The questions “What does it mean to be human and how might we transcend human nature?” » have been a topic of debate for philosophical and theological thinkers for centuries. In recent history, scientific discoveries have revived these ancient debates which fall into three primary schools of thought. There are those who believe that we, like the rest of the animal kingdom, have some basic "programming" that determines our fundamental nature, and those who believe that human beings are born "tabula rasa" and that upbringing determines who we are. The issue becomes increasingly complex for those who believe theologically that human beings are spiritual creatures and that our spirituality is what defines us. However, a growing number of people who have examined these ideas have come to the conclusion that it is neither, but a combination of nature, nurture, and spirit that defines what it means to be human. Using symbolic imagery, Maynard James Keenan, in his song "The Humbling River," presents this idea, metaphorically describing how this combination of forces, as the sum of our fundamental nature, animates the will to power and will to meaning, and the The main theme of his song is what must be done to transcend human nature. In the opening verse of the song, the singer introduces the idea that human nature is a combination of forces by saying: "Nature, nurture, heaven and home./Sum of all and driven by them » (Keenan). In this stanza, the word nature metaphorically represents the biological reality that human beings are animals that are part of the natural world. It further highlights the scientific understanding that human beings are motivated by natural biological imperatives in the same way as in the middle of the document… “country, crown and throne”. The words wealth and muscle are the angel's response to the singer's assertion that he has conquered the elements and again the angel says he must transcend the will to power to cross the river. Just as the angel said that he must open his heart and his hands, thus looking beyond himself, she now says that the hands of all must unite as one. It speaks of the "death" of those aspects of human nature that drive a drive for power and meaning in individual lives and of the transcendence of that nature in which the individual now sees himself as one with the rest and , in love, is interdependent. of humanity which, together, rises above human nature and is reborn in the "crossing".Works CitedThe Humbling River. By Maynard James Keenan. Rec. November 10, 2009. Puscifer Entertainment, 2009. CD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0YxeTjFn70