The conversation that got me thinking about this was one of those typical conversations that focus on moral errors and indiscretions as a product of what is termed "human nature." People often talk about how little can be expected from our selfish, cruel, malicious human nature. And the truth is that from that perspective it's quite reasonable to think that this human nature is nothing more than our animal nature. In view of our long history of wars, thievery, slavery, murder, and other atrocities, it's difficult to see beyond all these tragedies, especially when many of them have happened directly because some human beings were intentionally causing suffering to others.

From another perspective, it's important to understand that what we commonly think of as "human nature" is based in both religious and "scientific" sources. Neither offers a clear idea of the true nature of the human being. 

Religion primarily recognizes a "divine" nature that is perfect. Everything that is not divine is imperfect, and human beings, having been born impure and burdened with original sin (even before birth), can only have an imperfect, selfish human nature, full of all the possible negative attributes that can be found. To the extent that these human beings accept a god as their personal savior, they may evolve a little further, but their nature will never be divine, because divinity is reserved only for God. The fact that God does not manifest himself except through intermediaries—priests, representatives, acolytes, brothers and sisters, or whatever they want to call themselves—is never addressed. This system is extremely convenient and cannot help but be suspicious, especially when one considers the enormous economic power accumulated over centuries by the so-called religions.

The other source, the "scientific" one, is more recent and features (or featured) an individual named Charles Darwin who, despite being a professional researcher in the fields of biology and geology, placed his main emphasis on the concept of evolutionary biology, which essentially proclaims that all human beings originate from a single animal species. In this view of human nature, human beings are "rational animals" and nothing more. We descended from primates, and that's as far as it goes. This is understandable when one considers that chimpanzees and bonobos share almost 99% of their DNA with human beings. It is an old theory, interesting for naturalists and without doubt uninteresting for those who think and feel that human beings are much more than that.

Even though when we speak of human nature we are generally not thinking of the religious-scientific origins of the concept, it's understood that our nature is the worst thing about us humans.

Some of us, on the other hand, think and feel that our nature does not truly exist, that the human being is not simply a part of nature. In fact, from our origins, we human beings have been differentiating ourselves from the natural world. Despite having a natural body, we have always gone beyond our supposed naturalness. In the face of natural obstacles, we have transformed them into opportunities, so that in the latest centuries we've seen the human being sailing the seas, flying through the air, reaching other planets, constantly defying the laws of nature. Neither our body nor our environment has been able to quell those human intentions that do not belong to the natural realm. Of course, all of this can be viewed from a negative perspective, but it can also be seen from a positive one, because both perspectives are valid.

This is possible because when opposing forces are understood within a single structure, the perspective shifts, and the search for absolutes ceases. In simple terms, almost everything that exists can have its opposite. Night opposes day, cold opposes heat, light opposes darkness, and so on. And all opposites are reconciled within a larger structure that encompasses both.

The human being can also be understood in a similar way, where our most humane and least humane aspects coexist. But our great quality as human beings lies in our innate capacity to be "aware" of our actions in the world. It has been said that we have the capacity to be cruel and to be kind, to be selfish or generous, to love or to hate, to grasp or to give. There are no determinisms in the human being. The possibilities are always open, and our capacity to "choose" is uniquely well-developed in our species. If it weren't, we would have disappeared thousands of years ago.

Following this line of reasoning, it can be said that if a human nature does exist, it must possess the best attributes of our species, which has genuinely evolved and will continue to evolve through love and compassion.

We clearly exhibit great qualities, and it is our duty to cultivate these attributes, which are not given by nature transcend natural laws, and which obviously arise not from the body but rather from the development of consciousness and spirituality. This development, like all development, is non-linear. It has better moments, moments of progress, and not-so-good moments, of apparent stagnation and regression. Nevertheless, the direction does not change. It is this upward direction that, despite all the setbacks and despite cruel and disastrous times, continues to propel humanity not only toward liberation from the natural world but also toward spiritual liberation.

Here I will pause to emphasize the importance of the spiritual aspect of the human being and to point out that spirituality has been a part of our species since the very beginning of our history. We do not know exactly when our birth as a species occurred in this world; however, we can say that at some special moment, something extraordinary happened within our species, something that was not determined by the natural conditions in which we existed and that involved an act of consciousness that was not an immediate response.

The stimulus-response mechanism in nature has been extensively studied in animals and in the natural world. Innumerable experiments have been conducted, especially on animals, to verify this ability to respond to an environmental stimulus. Experiments have been carried out on humans based on direct observation of basic human behavior, which dictates these responses when they relate to our most natural aspect: the body. Hunger, as a stimulus, conditions us to seek food; the same with thirst, the urge to reproduce, temperature regulation, and so on. All basic needs are stimuli seeking a response, and this is how we function. 

At one point in our history, there was a "delayed" response to a stimulus. In other words, the response was not immediate, nor was it a reaction to any stimulus fundamental to the preservation or conservation of life. It occurred when humans were not driven away by fire, despite it threatening their very survival. They approached the fire that should have destroyed them, and there began an evolutionary process unlike that in any other species. This capacity to act contrary to the instinct for survival through a delayed act of consciousness is at the root of what can be called a truly human act, or a truly human response.

That was the beginning of our human species, and it was also the beginning of our differentiation from the natural world. It hasn't been easy, considering all our basic instincts that tend to prevail, but little by little, sometimes painfully and certainly in a non-linear way, the human being has become increasingly human, developing more and more that spirit, that inner force, that divinity that exists within us. At the same time, we recognize our role as protectors of the environment that we share with other developing species.

This spirit, which has been built through unifying and intentional human acts, is what truly makes us human. If a human nature exists, it is based on the recognition of this spirit, which has also evolved from that challenge to ancestral fear,  through external gods and goddesses, cults, rituals, intermediaries, castes, priests, shamans, and other forms of intuition of the sacred, both outside and inside the human being. But increasingly, this spirit is found within, and we are less and less in need of intermediaries and external deities.

This process has continued to evolve, starting from the most deeply ingrained and sometimes almost absurd beliefs, up to our encounters with increasingly profound inner experiences regarding who we are and where we are going, and the simple recognition that each person's existence is possible because others exist. This is how humanity evolves, and in this process of accelerated separation from the natural world, we keep leaving behind negative beliefs, selfishness, negative behaviors, compulsions, and internal and external contradictions, in search of an inner center of gravity that gives meaning beyond the space and time of the natural and physical body

Portland, Oregon, November 2025

Translated from the original Spanish by Trudi Richards