Human Nature
Human nature is the combination of a body and
a mind each person has which is similar to the body/mind combination all
other people have.
Each person has a body within which he has
a mind.
A Person’s Body
A person’s body is his physiology—the physics,
chemistry and biology which produce the combination of atoms, molecules,
cells, and organs which is the organism which is him.
A Person’s Mind
A person’s mind is his personal system of desires,
fears and priorities.
A desire is wanting a person, thing and/or
event [person/thing/event]. A desirable person/thing/event is a person/thing/event
to be achieved. Desires include wishes, wants and needs. Desirable persons/things/events
have more benefits than detriments for the individual. Proof of the existence
of a desire within a person and motivating his behavior (his internally
motivated actions and reactions) actions is his approach behavior towards
people/things/events wherein he approaches/moves towards those people/things/events
he desires.
The physical/objective reality consists of
things and events comprised of matter and energy and which are observable
by the perceptual senses of sight/hearing/touch/smell/taste directly, including
the use of machines which augment the perceptual senses, such as telescopes,
microscopes, audio amplifiers, etc., or indirectly by their observable
effects upon observable things and events.
A thing is an object, a unity which retains
its identity over a longer period of time than a relevant event.
Examples: Jane, Dick and a ball.
NOTE: People do not like to be considered to be
things, therefore a separate 'class' of people is included, as in people/things/events
rather than things/events.
An event is a relationship between or among
things; events occur over a period of time much shorter than relevant things.
Example: Jane throws the ball to Dick. This event
occurs in a limited period of time much shorter than the identities of
the relevant objects Jane, Dick and the ball.
A fear is not-wanting a person/thing/event.
A feared person/thing/event is a person/thing/event to be avoided. Fears
include aversions. Feared (undesirable) persons/things/events have more
detriments than benefits for the individual. Proof of the existence of
a fear within a person and motivating his behavior (his internally motivated
actions and reactions) is his avoidance behavior away from people/things/events
wherein he avoids/move away from those people/things/events he fears.
Thus each person seeks to achieve his desires and
avoid his fears. And thus each person/thing/event is desirable or undesirable.
And thus each person/thing/event is approachable or avoidable.
A realization is the achievement of a desire,
a nonachievement of a desire, the avoidance of a fear, or the nonavoidance
of a fear. A realization is what you get of what you want. A realization
is the actualization of a desire or a fear.
A realization could be real or imagined, fact or
fantasy.
And a realization could be positive when a desire
is achieved or a fear is avoided, or negative when a desire is not achieved
or a fear is not avoided.
Desires and fears are interrelated by being opposites.
A desire is the opposite of a fear, and, likewise, a fear is the opposite
of a desire. The desire to live is the opposite of the fear of dying. The
desire to make money is the opposite of the fear of not making money, or
of losing money. The desire for finding someone to love and to be loved
by is the opposite of the fear of not finding someone to love and to be
loved by.
A priority is the importance of each desire
or fear compared to all other desires and fears. A priority is a desire
for the achievement of a desire or the avoidance of a fear. Some desires
are more desirable than other desires; those desires have higher priorities.
Some fears are more undesirable than other fears; those fears have a higher
priority. Proof of the existence of priorities within a person and motivating
his behavior (his internally motivated actions and reactions) is his actions/reactions
taken to achieve certain desires/avoid certain fears and not others when
he has choices for actions/reactions.
The term desire(s) can be used to represent
desires, fears and priorities for convenience.
Summary:
A person’s mind is his personal system of desires, fears and
priorities.
This definition of mind is only a basic definition.
Here is a more compete definition of mind:
A person’s mind is his personal system of desires, fears and
priorities, which are his internal causes of his behavior—his actions and
his reactions, including his feelings—his reactions to realizations of
his desires, fears and priorities, including his sensations—his physiological
reactions to his realizations of his physiological desires (unlearned,
involuntary organic, physical, bodily desires) and his emotions—his hedonic
reactions to his psychological desires (learned, voluntary mental desires),
his personality—his actions and reactions which are caused by his desires,
fears and priorities, and which are therefore his desires, fears and priorities
which are revealed by his actions and reactions in similar situations,
his mental problems—his unachievable and inappropriate desires, fears and
priorities which cause his un-peace-of-mind, and his mental health—his
achievable and appropriate desires, fears and priorities which cause his
peace-of-mind.
Desires, fears and priorities are physiological
or psychological.
Physiological desires are unlearned, involuntary,
bodily, physical, organic, inherent in the organs of the body. They include
desires for survival, food, water, elimination of wastes, heat, cooling,
shelter, companionship, reproduction, and sex.
Psychological desires are learned, voluntary,
mental, nonorganic, not inherent in the organs of the body. They are learned
in a person’s personal experiences of the interaction of his desires, fears
and priorities with his environmental choices, and, later, with his mental
choices, which are his learned choices, choices learned in his life experiences.
Example: A person is born with a physiological or unlearned
and involuntary desire for water; if he experiments with water, white and
chocolate milk, and Pepsi™, Coke™ and Seven-Up™, he will learn which he
likes in preference to others. He may learn that he likes—in order—Seven-Up™,
Pepsi™, Coke™, chocolate milk, white milk, and water and thus develop psychological
desires for Seven-Up™, Pepsi™, Coke™, chocolate milk, and white milk, as
well as water. Where he was not born with physiological desires for Seven-Up™,
Pepsi™, Coke™, chocolate milk, and white milk, through his life experiences
he learns which environmental choices for achieving physiological desires
and avoiding physiological fears he likes and dislikes and therefore develops
psychological desires and fears.
A Person’s Feelings
A person’s feelings are his reactions to positive
or negative, actual or imagined realizations of his desires and/or fears.
A person’s sensations are his organic
reactions to realizations of his physiological (unlearned/involuntary)
desires.
Continuum of Sensations (Physiological Feelings)
Pain (Deficiency)---Pleasure (Satiation)---Pain (Excess)
A person’s emotions are his hedonic reactions
to realizations of his psychological (learned/voluntary) desires.
Continuum of Emotions (Psychological Feelings)
Happiness---Unhappiness as Sadness/Anger/Fear
Happiness = Reaction to the perception of
the achievement of a desire.
Unhappiness = Reaction to the perception
of the nonachievement of a desire, experienced as sadness, anger, and/or
fear.
Sadness = Reaction to the perception of no
hope of achieving a desire; with an impulse to give up, become depressed.
Anger = Reaction to the perception of a violation
of a desire that is an expectancy, promise, contract, law, or an ethic;
with an impulse to attack oneself or someone else.
Fear = Reaction to the perception of a threat
of an accident, injury, illness, genetic defect, or a verbal or physical
attack; with an impulse to run away from oneself or someone else.
Feelings develop in a sequence:
1. Desire: _____ (?)
[Wanting a person/thing/event.]
2. Realization: _____ (?) [Person/thing/event
achieved or avoided,
or not achieved or not avoided.]
3. Feeling: _____ (?)
[Reaction to the Realization of the Desire.]
The Desire/Realization/Feeling Sequence [D/R/F
Sequence] shows —
1. That feelings are caused by desires.
2. That feelings are caused by perceptions of the realization (achievement/nonachievement)
of desires.
3. That desires [and fears and priorities], not feelings, motivate people.
4. That good feelings can be increased and bad feelings can be decreased
if not eliminated by achieving more and/or desiring less.
The mental/subjectivereality is an individual's
combination of (A) his mind as his personal system of desires, fears and
priorities and (B) his feelings as his reactions to his realizations of
his desires/fears/priorities. Thus, the subjective reality is always within
(internal to) and never without (external to) an individual.
Behavior
Behavior is a person’s internally caused actions
and reactions. The internal cause of a person's behavior (actions and reactions)
is his personal system of desires, fears and priorities, his mind.
Personality
Personality is a person’s desires, fears and
priorities as revealed by his actions and reactions.
A personality trait is a consistent pattern
of behavior [actions and reactions] in similar situations; and this consistent
pattern of behavior is caused by a person's personal system of desires,
fears and priorities [his mind].
A personality type is a consistent system
of personality traits within a person; this consistent system of personality
traits causes a consistent pattern of behavior [actions and reactions]
in similar situations, and this consistent system of personality traits
is caused by a person's personal system of desires, fears and priorities
[his mind].
Mental Problems
Mental problems (pure mental problems,
problems not having physiological components) are and are caused by unachievable
and inappropriate desires, fears and priorities.
Mental problems cause un-peace-of-mind, a
state of being in which a person does not get rid of desires which are
liabilities because they are unachievable and inappropriate and does not
keep those desires which are assets because they are achievable and appropriate;
to which state of being of having un-peace-of-mind the person reacts with
bad feelings of unhappiness as sadness, anger or/and fear.
Mental Health
Mental health is and is caused by achievable
and appropriate desires, fears and priorities.
Mental health causes peace-of-mind, a state
of being in which a person gets rid of desires which are liabilities because
they are unachievable and inappropriate and he keeps those desires which
are assets because they are achievable and appropriate; to which state
of being of having peace-of-mind the person reacts with good feelings of
happiness.
Self-Esteem and the Functioning of the Human Mind
Self-esteem (SE) is a 1. person’s perception
of himself and 2. his reaction to himself.
Self-esteem thus is a perception of the realization
of oneself and a reaction to the perception of the realization of oneself.
A person’s realization of himself is his perception
of his achievement and/or nonachievement of his desires and his avoidance
and/or nonavoidance of his fears.
A person’s reaction to his perception of his realization
is a feeling he has towards himself: Of happiness if he achieves most of
his desires and/or avoids most of his fears, or of unhappiness as sadness,
anger, and/or fear if he does not achieve most of his desires and/or does
not avoid most of his fears.
A person’s self-esteem can be described by the following
mathematical expression:
SET = (R1/D1 x P1 x 100%)
+ (R2/D2 x P2 x 100%) + ... + (Rn/Dn
x Pn x 100%)
Where:
SET = Self-Esteem Total (Total Self-Esteem)
R = Realization
D = Desire
n = The last number, n, of a series (of numbers)
The mathematical expression for self-esteem shows
how the human mind functions: The human mind functions to achieve its desires
and to avoid its fears according to its priorities and thus achieve good
feelings of happiness and avoid bad feelings of unhappiness as sadness,
anger and/or fear.
Operational Human Nature
We are all selfish.
Selfishness is seeking to achieve one’s desires
and to maximize one’s happiness.
Personal selfishness is seeking to achieve
one’s desires and to maximize one’s happiness without regard for the desires
and happiness of other people.
Social selfishness is seeking to achieve
one’s desires and to maximize one’s happiness by cooperating with other
people to create and to achieve common desires.
There is a sequence of the development of social
selfishness:
1. Personal Selfishness: Seeking to achieve only one’s desires
and to maximize one’s happiness without regard for the desires and happiness
of other people.
2. Experience: Learning that other people are needed to help
achieve one’s desires and to maximize his happiness.
3. Social Selfishness: Seeking to achieve one’s desires and to
maximize one’s happiness by cooperating with other people to create and
to achieve common desires.
Civilization is renewed in every generation
when individuals realize that to achieve most of their desires and to maximize
their happiness they need the ready, willing and able cooperation of other
people for which they need to be ready, willing and able to cooperate with
those people to negotiate and to achieve common desires.