Gabriel Marcel on being a man

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TO BE A MAN IS TO HAVE SOMETHING MORE THAN THE BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A CERTAIN SPECIES. IT MEANS TO LIVE HUMANELY. AND THIS WORD HUMANELY HAS A PRECISE MEANING. IT MEANS TO LIVE UNDER CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE BEING IS NOT CRUSHED BY THE WEIGHT OF CARE. TO LIVE IN A SITUATION IN WHICH A CONSCIOUSNESS CAN BE DEVELOPED WHICH IS CONSCIOUS NOT ONLY OF ONESELF BUT OF OTHERS. AND ALSO OF THE REALITY THAT TRANSCENDS THE ANTITHESIS [OF REALITY].”

–Gabriel Honoré Marcel (December 7, 1889 – October 8, 1973) was a French philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist. Wikipedia

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