Human Condition and Otherkin
Otherkin and Therian are terms for those who believe they have
non-human souls. This isn't linked to any specific spirituality.
There are those who have this belief who follow are agnostic
(something's out there but I don't want to say what it is or follow
it), athiest (acknowledge religion and reject it), nihilist (rejects
all belief systems), pagan, christian (or other judaic faith), or a
spiritual practice from their past lives as whatever being they
believe themselves to be.
That being said, many younger otherkins will sit there and say "nothing in me is human" with such fervor that you would swear they had alien bodies. There is a huge difference between a soul and the physical body it inhabits. No matter what the soul is (human, dragon, wolf, starchild, etc), it is within a human body and brain. If you take a dna sample from an otherkin and a 'normal' human it would match. What you'd gain from being non-human would only show in non-physical aspects. They may exhibit physical traits, like rougher skin, different coloured eyes that are near the eyes of their soul's species, etc. but the dna strand is still a basic human dna genome map.
The Human Condition is a fancy term for all of the experiences that encompass being human. Things that we go through and feel that can only be experienced as a human: cultural, social and personal. It is how we grow, how we learn to interact, how our societies are set up, how our emotions work and our reactions to those emotions. There is a huge biological component to this, if we get angry the typical thing is able to do is something physical and it's done; for some their neurological system doesn't reset as fast as normal and it takes a lot longer and different mechanisms to calm back down. There is also the genetic part of the human condition to propagate our species. This is mating rituals and parameters on what determines a relationship. Depending on how we are raised, where we live, any moral influences, etc. we will have different definitions on what a relationship is, what are the rules of being in one, what would constitute cheating, etc.
There is a term, Miasma, that means "toxic air emanating from decaying flesh that causes disease" it was originally blamed for all disease. Many religious sects, especially Hellenics, use the term to mean negative emotional baggage, a state that causes negativity within the environment, and a state of being unclean; physically, emotionally, spiritually. It is the bad side of the Human Condition and needs to be cleansed in order to approach the gods or even live a healthy life. I can see where the term is used in a psycho-spiritual context, those negative emotions and conditions are toxic to a healthy functioning psyche and cause psychological diseases (like the personality disorders). I will often make reference to miasma as a term for this negativity even if it doesn't really have a place in my religious practice. It's more widely understood to use the term in that sense.
The distinction between the soul and it's responses and the human psyche's responses can really only be noticed when the psyche shuts down due to extreme emotional duress. You sit there in what seems to be an emotionless state and the reactions you have, personality, tenancies, etc will be more pure soul then psyche. The soul is more our feral side unhindered by the programming of society; which as much as many may protest they defy, they are just as affected by. This may make you calmer than when the psyche is present or it may heighten aggression, it is really individual. Your soul's instincts, wants, needs, etc. can be over-ridden by the psyche's response to miasma. For an example: you could know you love someone and feel pulled to them from the Universe's influence, but your psyche's reaction to a lifetime of miasma may be overly cautious of a new relationship, mistrust, and fear; which will hold you back.
You can look at the soul as the Id, the personality developed by the human condition as the Ego and our moral views as the Super Ego. The Ego exists to meet the needs of the Id without violating the Super Ego, it acts as a mediator. Many of us will lean more to the Id or the Super Ego and throw the Ego out of balance. When we are balanced among all three we are healthy in the respect we can handle whatever happens without going to an extreme. This also follows my religious belief of balance.
If you look at the analogy in the terms of Otherkin it may look like this. I'll use a destruction orientated dragon for my example:
>>>You realize your soul is a destruction dragon. Your base instincts (Id) are destruction, physical gratification at the expense of others, reveling in death and killing others, etc. You are in a human body in an age that frowns upon those actions. You develop a Super Ego that shows some kind of moral basis and an Ego that seeks to find a way to provide for your Id while staying within the parameters of the Super Ego. Further balancing will need to be done if your Super Ego doesn't mesh with society's. You may not see a problem with a human sacrifice but society does. Your Ego steps in to try to satiate the want while balancing the want/need for freedom (ie not going to jail or a place for the criminally insane).<<<
There are processes to destroy and rebuild the Ego, which becomes necessary for upper level magick or really overall any form of ascension or awakening. This will leave the being wide open for the Id or Super Ego to take full control of the being, which can cause more problems then rebuilding the Ego would solve. There are also techniques to destroy and rebuild the Id and Super Ego as well, but those get more dangerous. The destruction of the Id becomes a life or death situation depending if it's done correctly.
Keeping all of those points in mind, you can see why you can't say "I'm only dragon, no human" becomes impossible. The Id, Ego and Super Ego make up who we are. Many who try to say they are in no way human forget that even if they are dragon by the Id, most of the time their Super Ego follows a human based morality system programmed into them at a young age, and they have an Ego that developed from the human condition that is trying to balance the dragon's instincts, the moral basis and society's laws (in the case the laws differ with the morals). Yes in some cases the Id's version of morality and impulses will be stronger than the human genetic ones, but it doesn't prevent the fact that there are human parts of the psyche or genetically driven physical needs.
We are put on Earth as a human because there is something the soul needs to learn and experience that only can be felt through the human condition. If we were meant to sit there and only acknowledge the otherkin side and dismiss the human parts then why even be incarnated as a human? If this was the case then we'd be incarnated as our true forms. Often what we need to go through will suck but it helps the soul grow.
That being said, many younger otherkins will sit there and say "nothing in me is human" with such fervor that you would swear they had alien bodies. There is a huge difference between a soul and the physical body it inhabits. No matter what the soul is (human, dragon, wolf, starchild, etc), it is within a human body and brain. If you take a dna sample from an otherkin and a 'normal' human it would match. What you'd gain from being non-human would only show in non-physical aspects. They may exhibit physical traits, like rougher skin, different coloured eyes that are near the eyes of their soul's species, etc. but the dna strand is still a basic human dna genome map.
The Human Condition is a fancy term for all of the experiences that encompass being human. Things that we go through and feel that can only be experienced as a human: cultural, social and personal. It is how we grow, how we learn to interact, how our societies are set up, how our emotions work and our reactions to those emotions. There is a huge biological component to this, if we get angry the typical thing is able to do is something physical and it's done; for some their neurological system doesn't reset as fast as normal and it takes a lot longer and different mechanisms to calm back down. There is also the genetic part of the human condition to propagate our species. This is mating rituals and parameters on what determines a relationship. Depending on how we are raised, where we live, any moral influences, etc. we will have different definitions on what a relationship is, what are the rules of being in one, what would constitute cheating, etc.
There is a term, Miasma, that means "toxic air emanating from decaying flesh that causes disease" it was originally blamed for all disease. Many religious sects, especially Hellenics, use the term to mean negative emotional baggage, a state that causes negativity within the environment, and a state of being unclean; physically, emotionally, spiritually. It is the bad side of the Human Condition and needs to be cleansed in order to approach the gods or even live a healthy life. I can see where the term is used in a psycho-spiritual context, those negative emotions and conditions are toxic to a healthy functioning psyche and cause psychological diseases (like the personality disorders). I will often make reference to miasma as a term for this negativity even if it doesn't really have a place in my religious practice. It's more widely understood to use the term in that sense.
The distinction between the soul and it's responses and the human psyche's responses can really only be noticed when the psyche shuts down due to extreme emotional duress. You sit there in what seems to be an emotionless state and the reactions you have, personality, tenancies, etc will be more pure soul then psyche. The soul is more our feral side unhindered by the programming of society; which as much as many may protest they defy, they are just as affected by. This may make you calmer than when the psyche is present or it may heighten aggression, it is really individual. Your soul's instincts, wants, needs, etc. can be over-ridden by the psyche's response to miasma. For an example: you could know you love someone and feel pulled to them from the Universe's influence, but your psyche's reaction to a lifetime of miasma may be overly cautious of a new relationship, mistrust, and fear; which will hold you back.
You can look at the soul as the Id, the personality developed by the human condition as the Ego and our moral views as the Super Ego. The Ego exists to meet the needs of the Id without violating the Super Ego, it acts as a mediator. Many of us will lean more to the Id or the Super Ego and throw the Ego out of balance. When we are balanced among all three we are healthy in the respect we can handle whatever happens without going to an extreme. This also follows my religious belief of balance.
If you look at the analogy in the terms of Otherkin it may look like this. I'll use a destruction orientated dragon for my example:
>>>You realize your soul is a destruction dragon. Your base instincts (Id) are destruction, physical gratification at the expense of others, reveling in death and killing others, etc. You are in a human body in an age that frowns upon those actions. You develop a Super Ego that shows some kind of moral basis and an Ego that seeks to find a way to provide for your Id while staying within the parameters of the Super Ego. Further balancing will need to be done if your Super Ego doesn't mesh with society's. You may not see a problem with a human sacrifice but society does. Your Ego steps in to try to satiate the want while balancing the want/need for freedom (ie not going to jail or a place for the criminally insane).<<<
There are processes to destroy and rebuild the Ego, which becomes necessary for upper level magick or really overall any form of ascension or awakening. This will leave the being wide open for the Id or Super Ego to take full control of the being, which can cause more problems then rebuilding the Ego would solve. There are also techniques to destroy and rebuild the Id and Super Ego as well, but those get more dangerous. The destruction of the Id becomes a life or death situation depending if it's done correctly.
Keeping all of those points in mind, you can see why you can't say "I'm only dragon, no human" becomes impossible. The Id, Ego and Super Ego make up who we are. Many who try to say they are in no way human forget that even if they are dragon by the Id, most of the time their Super Ego follows a human based morality system programmed into them at a young age, and they have an Ego that developed from the human condition that is trying to balance the dragon's instincts, the moral basis and society's laws (in the case the laws differ with the morals). Yes in some cases the Id's version of morality and impulses will be stronger than the human genetic ones, but it doesn't prevent the fact that there are human parts of the psyche or genetically driven physical needs.
We are put on Earth as a human because there is something the soul needs to learn and experience that only can be felt through the human condition. If we were meant to sit there and only acknowledge the otherkin side and dismiss the human parts then why even be incarnated as a human? If this was the case then we'd be incarnated as our true forms. Often what we need to go through will suck but it helps the soul grow.
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