Thought experiment. Suppose you grew up as a feral child in the wild, marooned on some deserted island and raised by another species of benevolent primates or wolves — a real life Mowgli. In this scenario, apart from any language and human society, would you still possess a mental concept for having a “purpose in life?” More simply put: do you think the idea of “meaning and purpose” is more of an innately “hard-wired” psychological human trait or a socially dependent cultural construct? (And if the idea of personal purpose is culture bound, how would you differentiate it from other ideological, religious, or unfalsifiable beliefs commonly held in the culture?)
My hypothesis is that Mowgli’s purpose would be centred around self, how to best fulfill Mowgli’s needs. Mowgli would live in complete contrast to the Christian belief system I was raised in, which centres God, something external to myself, whose teachings prescribe how I should live.
What comes to mind for me is that growing up in the absence of technology and conveniences that I am familiar with would meant that life/time/energy would be utterly focused on SURVIVAL. Not in an antagonistic way... the term ‘survival’ brings to mind words like ‘by any means necessary’ and ‘of the fittest’... Instead, I imagine that our Mowgli would devote their energy to survival in a more in a holistic way - a keen awareness of their dependence on their environment and cultivating relationship with the other beings around them (sentient and non-sentient).
I have been reading Robin Wall-Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass”, which might be influencing my thinking on relationship with the world around us and our disconnect and disrespect for the natural world that makes life possible.
Side note: I’m having a difficult time with pronouns on this post... I have always thought of Mowgli as ‘he’... but I now wonder where that comes from. Likely from Kipling’s book... the question about performance of gender would be exceptionally interesting to a explore with these feral children who are grow up apart from societal messaging and modelling about gender.
What came to mind for me when I read your post was the book Loss of Indigenous Eden:The Fall of Spirituality from Blair Stonechild and the idea that Indigenous communities see themselves as one with nature, land and all living things - all my relations and that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. When I think of meaning and purpose and what it is needed today it is simply being in relation with one another and our mother earth in a connected and respectful way that holds both with love and care. Capitalism and inequality and the growing divide is because we have lost our way of how to live in right relationship and with purpose. And we are not intentional in our ways of being and doing. So much of today's purpose discussion is on issues that are a result of capitalism and inequality rather than a spiritual way of being, not necessarily religion but focused on mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well being. This was a quick reflection and I am going to keep thinking on this. Thanks James!
I tend to agree with Mark...I think that the ability to ‘ find a purpose in life’ is innate in our species. The examples of feral children have confirmed that they were in time able to regain their ability to talk, write and reflect. Our species w as once thought to to the only one to make tools purposefully but this was did counted with research on baboons. However, what does separate us from the other animal species on earth. One might speculate is the fact that we have consciousness that enables us to see the abstract/the unknown and to question our very existence. In fact, we might be the only species that can envision a future behind the immediate present moment. Examples stated by Mark exemplifies this trait. To perceive ourselves within the framework of a larger whole is another example of our sense of purpose or intent.
There have actuallty been a couple of documented cases of 'feral children." While extremely wild and odd, thy did exhibit some of the "higher puepose' and "conscience" qualities. So I would conjecture that a sense of meaning and purpose is possibly innate in our species. Victor Frankl had a lot to say abput this as he was with "hopeless" victims (who turned out in many cases to be pretty resilient) in the abhorrent environment of Nazi concentration camps diring WWII. Another comparable (but different) situation would be slaves on American plantations in the antebellum South.
My hypothesis is that Mowgli’s purpose would be centred around self, how to best fulfill Mowgli’s needs. Mowgli would live in complete contrast to the Christian belief system I was raised in, which centres God, something external to myself, whose teachings prescribe how I should live.
What comes to mind for me is that growing up in the absence of technology and conveniences that I am familiar with would meant that life/time/energy would be utterly focused on SURVIVAL. Not in an antagonistic way... the term ‘survival’ brings to mind words like ‘by any means necessary’ and ‘of the fittest’... Instead, I imagine that our Mowgli would devote their energy to survival in a more in a holistic way - a keen awareness of their dependence on their environment and cultivating relationship with the other beings around them (sentient and non-sentient).
I have been reading Robin Wall-Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass”, which might be influencing my thinking on relationship with the world around us and our disconnect and disrespect for the natural world that makes life possible.
Side note: I’m having a difficult time with pronouns on this post... I have always thought of Mowgli as ‘he’... but I now wonder where that comes from. Likely from Kipling’s book... the question about performance of gender would be exceptionally interesting to a explore with these feral children who are grow up apart from societal messaging and modelling about gender.
What came to mind for me when I read your post was the book Loss of Indigenous Eden:The Fall of Spirituality from Blair Stonechild and the idea that Indigenous communities see themselves as one with nature, land and all living things - all my relations and that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. When I think of meaning and purpose and what it is needed today it is simply being in relation with one another and our mother earth in a connected and respectful way that holds both with love and care. Capitalism and inequality and the growing divide is because we have lost our way of how to live in right relationship and with purpose. And we are not intentional in our ways of being and doing. So much of today's purpose discussion is on issues that are a result of capitalism and inequality rather than a spiritual way of being, not necessarily religion but focused on mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well being. This was a quick reflection and I am going to keep thinking on this. Thanks James!
I tend to agree with Mark...I think that the ability to ‘ find a purpose in life’ is innate in our species. The examples of feral children have confirmed that they were in time able to regain their ability to talk, write and reflect. Our species w as once thought to to the only one to make tools purposefully but this was did counted with research on baboons. However, what does separate us from the other animal species on earth. One might speculate is the fact that we have consciousness that enables us to see the abstract/the unknown and to question our very existence. In fact, we might be the only species that can envision a future behind the immediate present moment. Examples stated by Mark exemplifies this trait. To perceive ourselves within the framework of a larger whole is another example of our sense of purpose or intent.
There have actuallty been a couple of documented cases of 'feral children." While extremely wild and odd, thy did exhibit some of the "higher puepose' and "conscience" qualities. So I would conjecture that a sense of meaning and purpose is possibly innate in our species. Victor Frankl had a lot to say abput this as he was with "hopeless" victims (who turned out in many cases to be pretty resilient) in the abhorrent environment of Nazi concentration camps diring WWII. Another comparable (but different) situation would be slaves on American plantations in the antebellum South.