Why Humans Forget Who They Are

Across many platforms today, human nature is increasingly questioned - its presence doubted, its quality debated.  This raises a deeper inquiry: “Why Human Forget Who They Are? It is not that goodness is absent within us; rather what emerges through our actions often contradicts what we inwardly know to be true.  

Human beings are capable of wise thoughts, yet we often act against their own wisdom. The measure of this contradiction cannot rest on psychologists, philosophers or social commentators. Each individual must examine his or her own tendencies – selfishness, comparison and the urge to dominate, and to consciously cultivate empathy, restraint and cooperation. The path set by the creator is not lost: it is neglected.

The danger to human nature is rarely external. More often, it is internal. There exists within us a subtle urge to be important. When importance overtakes integrity, we justify questionable means for desirable ends. Systems that glorify profit and competition quietly train us to measure worth in material terms. In that pursuit, we begin to struggle not with circumstances, but against one another.

When the axe came to the forest, the trees said the handle was one of us – until they felt its cuts. Betrayal is seldom distant; it often rises from familiarity. Families too are immune. From a distance, a family may appear united like a forest; up close, one may notice how separated the trees stand. In some homes, belonging seems conditional upon financial success. The candle burns itself to give light, yet darkness never thanks it. Is it not true that many wish for your success-just not more than their own?

Perhaps forgetting does not happen suddenly. It begins quietly-in moments of comparison, and compromise. In preferring recognition over righteousness. The forgetting begins not with great wrong doings, but with small inattentions.

Scriptures across traditions caution humanity against surrendering to inner adversaries: lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride. Humai - ego creates a false sense of separation from the Divine, turning life into a contest rather than a communion.

True mastery lies not in conquering nature, but in governing the self. Gossip, betrayal, envy, and dishonesty are not minor flaws: they are signs of forgotten awareness.

To choose wisely requires deliberate learning: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live and ultimately learning to be.

Human nature is often described as a struggle between two forces – the well-known ‘Two Wolves’: one of anger and greed, the other of compassion and kindness. The one that prevails is simply the one we choose to feed.

“The deeper unease, perhaps, is not that something else may become human like - but that humans themselves may continue to forget what human being truly means.”                              

  To be continued……..