Lessane Ketema

11/2/2015
Assignement #3
Honors 100
One of the many problems which face us today, especially in the more developed,
enlightened countries of the West, but also globally, is that which Walker Percy terms the loss
of the creature. While there is a great focus on external problems, whether real or perceived,
there seems to be a lack of attention given to inward problems. A creature is, simply put, an
experience that one owns, that one may cling on to when all else passes away. It is unique to
individuals, and indeed, the same event may result in the production of different creatures by
different individuals, since two creators will not create the same creature.
It now seems that we live in a world in which people are more and more led to have an
inward experience centered on only the Self, and an outward experience which is fed to them
through the consumerism and naturalism of our day. There is a fundamental disconnect
between these two realms, and so the former dissolves (what is consciousness if there is
nothing to be conscious of?). This is what ails our societies, what gives people the yearning for
something more which they seek outwardly, is precisely this--the loss of personal identity. I use
the term personal identity to mean status as a true individual, as one whose thoughts and
experiences do not undergo constant labelling and scrutiny, judgement and comparison.
There has been a great deal of writing on the problem I have described, and many would
disagree with its existence. Assuming it is true, however, how can we solve this? Well, we may
do so by recognizing that the most important battle one wages is not one of those against
society, but rather those against oneself. If we realize that, as human beings, we occupy a
special place among the animals and that we are simultaneously social, yet infinitely removed
from one another through the barrier of subjective experience, then we may begin to make
progress.
What does this progress look like? It could begin with the ignoring of relational labels.
Words like father, mother, and friend are important words, and have proven useful
throughout time, but the words in and of themselves do not, and should not, define the
relationship between individuals bearing these terms. If we begin to imagine ourselves as being
caught up in a web of social relations which transcends words, then we may begin to speak to
people as individuals sovereign over themselves, recognizing their inner world. Through this, we
too, are able to share our inner worlds and enrich them, engaging in genuine communication
which strikes at the core, rather than the superficiality of communication which is dictated by the
demands of society.
Were hope and history to rhyme, then we would realize that true happiness is
contingent upon the self, and that all outer things are transient, and pass away. What use is
Eden on Earth if there is none to work it? Though we may not be able to create any paradise
without, we can certainly create one within.