THE HUMAN PERSON AS AN

EMBODIED SPIRIT
 KEY TERMS
 Man – the general term commonly used to refer to the
entire human race
 Human – refers to man as a species
 Human being – used to distinguish man from the animals
 Person – refers to a human being granted recognition, certain
rights, protection, responsibilities, and dignity above all. It is
the totality of an individual, possessing awareness, self-
determination, and the capacity to interact with others and
with himself/herself.
 KEY TERMS

 Personhood – refers to the state of being a person

 Human nature – refers to the characteristics (like thinking,

feeling and acting) that distinguish humans from all other
creatures. These traits are considered to form the essence of
humanity, and without them, an individual may not be
considered a human person.
WHAT IS THE HUMAN PERSON?
PERSON
Able to reach
Has awareness Has self
out and interact Has dignity
of self determination
with other
Self - Awareness
 Refers to the person having a clear perception of oneself,
including his thoughts, emotions, identity and actions

Self – Determination
 This refers to the capability of persons to make choices and
decisions based on their own preferences, monitor and
regulate their actions, and be goal-oriented and self-directed.
We are persons because we act and we are aware of our
actions.
Externality
 This refers to the capability of a person to reach at and interact
with others and the world. The realization that we are not alone
and that there are indeed other people around us enables us to
reach out and establish meaningful relationships with others.

Dignity
 This refers to the innate right to be valued and respected. Each
person is worth the same as another person in the sense that
every person is priceless, unique, unrepeatable and
irreplaceable. No person is dispensable or interchangeable.
HINDUISM
 Hinduism is one of the oldest Eastern traditions
practiced by hundreds of millions of people for about
5,000 years

 At the heart of Hinduism lies the idea of human

beings' quest for absolute truth, so that one's soul
and the Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might
become one
BRAHMAN IS SELF – HOOD
 For the Indians, God first created sound and the universe arose from it. As the
most sacred sound, The Aum (Om) is the root of the universe and everything that
exists and it continues to hold everything together.
 According to Hinduism, human beings have a dual nature: one is the spiritual and
the immortal essence (soul); the other is empirical life and character.
 Hindus generally believe that the soul is eternal but is bound by the law of Karma
(action) to the world matter, which it can escape only after spiritual progress
through an endless series of births.
 For this reason, humanity’s basic goal in life is the liberation (moksha) of spirit
(jiva).
 Hinduism holds that humanity’s life is a continuous cycle (samsara).
While it is the spirit neither born nor does it dies, the body, on the other
hand, goes through a transmigratory series of birth and death.
Transmigration or metempsychosis is a doctrine that adheres to the
belief that a person’s soul passes into some other creature, human, or
animal.
 Moksha it is the transcendent state attained as a result of being released
from the cycle of rebirth.
 Hindu view of humanity’s reality places a lot of emphasis on the
attainment of self – knowledge.
 Also common to all Hindu thought are the four primary values.
In order of increasing importance: wealth, pleasure, duty, and
enlightenment.

 To understand enlightenment, one must understand the law of

karma, the law of sowing and reaping.
BUDDHISM: FROM TEARS TO
ENLIGHTENMENT

Like stars fading and vanishing at dawn,

Like bubbles on a fast moving stream,
Like morning dewdrops evaporating on blades of grass,
like a candle flickering in a stormy wind,
echoes, mirages, and phantoms
hallucinations and like a dream.

– The Buddha,
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. Life is full of sufferings
2. Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts,
cravings;
3. Only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease
4. Such eradication of desire may be accomplished
only by following the Eightfold Path of earnest
endeavor
EIGHTFOLD PATH
1. Right belief in and acceptance of the "Fourfold Truth";
2. Right aspiration for one's self and for others;
3. Right speech that harms no one;
4. Right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings;
5. Right means of livelihood, or earning one's living by honorable means;
6. Right endeavor, or effort to direct one's energies toward wise ends;
7. Right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought; and
8. Right meditation or concentration to the point of complete absorption in mystic
ecstasy.
In examining the Eightfold Path it allows as to understand that
items 1 and 2 enjoin us to develop wisdom. While items 3 to 5
urge us to practice virtue and avoid vice, and items 6 to 8 tell us
to practice meditation.
We do this essentially by following three short axioms: cease to
do evil, learn to do good, and purify your own mind (Velasquez,
1999).
THE BIBLICAL GOD AND HUMANITY
 In the 5th century, St. Augustine’s writing is considered to be the most
influential in the early medieval period.
 This section looks at the reasonableness of belief in Gods existence.
 Theistic Hypothesis treating the statement "God exists" as a hypothesis
 Religious people do not treat Gods existence as a hypothesis.
 The religious problem in the Old Testament narratives is not Atheism the
denial of God but Polytheism the worship of too many gods.
 In the new testament the reality of God is unquestioned because the Jesus
of Nazareth the eternal God became flesh and dwelt among human
beings.
For St. Augustine (354-430 CE)
 Teachings of Christianity are based on the love of God which
Augustine's, Aquinas', and Anselm's arguments rooted.
 Christianity as presenting the full revelation of the true God,
is the only full and true philosophy.
 When comes the knowledge of God? It starts with faith and
made perfect by understanding.
 Philosophy is "amor sapiential", the love of wisdom.
Hence it is the love of God it is then religious
 All knowledge leads to God so that faith supplement
and enlightens reason that may proceed to ever richer
and fuller understanding.
 "Human beings alone, without God, are bound to fail"
 For St. Thomas Aquinas, of all creatures, human
beings have the unique power to change themselves
and things for the better.
 It is best grasped in his treatises Summa Contra
Gentiles and Summa Theologica. He considers the
human beings as moral agent.
 Through our spirituality, we have a conscience. Thus,
whether we choose to be “good” or “evil” becomes our
responsibility
EVALUATE OWN LIMITATIONS AND THE POSSIBILITIES
FOR THEIR TRANSCENDENCE
1. FORGIVENESS - We are freed from our anger and bitterness. The hardness of our
heart is reinforced by whole series of rational arguments.

2. THE BEAUTY OF NATURE - There is perfection in every single flower; this is what
the three philosophies believed. These kinds of experience can truly be a moment of grace
and needs to be praised.
 
3. VULNERABILITY - To be invulnerable is somehow inhuman. To be vulnerable is to
be human. Without acknowledging the help of others is to live without meaning and
direction. Dependence on others are not a sign of weakness but being true with ourselves.
4. FAILURE - It forces us to confront our weaknesses and limitations. Such acceptance
of our failures makes us hope and trust that all can be brought into good.
 
5. LONELINESS - Our loneliness can be rooted from our sense of vulnerability and
fear of death. -this is a common experience. -with our loneliness we can realize that our
dependence on other people or gadgets is possessiveness that we can be free from.
 
6. LOVE - To love is to experience richness, positivity, and transcendence. Life is full
of risks, fears and commitment, pain and sacrificing and giving up things we want for
the sake of the one we love. In a Buddhist view "the more we love, the more we risk and
fears there are in life"
HINDUISM: REINCARNATION AND KARMA
 Essential Hinduism is based on the belief in karma and has its
first literary expression in Upanishads.
 Everything in this life, say the Hindus, is consequence of
actions performed in previous existence. Only by building up a
fine record, or “karma,” can final salvation be achieved.
 For the Jains, there is nothing mightier in the world than
karma; karma tramples down all powers, as an elephant clump
of lotuses.
BUDDHISM: NIRVANA

 Nirvana means the state in which one is absolutely free from all forms of
bondage and attachment. It means to remove the cause of the suffering.
 It has perfect knowledge, perfect peace, and perfect wisdom.
 Nirvana is beyond the sense, language, and thought.
 One who was attained enlightenment is a non – attachment. One who
attains wisdom, one desires nothing for himself but always work for the
well – being and liberation of his fellow humans.
ST. AUGUSTINE AND ST.
THOMAS AQUINAS: WILL AND
LOVE

 For St. Augustine, physically we are free, yet morally bound to obey the
law. The Eternal law is God himself. Humanity must do well and avoid
evil.
 Through prayer, modesty, fasting, and other sound measures that the
Church recommends, or God provides, can purity of heart, mind, and
body be maintained and daily lived.
 Though we are physically free, one does not have a right to do anything
if it is not morally right or if one will hurt another.
DISTINGUISH THE LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF
TRANSCENDENCE

 It is the spiritual that endures and is ultimately real. In Hinduism, the

human aspiration is to move to the divine. What we believe is how we
live, if our beliefs are in error, then our lives will be unhappy.
 There is the preoccupation with the inner life – the road to enlightenment
that stretches not outward but inward. To understand nature and the
universe, we must turn within.
 There is an emphasis on the nonmaterial oneness of creation. This means
that there are no polarities; a single spirit provides cosmic harmony.
There is the acceptance of direct awareness as the only way to
understand what is real. The Indians find this direct perception
through spiritual exercises, perhaps through the practice of
yoga. Reason is of some use but in the final analysis, it is only
through inner experience of oneness with all of creation.
There is a healthy respect for tradition, but never a slavish
commitment to it. The past can teach but never rule.
EVIL AND SUFFERING

 Suffering is close to the heart of biblical faith. In comparison with

Buddha, who saw life in suffering and tried to control instead of cursing
it. Job, of the Old Testament, did not just complain. He cursed the day he
was born!
 In Christianity, suffering leads to the cross, the symbol of reality of God’s
saving love for the human being. In Buddhism, it gives rise to
compassion for suffering humanity.