What does “being human” actually mean? What is it we do as we go about the business of being human?
Clearly, at its most basic, to be is to live. And to live is to keep breathing in and out and putting one foot in front of the other.
Just as clearly, however, humans do a lot of things as well as breathing in and out and putting one foot in front of the other. They clean their teeth, and hit tennis balls, and dance at nightclubs, and remove tumours, and colour in, and fall in love, and check their emails, and plough fields, and sell shares, and hug friends, and go on vacation, and sip lattes.
Given the kaleidoscope of human busyness that occurs from day to day, it seems preposterous to assume that all of these activities could have something in common.
Preposterous yet true.
The common thread to all of these goings on is that a desired outcome is being pursued.
In order to achieve the outcome that is wanted or expected, different behaviours are used in different circumstances. Using different means to achieve anticipated outcomes is the hallmark of control. Control is the process of living.
To be is to control.
Control is nothing more than the activity of making things be the way an individual wants them to be and keeping them that way until the individual decides they don’t need to be that way anymore.
So being is controlling. From birth to death we are engaged in an ongoing process of control. Actually, lots of processes. We control many things at the same time. As you negotiate the traffic to make it to the office on time, you’re also doing other things such as: maintaining your body temperature where it’s supposed to be; maintaining the posture required to drive the car; and maintaining your idea of yourself as a dependable and punctual colleague.
Everyone controls. Babies control, teenagers control, CEOs control, and servants control. Ironically, and somewhat paradoxically, even letting go of control is a process of control. To achieve a state of “letting go” someone has to have an idea of what “letting go” feels like and they have to do things and think things so that they achieve the “letting go” feeling that they are after. They have to know when they are in the “let go” state and they have to be able to do things to get back there once they notice they are not letting go as much as they would like to. Notice that people don’t let go of control by producing any particular thought or behaviour. People let go of control by producing a particular feeling or experience. Reliably producing a particular feeling by using different behaviours and thoughts is the process of control. So people let go of control by controlling!
We can no more step out of our controlling nature than we can put aside our humanity.
It is the case, however, that being human doesn’t require we understand control. We’re controlling whether we know we are or not. Understanding the beingness of humans as controlling, however, will enable us to map out what is going on when problems occur. Control can certainly be compromised or interfered with but, when the underlying process of control is appreciated, then problems in functioning can be viewed from a control perspective. Considering cells as controlling agents would give us a new lens through which to explore the activity of cells that results in things like the growth of tumours and other cancers. Having an accurate articulation of the control process would provide us with strong arguments for addressing the silliness of concepts like suggesting that chemical imbalances cause mental health problems. In fact, understanding control helps us think about causation differently from the linear way that is, at the moment, commonplace.
From a control perspective we could also move away from thinking about people as good or bad, naughty or nice. People just control. Some people control in such a way that they don’t interfere with the controlling of others and some people control in such a way that they majorly interfere with the controlling of others. It’s all still just control.
Being human means controlling. This controlling nature has produced both the best of our best and the worst of our worst as well as everything in between. For most of our time on this planet control has been unrecognised but now, thanks to the technology of Perceptual Control Theory (PCT; www.pctweb.org), we have the opportunity to understand how control works and move it to the centre of our deliberations. It’s an opportunity, however, that is still resisted by many people, which is another paradoxical manifestation of the control process. Even dismissing and criticising control is part of a control process!
Control is like air. It’s everywhere all the time. If you want to get to know yourself and those you care about better, think control.
