FULLY HUMAN


Hal Hodges (1975). On Becoming Fully Human (unpublished                                          manuscript, San Jose State University, California).


Hal Hodges was a sociology professor of mine in the early 1980's at San Jose Sate University in California. I recall his enthusiasm, energy, dynamic style of lecturing. A tall lanky clean shaven man with white hair and simple attire. In this book, and in his course, he suggested that we might become more "fully human", that there are laden capacities within  us that remain (for most of us) largely untapped throughout our life. He hints at what fully human might look like through Abraham Maslow's self-actualization, quotes from mystics and philosophers throughout the centuries, and through the lives of creatives. 

Among the qualities of the fully human are: child-like wonder, openness, insatiable desire to know and learn new things, passion, energy, zest for living, love of self, others, nature, and the divine, and the experience of higher states of consciousness...

Unfortunately, while leaving hints, Hal does not tell us HOW TO BECOME FULLY HUMAN. Perhaps he himself does not completely know? This was very disappointing, like telling someone of a wonderous tropical island but not teaching them how to swim or sail to get there.


To become fully human requires a "revolution of consciousness." This process of becoming fully human might be ignited by (my hunches): growing older and realizing that one is closer in time to death than to birth, near death experience, serious illness, loss of a loved one, being fired from a job and finding one's real passion, time in nature experienced as wonder and beauty, falling in love...in short, there are many ways to ignite the process, and once begun, it the process seems to have a life of its own that slowly or dramatically changes a person...have you experienced a shift that began such a process in your life?

The faiths, traditions, religions, and spiritualities call this "becoming fully human" many things: salvation, enlightenment, awakening...hopefully we all experience something like this before we die.

As for the religious/spiritual practices that help facilitate the process of becoming fully human, see the rest of the books listed on the 3 x 5 blog and the Haiku blog for hints. 




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