Chapter 5

Towards Being
Human
Introduction to Values Education

Armendi,Vinnelyn R.

Gomez,Mark Dave

Mallari, Eugene Anton

 What does it mean to be a Man?

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“ Madaling maging tao, Mahirap magpakatao”

In what sense does our being a man consist of? How does man unfold himself
into the world?

Ramon Tagle, Jr., Beautifully describes this in his book Towards Becoming a Man
for Others. He describes man to a

• being-in-the-world;

• being-at-the-world;

• being-through-others;

• being-with-others;

• being-for-others;

• self-project;

• being-unto-death; and

• being-unto-God.

In Nature, man is a worldly being; he cannot be conceived and be born; he cannot live and
die, except in the world he lives in. His existence is attuned to the world. His whole body is
designed so he can exist in this world. Every part of his body has a purpose in the world. His
body s subject to the Laws of the world. He needs sleeps since there is a night. And he needs
to be awake since there is a daytime.
Man has to relate himself to his body. There is some distance between him and his body.
However, there is also some kind of intimacy or identity between him and his body.

- As implied by Gabriel Marcel

Man is not merely his body for he is spirit a well. He is more than his body.

According to Marcel, the relationship is somewhere “in between” i.e., having his body and
being his body; the mysterious relationship that he refers to.

For this we can say:

Man is not his body. He is somebody. Man is not a thing; he is someone

Man as being-at-the-World

• Man leaves his accomplishments (footprints) in the world. He has the ability; (a) to
appreciate; (b) to work over the world;(c) to transcend to; and (d) to break through it.

Man exist as a being at work in the world. And the world becomes the fruit of his labor.

Man’s Basic tools as a

being-at-the-World

His conscious mind

Inner
Self

His inmost thoughts His subconscious

and his inmost feelings mind
Man’s brain reveals the working of his inner self.

The left brain is the logical brain

in man.
• it controls the right side of the body. It is the seat of consciousness about his
external environment.

The right brain of man controls

the left part of his body.
• it is responsible for man’s intuitive powers of perception of things in the
external world and of matters relative to his inner self.

The man’s forebrain.

• It sets the brain through which man’s conscious power decides which brain to
use. Here is he power of man to run his own life consciously.

Man as being-Through-Others

• Man is a being-through-others. It is “these others” that man brought him into existence
and maintains his early existence as a being-in-the-world.

Man is a being through others. He cannot grow up; he cannot work completely and
efficiently except through others.

Man as a being-with-others

• Man’s being through others point the another attribute – his sociability This is what is
referred to also as the gregariousness of man.

No Man can ever be regarded as an Island. He has to live with others.

Man’s needs to his Social Nature;

Attention

Affection

Acceptance

However every individual has a hierarchy of needs, as given by Abraham

Maslow, which should be met through and with others as he is to develop
humanly.

Self-
actualization

Esteem needs

Social needs

Safety needs Esteem needs

Psychological or Physical needs

Man as a being-for-Himself

• Love for oneself is a prerequisite to loving others. As the saying goes: “Charity begins at
Home” how ever it should not stop there. It must extend to others since man is also a
being for others.

Man is an immensity of possibilities waiting to realized. He has to develop

his SELF-IMAGE.

Man as being-for-Others

Can man become a man for others? And not merely a man for himself?

***

Man is considered a being with others, he enjoys quality with others, and vice versa.

Every human being is , therefore, equally “love-able” . They are equally an end, not
means.

The first and ultimate expression of man’s being for others is LOVE.

• Love is, therefore, the call of the hour. Robert H. Schuller, in his book Be Happy You
are Loved, outlines a series of reminders to people. He says;

 even if you have lost everything – someone, somewhere needs your love.

 even if you have failed in love - someone, somewhere can give you the
courage to try again.

 even if you have failed in life – someone, somewhere cares.

 even if you are ridiculed and rejected – someone, somewhere accepts you.
  even if life has been unfair to you – someone, somewhere, needs you the
way you are.
 even if you are poor – someone, somewhere, will treasure you.
 even if you are trapped – someone , somewhere, can liberate you with
love.
 even if you are grief-stricken – someone, somewhere, can fill the void.
 even if you are dying – someone, somewhere, loves you forever.

knowledg
e of the
person

Faith or Trust
Responsibility in the person

LOVE
Respect Hope
Care/
Concern
for the
good of
others

In other words, the true Love says:

“ I love you because you are you, and not because of what you can give me”

“I need you because I love you”

Or

“ I love you because I need you”

 • Love is truly to accept the uniqueness of another person.

• Love means co-existence. The first place of physical attraction may be easy, but the
inner core of love is harder to reach.

The Second aspect of man’s being for others is; Justice and Law. Justice is
a mode of being-for-others.
• Justice brings it about and sustains it. Justice compels a man not to take away from
another what belongs to the latter. Love, on the other hand, invites him to give to the
other what belongs to him.

Love demands the he (the Lover) must not be one of the devour the other (the beloved).
If a man cannot truly promote the welfare of another, he must at least not impede his
growth.

***

Man as a being-unto-God
• Man has different beliefs and convictions about his existence.

• Man can grow his faith to GOD through various ways; through fellowship with fellow
Christians and believers, prayers, Bible Study, small prayer cell, retreats etc. including
personal covenant with the Lord, family encounter, community immersion,
evangelization etc.

• Man has been created with a wonderful purpose. His Creator has a meaningful plan for
Him. He is he dream of the Father.

as Paul writes;

“ Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with
Christ; so that we would be holy and without fault for Him”

Eph. 1:4

 And because of God’s love for man, He has become man, suffered and died. And rose
again.

As John writes:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish but have an everlasting Life”.

John 3:16
 • Man has four-fold relationships in his life:

 to the things n this world;

 to family, group and country and to the structures of these groups;

 to others, his fellowmen ( kapwa );

 and, to God which was made possible to Jesus Christ, who says;

“ I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one goes to the Father except by Me”.

John 14:6

The coming of the Holy Spirit will make the Process of Transformation possible in
man. It is said :

“ And when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, you will be filled with power…”

Act 1:8

Man as a being-for-Others, and

being-for-God

Philosophers says that

Philosophers says that “ Man was thrown”

Psychologists claim Man is born in a state of insecurity

Sociologists argue that People tend to bind together because of the insecurity in their
environment

Theologians says that Man lives in a fallen state, but has been redeemed

Man learns that He is on Earth – on a Pilgrimage. His end is to go back

home to the Father through Jesus Christ. And he learns that the only way
to go back home to the Father is by first experiencing becoming a man-for-
others as Jesus Christ exemplified.