Expressiveness
Man does not live by bread alone. -
Deuteronomy
This famous quote from the Bible is
taken
well out of context. The full text
asserted
that man must live by the word of God,
implying
that material sustenance is not sufficient
for a good and holy life. While I agree
with
the out-of-context statement, I do
so for
quite different reasons.
I have suggested before in other writings
that sustenance, shelter, procreation and
defense [SSPD] are the fundamental needs
of all organisms.[1] They are all biological imperatives,
not necessarily intentional ones satisfied
through reasoning and contemplation. However,
when considering homo sapiens the list is
sufficient only for describing little more
than what has been called the *naked ape;* i. e. something far less than a *human* as we understand ourselves to be today.
What is missing from the list?
Before answering that, it is possible to
expand the original reach of SSPD as it applies
to humans. Sustenance could include all that
we ingest in our minds as well as our stomachs;
shelter could include not only physical shelter,
but our personal ideological shelter and
belief system; procreation could include
not only human offspring, but intellectual
progeny - inventions and ideas, constructions;
defense could include learning and education
that wards off intruding and competing or
threatening ideas. This is one approach.
Another is to add a fifth need to the list
which to a large degree accomplishes the
same thing. In my opinion that fifth would
be expressiveness. Under its rubric would
fall all that we do that is outside the basic
meanings of SSPD.
It is hard to imagine a human, even the recluse
in the woods who practices the most fundamental
manifestations of SSPD, not, in some small
way, expressing himself - if only to himself.
I have heard that when we are isolated from
society for long periods it is usual to commence
conversations with oneself or an imaginary
person or animal. In a broader sense, all
art, music, literature, philosophy are examples
of expressiveness which frequently exist
purely for the expresser. Surely, the thwarting
of one's ability [or permission] to express
themselves, would be analogous to tying their
hands and taping their mouths shut.
Is it pleasure and satisfaction alone
that
obtains in expressiveness, or is it
a deeper
aspect of our nature? While all language
provides the communicative fabric of
a family,
tribe or community for purposes of
dealing
with SSPD, each utterance is, by now,
a unique
expression, and language has become
the most
far reaching, complex and necessary
form
of expressiveness.
Without trying, I suppose I have defined
what it is to be human; the only animal for
which expressiveness is an essential component
of its makeup. While language may be the
most ubiquitous and utilized form of expressiveness,
it is not the only one. Almost all that we
engage in, outside of the most fundamental
adherences to SSPD, demonstrates expressiveness
- in some form or the other. So, I change
the quote from Deuteronomy to read *Man does not live by SSPD alone.* If we cannot express ourselves, we are
not complete.
References.
[1] Sansom. Richard. TWTWI (The Way The World Is.) http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/twtwi.htm
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