curiosity is the reason we are so eager to learn. It is what led us to research. We are so curious that we want to learn about everything including ourselves, others, and the whole world. Aside from being curious, humans also have developed cognitive abilities which give us complex problem-solving skills, our ability to count, read, and write, ability to communicate, recognize, remember and analyze information. Our analytical skills, survival skills all come from the developed intelligence of human beings. Humans have the ability to think creatively and critically. To be human means to be able to learn, create and innovate. To think and be curious.

Empathy

To be human means to be empathetic. Able to feel emotions, fall in love, experience sadness and heartbreak. Feel extreme joy and all sorts of emotions -which is beautiful. Because emotions are what connect people. Humans look for specific vibrations in people which is how humans make friends and build relationships that will last a lifetime.

To be human means to have morals, ethics, and values.

Being human means having morals, ethics, and values. These are significantly advanced behavioral characteristics as they are more dominant in humans compared to other species. We have our personal morals which help us determine what is right and wrong. We have ethics which is crucial in determining what is right and wrong amongst different professions. Lastly, we have values that are composed of beliefs and traditions. Our values are often built at home, or in the community we come from.

To be human means to have these three important traits because they shape our code of conduct that we live by, which in return guide us as we build our path. Our morals, ethics, and values are our driving forces when we create decisions or our career paths.

These three factors also help when investigators study the background of criminals or other immoral and unethical acts. Motives are determined through studying where criminals come from because it is the type of community they grew up in and the kind of household they were raised in that sets their behaviors, vision, morals, ethics, and values.

To be human means to make mistakes, change, and be unpredictable.

Last but not the least, the three most important, infamous, and often forgotten traits that truly make us human. Mistakes, changes, and unpredictability.

The three most important discoveries in my journey to learning and understanding what it truly means to be human. Unfortunately, it takes a deep level of comprehension and acceptance to grasp that these three are indeed what makes us human, they are part of life, and they turn our experiences into grounds for learning.

Learning to accept these three in life has a great significant impact that will widen people’s perspective on the world, the rest of their surroundings, and themselves. What’s most controversial prior to learning the beauty of mistakes, changes and unpredictability are I used to view them as driving factors of failure, disappointment, loss, and other pessimistic adjectives, when in fact it is the other way around.

Mistakes

Our path to growth has been filled with nothing with mistakes — the driving force of learning. Since we were toddlers, making mistakes was our way to learn. To be able to walk, we fall first. To learn how to bike, we crash first. We should embrace mistakes and failures rather than despise them.

Change

As an adult who has gone through several changes, I have learned that change is part of us. Our body changes, our wants and needs change, our vision in life changes, our choices change. We change. Therefore we should not fear changes in our environment or in our friends because change makes us human. Change is powerful, it has the ability to transform something so wrong into something tremendously right, it can convert failure to success. Embracing mistakes, change, and unpredictability has changed my perception of life, the world, and myself. Change is inevitable, as cliche as it may sound, but that’s what’s most fascinating about change because it’s part of development and progression. For instance in education, educational reform is one thing that we have been longing for, to update and upgrade the outdated curriculum and that is called change.

Unpredictability

The most important is understanding that to be human means embracing unpredictability in the world, in others, and in ourselves. It is time to stop for consistency because maybe there is nothing really consistent in the world, or consistency is something short-term. Unpredictability is powerful because unpredictability is doing something others and yourself never foresaw you doing. Even the most accomplished individuals never knew predicted themselves to be where they are now. Because life is unpredictable and full of unexpected surprises, and that’s what makes the journey and experience worth enjoying.

But then again, studies on what it means to be human continue to progress. There is no exact answer to the question, even with life, there is no right or wrong way to spend it. There are only ways to maximize the experience which vary from person to person. Because we have unique needs and wants, we have our own unique ways to spend life, we have our own perceptions of the world, we have our own unique ways to learn. Life is beautiful, so rather than spending it hating and ‘correcting’ your imperfections, might as well embrace them because life is short.

So what does it mean to be human? Being human is not about meeting the standards or society’s set criteria. To be human is learning how to live life for yourself and not for others’ expectations. To be human means to be yourself. Maybe we are most human when we are alone because that’s when we feel we are most free.

You have two options — live your life pleasing others and trying to satisfy other people’s expectations OR live life freely, accepting that life comes with judgments, and be content. The choice is yours.