Human Understanding: It's Only Natural

Visit http://anniehorkan.com/difference-natural-law-man-made-law/ for deeper understanding of items listed in picture above.

Blank Slate.


Imagine that for a moment: you're given a sheet a paper and told that you could put anything on that sheet of paper that best tells people who you are. What do you do? You start with the big stuff: significant other, family, friends, job, hobbies, interests, habits, and so on.


What does that sheet of paper say about you? Do we look at what you wrote/drew? How you organized it? How much space you took up?


What if I told you that everything you put is wrong? You aren't those things. You are the blank sheet of paper. Experiences have lead you to believe that you are an accumulation of those things.


When you look at it like that, you are without limitations/confines. Nothing is restricting you to be what it is that you "ought" to be. But how can one be without limitations, it's impossible? You're right.


The idea is that we are born with that bank slate,  and the things that we would put on that sheet of paper do tend to affect us significantly. With that idea in mind, we must also assume that means we learn every thing we know. Everything had to be learned. And how do we learn? By others and through experiences. And it is those experiences that help us to reach human understanding.


Who cares, am I right? Well we all should. Whereas we may think, "oh, that makes sense," prior to someone bringing it to our attention, most of us don't give this much thought. And f we aren't giving it much thought, then we are more likely to be prone to just go with whatever other people are telling us because that's what we do: we learn through others and experience with information.


If no one is telling us we are born with a blank slate and that it is our experiences that shape us, then we believe that we innately have this within us and it is further developed over time. Now, you and I may not take that and try to use it to our advantage, but you know who might? Those in power. Why? Because power hungry people also thirst for more power. Creating this idea that "that's you, this is me, and that's just the way it is because of [insert some bs reason here]," dictated how people viewed life and themselves for a long time.


This guy, John Locke, challenged that. And thanks to that challenge, people began looking beyond religious dictations (or the claiming of), and began looking at individual intellect, thinking, experiences, and the natural way of things: Modern thinking.


Scientific inquisition, political change, and natural law all came to light thanks to his contribution to this moment of enlightenment.