Human Life

Essay text:

The human intellect is capable not only of thinking, but of thinking about the fact that it is thinking, how it is doing so, etc. a?' We can never feel that we are feeling, nor smell the fact that we are smelling; or see the fact that we are seeing, etc a?' But we can know and at the same time know that we are knowing = be aware that we are knowing something or someone o??? Spirituality of the intellect: this immateriality and capacity for reflection brings us to affirm the spirituality of the human intellect and the person who knows a?' This way of being, or existing of the human intellect, is over and above that of corporality or materiality a?' Through the intellect, the person can reach out of himself to the world around him and introduce it into himself through knowledge, without being transformed into this world that I am knowing a?' I can understand although I may have nothing in front of my eyes; I can "goa?? wherever I want with my intellect a?' However, this spirituality does not mean total independence of the intellect regarding matter and the body because, as we have seen, man is essentially a corporal being and his intellect uses and needs an organic-corporal base in order to be activated, as we shall see 2 a?' The intellect is also more than the simple brain as it can reflect on itself, while the brain cannot; for this reason the intellect is above the brain and is spiritual a?? Knowledge as interaction: through knowledge the subject goes out of himself and he opens up to the world in a way that involves the whole person; knowledge is not just an automatic act of my nature o??? I know because I wish and need to do because I am a being that is incomplete; the human person needs the world around him, people and things, to develop myself, perfect myself and enrich myself o??? The knowing process is passive (I receive the world as it is when I know it) and it is active in that I must make an effort to know using more or less sophisticated strategies (study, work, research, travel, money, etc) a?' I never carry out this process in an independent and individual way; rather through other people, cultures, institutions that make up the context in which a person lives and grows o??? Although the knowing process is immaterial, the objects known do modify the inner world or the person, giving rise to some type of answer a?' Some new knowledge requires little interior adaptation, for example in issues related to quantity a?' But on other occasions, the truth, person of fact known can affect us deeply and bring about an important change in our lives; in these cases, the person needs time to assimilate the new knowledge a?' This occurs, for example, in the case of a person who moves to a new country where the customs, mentality, etc is different and can introduce a new world of questions, possibilities, etc...