Human Nature

What is our natural human nature towards the ill, the diseased, and the disabled?

Cooperative and democratic. Survival of the fittest comes to mind. Behaviors such as cooperation, competitiveness and the golden rule come to mind when I think of human nature. Darwin said 'Sympathy is the strongest instinct in human nature.' We have evolved to be good to others. We depend on others, we are who we are because we belong to a community of others, and we learn from one another in the community. Our sense of cooperation and democracy causes us to cooperate to help others when in time of need. 

  
Why does our model of living the golden rule not spread to include everyone? Why does it not spread to all, to the ill, diseased and disabled?  It's tragic on a big level. And it's tragic on a personal level when you are living as a chronically ill person. Is it utopia to have love and compassion enter every aspect of our lives?

Compassion renews our physiology. We view these feeling of love and compassion as positive because it is actually good for our bodies. We operate better in a sense of love, compassion and empathy then we do in a state of separation. The heart is considered to be the center of the self. And so it is actually more beneficial to 'live from your heart', then to live from a logical state, from your brain. Your heart is the access point to your higher self, your spirit self.

So if all of this is truth, then as a chronically ill person - ill, diseased or disabled - what do you feel is in human nature towards you?

My experience speaks to this as a half truth in relation to what is in human nature in relation to the chronically ill? I do see human nature to be cooperative and democratic. Sympathy and empathy come into play. However from my experience I'd say it's not sympathy, but rather compassion I'd like to feel from others.

I've seen three types of people in the situation of being a friend of a chronically ill person.

There are people who initially had empathy and compassion but in the long run were unable to live by the golden rule in relation to me, their friend or family. It was too much.

The other side were the people who initially had empathy and compassion and were in the long run able to live by the golden rule. They were able to remain my friend, my family.This is were competitiveness comes into play. To be competitive is not to live from your heart. I would think it would be difficult to compete in life with someone whose sole competitive engagement is with the Universe, to survive. 

I have no doubt that being a friend of mine is difficult. I have lost many since I got sick, but I have also gained others that truly do live from their hearts - like myself. Although I live from my heart, I am not reliable, I cannot always give back what others give of themselves to me. I cannot engage in many social settings anymore, and do better with intimate settings.

Then there are the people that give empathy and compassion, but cannot handle the reality of me not getting better, the reality that in some fashion I will always need the help of others, that I will always be sick and that there are good and bad days. - And I know that if the reality is hard for me to swallow, that it is probably impossible for others.

 

The answer to my question, perhaps, is threefold. Just as in my personal experience - there are different sides to human nature towards people that are ill, diseased and disable - the chronically ill. There is compassion, empathy and an inability to deal with the reality of the situation which I believe comes from the lack of a competitive nature present.

What do you think?

What is in your human nature toward the chronically ill?