Soar

In recent times I have come across some books that deal with human behavior from a multidisciplinary point of view. From neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology and psychology to provide what they call a holistic understanding of human behavior. But in the end of the day, they are bringing us to determinism: that we are all product of a given. According to them, the situation and context dictate our behavior. They seem to lay a ton of emphasis on the human 'urges'.

There are also a few thinkers who look at the reality in a different way. The other day a friend of mine sent me this little quote from Viktor Frankl- an Austrian neurologist and psychologist:

"Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips".

The Bible encounters this problem. When Jesus comes to his own native town of Nazareth and goes to the synagogue, and is asked to read and preach, when people hear his words of wisdom they take offense at him. They ask among themselves: is he not the son of Mary and Joseph? Don't we know his family? How come is different?!

All religions, especially Christianity is consistent in telling, that you can soar above the given. Yes you can.