Desmond C. White August 11, 2008 CNSL 5023 Theory and Practice of Counseling Dr. Karen Osterholm Theoretical Orientation Paper Human Nature is defined as, the concept that there are logical characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that all human beings have in common. There are three branches that are associated with human nature which include sociology, psychology and sociobiology, with emphasis on psychology and developmental psychology. Much research has been done on human nature and its concept. Human nature is the range of human behavior that is believed to be normal and/or invariant over long periods of time and across very different cultural contexts. Currently there are a number of perspectives regarding the fundamental nature and substance of humans. My view of human nature encompasses many things which include free will, spirituality, morality, and purpose. Free will refers to the ability of humans to make genuinely free choices; this implies that these choices are fully caused by internal and external forces. Humans make choices that affect our lives on a everyday basis but one could argue whether these choices are free choices because sometime we make rational choices and sometimes we irrational choices, I think it depends on the situation that we may be facing at the time or what surrounds our decisions. Spirituality, in a sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, closely related to religious belief and faith, spirituality matters are thus those matters regarding humankind’s ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which is beyond time and the material world. Spirituality