The Innate Capacity for Change: New Insights into Human Nature & Our Ability to Evolve and Grow
The Conceptualization of Human Nature is a multifaceted and complex construct. The cumulative reality of characteristics, behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts as humans define us. However, our understanding of human nature is subjective and influenced by our personalized experiences, philosophical ideals, cultural backgrounds, and societal norms.
Within this nuanced context, a person’s belief about change may become linked to one’s view of human nature, forming a symbiotic relationship that illuminates human perspectives on personal and societal transformation.
Humans are born moral, ideological, and capable of transcending preconceived notions about what they can be, do, or have in this life (Narvaez, 2013). If we put Doctrine and Dogma aside, man can express and explore his divine creative self in place of his family tradition.
Being born a Christian, the notion of “Original Sin” shaped my perspective on the nature of good versus evil. If a Christian was born in a particular religious pathology, he/she was inherently subject to change by divine law, given the only constant is change, with nothing ever remaining the same.
Humans are inherently good but carry the capacity to change into something undesirable over time due to personal values, societal norms, and personal relationships with others. I disagree with Freud’s deterministic assessment that maintains that an individual’s personality is fixed largely by the age of 6.
In my estimation, an individual’s personality gradually changes over time given his background (i.e., racism, discrimination, etc.) and other maladaptive changes one endures.
Humans are good, adaptive, and resilient beings who carry the ability to alter habits and behaviors for the long term. This viewpoint is grounded in the salient principles of humanistic psychology, which emphasizes the inherent goodness in people and their natural predisposition towards self-actualization.
This perspective underlines my belief in the innate capacity of humans to change and evolve. Change is an inevitable part of human life. Growth in any context of life demands change. Change is characterized by life experiences, self-evaluation, contemplation, personal growth, and impact.
When I lost my father in 2014 to heart disease, I inherently changed for the better. His sudden transition greatly impacted me, and I dropped out of my MBA program, only to re-enroll a month later and complete my studies. Experiences, whether positive or negative, provide opportunities for learning and growth and consequently drive change.
Humans definitely can change if they are willing to do the work. While it was easy to quit my MBA program, It was more important to figure out why education was important to me beyond making my father proud.
What wasn’t apparent was the importance of growing through painful experiences and finding the necessary strength to adapt to the changing landscape of life and my emotional reaction to pain. Pain contributed to my personal growth and development and helped me facilitate change in others.
As a Peer Counselor, I help people grow personally and professionally by catalyzing change. I create a non-judgmental space that encourages self-exploration and the reframing of one’s own life story.
Regardless of the modality used, change must come from within, coupled with the willingness to reimagine a newly crafted solution for becoming a more refined human being. This may only sometimes be the case given the preconceived notions of what it means to be human based on the nature of an individual, his culture, or tradition.
Based on family traditions, past experiences, and modeled behaviors, humans may feel that they can and will ultimately change, but sometimes without the standardized therapeutic approach towards one-on-one or group counseling. Thus, it facilitates a new belief system around what it means to get quality help in a relatable, affordable, adaptive, and culturally sensitive manner.
I firmly believe that individuals can change. Individuals can change how they see the world, work, money, relationships, social media, service, love, education, politics, war, health, and poverty in the blink of an eye. These gradual changes happen over time as we ascend the different stages of development.
I view life from a cycle paradigm, in which every seven years many must change, adapt, and evolve in some stated manner. From birth to seven, from seven to fourteen, from fourteen to twenty-one, from twenty-one to twenty-eight, and so forth, I believe that change occurs in cycles.
If I am 24 years of age and struggling to make sense of my life and can connect with a mentor or professional counselor who understands that I am in the middle of a 7-year cycle (21–28) regardless of what I am dealing with, could aid in my hope for letting the entire process play out to reevaluate my stance on life instead of giving up so easily.
Overall, my view of human nature is that it is dynamic and capable of change. The capacity for change is inherent in humans and is influenced by various factors, including life experiences, family dynamics, and environmental conditions. Individuals are born to evolve through relationships with others based on their motivation for change, facilitated by future outcomes.
