Friday, November 6, 2015

Human true nature

Selfish people usually come to the conclusion that human beings are 
selfish by nature. They see selfishness and greed everywhere.
It is normal to be selfish, they say. They believe that friendliness,
helpfulness and love are nothing but covers, a means to a selfish end.

People who are not completely selfish often think that a human being 
is a mixture of good and bad. They feel that they have a little devil
sitting on the left shoulder, whispering in the left ear, and a little angel
sitting on the right shoulder.

Ordinary decent men can be transformed into monsters when they are sent to war
and hardened criminals can repent and change their ways when they find Jesus.

Rabbits are fearful and lions are lazy but what are we made of, really?

Some people believe that human beings, deep down somewhere,
have a true, unconditioned nature, an essence, others believe that we don't.
They believe that we are in constant flux; that nothing in nature is unchanging.

I have no idea about these things. How would I know?
What is your take? What do you think?

Where did you get your beliefs from? Have you listened to a bunch of windbags
on YouTube and made their beliefs your own?  How do you explain that different
teachers have arrived at different conclusions?
Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and atheist teachers produce different explanations?
Why is that so? Have some of them misunderstood something?
What kind of people do you trust, and why?