David: Why did they send you here? You know, the Martians?
Dennis: To join a family and to learn human beingness.
What does it mean to be a human being? I suppose that's what we're all trying to figure out. We're all little aliens sent down to a strange world with strange things in it. We're (hopefully) given a couple of experienced aliens to help us figure things out. But most of what we learn we learn by experience, by living life and exploring its possibilities. As we do so, we learn human beingness.
A recent, unexpected, event in my life has made me reflect on my own human beingness. I suppose I'm somewhat like Dennis: I'd much rather spend my days in a box (with a good novel, of course) than interact with the children on the playground. But now I find I must interact, and those interactions are at times painful.
When I worked at the LDS Church Office Building, I had a manager who often said that, when it comes down to it, the most important thing is the relationships we have with other people. I've thought a lot about that. It's interesting that Dennis is sent to a family to learn human beingness. Perhaps it's in families that we establish the relationships that teach us most about what it means to be human.
The fact is, we can't stay in a box and learn what it means to be human. We must have relationships with others, and through those relationships we learn about life, living, loving, pain, joy, and all that relationships bring. But through it all, we become something. We become human.
What is the essence of humanity? What is our purpose here? Why is it important that we learn what it means to be human? Well, I believe that the essence of humanity is Divine, and by learning what it means to be human, we learn what it means to be Divine, to be like God.
In Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy (spoiler alert), Preservation, one part of the yin-yang creator gods (the other being Ruin), sacrifices itself (herself?) to put a piece of its godhood in everything living human. By doing so, it saves the world from Ruin (who, obviously, just wants to destroy everything). One of the many things I like about this series is the reality of a destructive, evil force. That's something so many fail to realize in this world.
Whether you want to admit it or not, there is an Evil in this world that seeks to thwart our efforts to learn human beingness. It seeks to convince us that being human means something other than what it is, that there is no spark of divinity in us, that there is no evil, that relationships (especially family ones) don't matter. And it's fairly successful.
The evil in this world is negativity, it's depression and doubt, it's destruction and ruin. Evil is darkness. Humanity--divinity--is everything opposite that. Darkness and Light created this world, but Light is what will prevail. Learning what evil is, is part of learning what human beingness is, but it's the Light that will preserve and save us.
What does it mean to be human? It means learning and living and getting outside of the box once in a while to love someone else. It means seeking for divinity in others and finding it there. It means finding divinity in ourselves and not letting evil tell us that it's not, because it is. Learning human beingness means being a human being and helping others be human beings, too.
Those Martians are pretty smart, aren't they?
1 fellow novice learners:
I think I should come back and read this every few days. Thank you for such an inspiring post! Another thing I need to keep repeating to myself is from The Help "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Isn't it amazing how easily evil makes us view ourselves differently than how we really are?
P.S. I didn't know you finished Mistborn. We need to chat about it!
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