Comments on THE Interview

    There is a lot to digest here, and we suggest that this ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation really does get to the bottom of the human condition in all its different manifestations.     As THE Interview explains, the issue of the human condition — whether we are fundamentally good or bad — has historically been the most terrifying of all subjects to face, which is why humans have necessarily lived in almost total denial of it. When that denial is challenged, an extremely angry or dismissive response is not unusual and has been well documented in reactions to this material.     What is being presented is not belief, ideology or faith, but a fully accountable biological explanation for why, when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless, humans are instead so angry, competitive and selfish. It is an explanation of reality, not an escape from it. As WTM FAQ 1.9 'Why people can have confidence in the bold claims made about biologist Jeremy Griffith’s work' explains, Professor Harry Prosen, a former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, has endorsed the significance of Jeremy Griffith’s treatise, saying “I have no doubt Jeremy Griffith’s biological explanation of the human condition is the holy grail of insight we have sought for the psychological rehabilitation of the human race.” So while initial scepticism is warranted about the astonishing claims being made about this work the amazing fact is that they all withstand scrutiny. A person can begin reading the book and the more they read into it the more they will realise the claims being made are actually true as is evidenced by the ecstatic responses at the top of our homepage and the outstanding commendations this work has received from eminent scientists and thought leaders, here on our homepage. Also see FAQ 1.7 ‘What scientific support does this work have?’

Very interesting, can I give it a try?

We welcome your curiosity N. Shanahan and hope you watch THE Interview as it is the ideal introduction to biologist Jeremy Griffith’s breakthrough ‘instinct v intellect’ explanation of the human condition. Part 1 of this interview presents the explanation as quickly and simply as possible and FAQ 1.3 presents a very brief summary of the key ‘instinct vs intellect’ concept. Essentially, when we humans developed a conscious mind some 2 million years ago, a battle unavoidably developed between it and our already established instincts. The result of this conflict between our instinct and intellect was that we became psychologically defensive, angry, alienated and egocentric — the upset state we refer to as the human condition. But now that we can explain and understand this conflict, all those insecure, defensive behaviours are obsoleted, brought to an end, and we free ourselves from the human condition! In terms of THE Interview’s reach you can read the excitement and relief coming in from all around the world in the ecstatic responses it recieves each day and in the rapidly growing appreciation and support for Jeremy’s work from eminent scientists and thought leaders and the over 80 WTM Centre established globally. This is all on the World Transformation Movement homepage at HumanCondition.com. It is worth mentioning that as with any new scientific breakthrough it will take time to reach the whole world, and because the human condition has historically been such a terrifying realm, no-where is this resistance greater than when attempting to bring understanding to the human condition which is explained in our FAQ 1.14 about why this explanation isn’t yet mainstream.

Hi Sam, it is wonderful this explanation is resonating with you! Yes the selfishness and corruption in the world is immense however, as you are sensing, if we can explain and address the source of the problem we can solve it, and that is exactly what biologist Jeremy Griffith has done. What is so extraordinary about this breakthrough is we can now understand the fundamental reason why people want more than they need; we can now understand the source of greed and competition and the need for power. When the conscious mind went in search of knowledge a conflict between our instinct and intellect broke out, leading to an undeserved sense of guilt and insecurity that caused us to become psychologically defensive, angry, alienated and egocentric, the upset state we refer to as the human condition—a state we sought to alleviate through a competitive, selfish and aggressive bid for the reinforcement we could gain from winning power, fame, fortune and glory. But now that we can explain and understand this conflict and the guilt it produced, all those insecure, defensive behaviours are obsoleted, brought to an end, and we free ourselves from the human condition. We suggest these two FAQs will help as you digest this further.  FAQ 1.6 ‘Why does understanding of the human condition solve everything?’ and FAQ 1.40 ‘Aren’t the problems of the world too overwhelming to ever be fixed? / Isn’t it too late to save the world? / How can you hope to transform the world? — In particular, how are you going to change the behaviour of the rich and powerful? / How are you going to reach the bastions of power? / Won’t the greedy and power-hungry simply ignore this?’.

Yes Guarino, Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition brings biological understanding to religious accounts of our condition and at last reconciles science and religion so it is an incredible achievement. As you mention, Jeremy explains in THE Interview the story of Adam and Eve is a pre-scientific metaphor for the emergence of consciousness and its clash with our pre-established, cooperative loving instincts, resulting in humans becoming psychologically upset or ‘sinful’ or ‘evil’. However, significantly we can now understand, from scientific first principles, that ‘Adam and Eve’ were ‘good’ to search for knowledge, not bad or ‘evil’; we humans are actually the absolute heroes of the whole story! As Jeremy says in Part 2 "You see, not knowing how naturally selected instincts differ from cause and effect-operating consciousness, this story of Adam and Eve becoming conscious could only conclude that the angry, egocentric and alienated condition that emerged when we became conscious was a bad, evil, sinful state, but this scientific presentation says, ‘No, no, that pre-scientific story got it wrong’. Adam and Eve are actually not just good but the heroes of the whole story of life on Earth—because surely the conscious mind is nature’s greatest invention and to be given the task of searching for understanding while the whole world’s condemning you was the hardest and toughest of tasks—because that condemnation was universal... and yet all the time we were good and not bad but we couldn’t explain why, but now at last through the benefit of science, we can... We can now explain and understand that we conscious humans are immense heroes, and not villains after all. How relieving is that!"

Hi M. Thorne, while great care has been taken to present the explanation as quickly and simply as possible (which is done in Part 1) THE Interview also explains the very nature of the human condition means discussion of it can be initially difficult to access. This is because historically the issue of whether we are fundamentally good or bad has been the most terrifying of all subjects to face, and so we have necessarily lived in almost total denial of it, which means our minds can initially struggle to hear and absorb discussion about it. Wonderfully however, this ‘deaf effect’ can be overcome with patient perseverance and everyone can access this most wonderful of all gifts of understanding the human condition! See our FAQ 1.16 which includes the question ‘Why can’t I understand what this is all about?’.     Also, FAQ 1.3 presents a very brief summary of the key ‘instinct vs intellect’ concept. Essentially, when we humans developed a conscious mind some 2 million years ago, a battle unavoidably developed between it and our already established cooperative instincts. The result of this conflict between our instinct and intellect was that we became psychologically defensive, angry, alienated and egocentric – the upset state we refer to as the human condition. But now that we can explain and understand this conflict, all those insecure, defensive behaviours are obsoleted, brought to an end, and we free ourselves from the human condition. So we encourage you to continue watching THE Interview as what it presents couldn’t be a bigger breakthrough for humanity!

All the problems we’re experiencing on this planet, aside from natural phenomenon, like overpopulation, environmental devastation, genocide, terrorism, mass displacement of peoples, starvation, runaway diseases, gross inequality, ‘racial’ and gender oppression, polarised politics, rampant corruption and other crimes, drug abuse, family breakdown, and epidemic levels of obesity, chronic anxiety, depression, unhappiness and loneliness etc etc, are all symptoms of a deeper problem. So to truly save the world from these problems we need to address and fix the underlying issue responsible for them, the human condition — our corrupted, psychologically upset state. Only the psychosis-addressing-and-solving, real explanation of the human condition can stop the destruction of our world and the disintegration of society that is happening everywhere we look, and this is precisely what biologist Jeremy Griffith has been able to deliver in THE Interview with his first principle-based biological understanding of the human condition. Solving this underlying issue of our destructive upset behaviour won’t stop natural disasters but it will certainly help us cope with and recover from them because, as Jeremy explains, instead of being selfishly preoccupied with power, fame, fortune and glory, all our energies will be freed to truly work together and focus on doing whatever it takes to end the suffering in all the corners of the world. We suggest our FAQ 1.5 ‘Why is understanding the human condition important to my life?’ and https://www.humancondition.com/wtm-faq-why-does-understanding-solve-everything/ ‘Why does understanding of the human condition solve everything?’.

Thank you for your comment Thonkush. What biologist Jeremy Griffith explains in this interview is that all humans are born with cooperative, selfless instincts (not competitive, selfish animal instincts) but now variously suffer from a psychosis due a conflict between our instinct and intellect. This conflict left humans with an undeserved sense of guilt and insecurity that caused us to become psychologically defensive, angry, alienated and egocentric, the upset state we refer to as the human condition. What is so important about this is we can now understand all human aggression and anger, in our individual lives right through to international conflicts – isn’t caused by having self-interested instincts but rather our psychologically upset state. And, most significantly, as Part 4 on THE Interview explains, a psychosis can be healed with understanding, so our psychologically upset human condition is fixable or changeable—not unchangeable. We suggest, that as you digest Jeremy’s understanding of the human condition you will see that the only way we could end our “negative” behaviour and bring lasting resolution to our conflicts, was through removing the insecurity and guilt that was driving that divisive behaviour, which is what Jeremy’s explanation makes possible. We suggest Freedom Essay 29 ‘Can human conflict ever be brought to an end?’ and FAQ 1.40 which addresses the questions of ‘How can you hope to transform the world? — In particular, how are you going to change the behaviour of the rich and powerful? / How are you going to reach the bastions of power? / Won’t the greedy and power-hungry simply ignore this?’.

Good on you Terrie – we love your enthusiasm. Our advice is to pursue this breakthrough understanding with patience and determination, and you will never regret it! Our World Transformation Movement homepage — HumanCondition.com — provides a wonderful road map to pursue your interest with all our key introductory material made freely available. You might want to subscribe to our weekly Freedom Essays which cover all the main subjects in Jeremy’s definitive book FREEDOM in wonderfully illustrated bite-sized portions. Also our extensive FAQ facility provides answers to commonly asked questions.

A lot of people feel that way at first Teresa — this is because historically the issue of whether we are fundamentally good or bad has been the most terrifying of all subjects to face, and so we have necessarily lived in almost total denial of it, so it can be a big thing to take in. The important part is that there’s no pressure to “accept” anything straight away. THE Interview introduces an entirely new framework of knowledge, a massive paradigm shift in how we view ourselves and our world, so we recommend people take it slowly and not rush ahead in themselves as it does take time to fully digest and integrate such a shift in thinking. Just sit with it, rewatch sections, and let the logic of the explanation settle. Once you see how the instinct–intellect clash created all the anger, egocentricity and alienation in us, the relief comes naturally. And avail yourself of the community on our Facebook Group who have all gone through this.

Hi Francis, it’s great you’ve watched THE Interview as it’s the ideal introduction to Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition. From there, at top of our World Transformation Movement homepage at HumanCondition.com, it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes subscribing to our mailing list where you will receive one email per week and occasional News Flashes. We also encourage people to join our Facebook Group to learn more about this amazing, human-condition-resolved new world. We are a not-for-profit organisation and make all our material and publications free to read online, watch, listen to and even download and print!

Thanks for your thoughts Nenad. You’re right that humans have spent a long time trying to understand ourselves — we’ve been “young” in that sense, searching to properly explain our own behaviour. What’s exciting about THE Interview is that it finally presents the scientific understanding we’ve been missing. By explaining the clash between our instincts and our emerging intellect, it shows why we became so conflicted — and why we no longer have to be. In that sense, humanity can finally grow up into secure maturity, because at last we can make sense of ourselves clearly and compassionately.

Thank you for your teaching. I am very much blessed with it. It gives a lot of understanding as to who we are. Thank you again.

What you’ve said about our longing for peace, love and happiness is true — but the reason humanity hasn’t been able to achieve it, despite thousands of years of effort, is that we’ve never properly understood the human condition. Without explaining why we became angry, egocentric and alienated, all attempts at change were working on the surface, not the cause. That’s the breakthrough THE Interview brings: a biological explanation that finally makes sense of our inner conflict. And while it’s true that it will take generations to heal the human condition, Part 4 of THE Interview — “How does the psychological rehabilitation of the human race that the arrival of understanding of the human condition finally makes possible actually occur?” — shows how this understanding lets us transform our own lives immediately. By explaining the very good reason our intellect had to defy our instincts, it makes our defensive anger, egocentricity and alienation redundant — opening the way to the loving, peaceful state you’re describing.

We’ve all been waiting for this moment. I am fortunate to be part of this generation that receive your first hand information, rational and up to date, answering my miserable questions on human condition.

    Thanks very much Vincent. As Part 4, titled ‘How does the psychological rehabilitation of the human race that the arrival of understanding of the human condition finally makes possible actually occur?’ explains it will take a number of generations for the upset within us to be completely healed but it also stresses importantly we can be immediately free of its effects. Certainly there is habituation to overcome and humans do find change difficult but at last we can understand our behaviour has been driven by a deep insecurity about our fundamental goodness or worth and so now that our goodness is biologically established we no longer have to behave insecurely and selfishly and can legitimately return to a selfless way of living. ‘Legitimately’ because we have the first principle science which liberates us to be honest about our conflicted upset state instead of denying or transcending it.      And while this necessarily has a slow start, humanity’s uptake of the explanation of the human condition has a fast finish as the selflessness it liberates in people will not only quickly solve all the problems on the planet, including teaching other people about this redeeming information, but the excitement and joy it brings means everyone will want to get on board as quickly as they can (see FAQ 1.6)! As Jeremy Griffith explains in his book FREEDOM chapter 9:9: “Although this new world for humans, which the World Transformation Movement has been established to facilitate, will, as has been stated, have a slow beginning because humans initially find it difficult even taking in or ‘hearing’ discussion about the human condition, once the WTM is discovered, word of it and what it offers every human and the world will spread like wildfire.’”

Hi Carlos, it’s great you’ve watched THE Interview as it’s the ideal introduction to Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition. From there, at top of our World Transformation Movement homepage at HumanCondition.com, it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes subscribing to our mailing list where you will receive one email per week and occasional News Flashes. We also encourage people to join our Facebook Group to learn more about this amazing, human-condition-resolved new world.

    As our FAQ 1.9 ‘Why people can have confidence in the bold claims made about Jeremy Griffith’s work’ explains, the astonishing claims being made about Jeremy Griffith’s work do warrant initial scepticism however they all withstand scrutiny as what he presents is 100% logic. People find once they begin exploring the explanation the more they do the more they realise the claims are actually true, and in time become appreciated for their forthright honesty in indicating where the solution to our problems lies — as the commendations Jeremy’s work has received from eminent scientists and thinkers attest.     In particular, you can know that Jeremy Griffith has at last got to the bottom of the human condition and found the redeeming explanation of it, because as he explains in paragraph 73 of FREEDOM, the ultimate test of any hypothesis is how accountable it is of our own lives – as the greatest of all physicists, Albert Einstein, once said that ‘truth is what stands the test of experience’. And so you can know that this is the breakthrough explanation of the human condition because once you understand the explanation and begin to apply it, you will discover it is so able to make sense of human behaviour it makes it transparent. This transparency of ourselves and our world—for example, the exposure of all our falseness—that this understanding of the human condition brings, is the ultimate ‘test of experience’ that confirms that the understanding being presented here is the long-sought explanation of the human condition. In this particular scientific study—the biological analysis of the human condition—we humans are the subjects, which means we can experience, feel and know the truthfulness or otherwise of the explanations being put forward. And so, fantastic a claim as it may seem, you will find that what is being presented here is the long-sought-after, desperately needed, psychosis-addressing-and-resolving, human race-transforming explanation of the human condition.     And as is explained in FAQ 1.10: “Throughout FREEDOM it is demonstrated how the ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation demystifies not just the human condition, but all aspects of human behaviour. It quickly becomes clear that not only are the facts and logic underlying the ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation established and unarguable, the theory also has an extraordinary ‘explanatory power’, which is one of the essential qualities of a scientific theory.”

I totally agree and look forward to reading the book . Does it come in audio ?

Cingan, it’s great you’ve watched THE Interview as it’s the ideal introduction to Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition. From there, at top of our World Transformation Movement homepage at HumanCondition.com, it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes subscribing to our mailing list where you will receive one email per week and occasional News Flashes. We also encourage people to join our Facebook Group to learn more about this amazing, human-condition-resolved new world. We are a not-for-profit organisation and make all our material and publications free to read online, watch, listen to and even download and print!

Hi Nick, it’s wonderful to hear that the understanding of the human condition resonates with you. Yes, despite our competitive and selfish behaviour, deep down we humans have always intuitively believed we were fundamentally good, but we have never before been able to explain this contradictory, conflicted condition. That is the great breakthrough presented here. We recommend reading FAQ 1.13 ‘Is this original or new?’ which explains the unique significance of Jeremy Griffith’s work.

    Thanks Jami. Yes, as Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview, all humans suffer from the universal psychosis caused by the clash between our instinct and intellect. We became angry, egocentric and alienated or in a word ‘upset’ so all humans, to varying degrees, suffer from the human condition and therefore have ‘mental health’ issues. As psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, wrote: “the beauty of Griffith’s treatise is that the healing starts at the macro level of the universal human condition; the healing of the shame and blame that the whole human race has suffered from…It brings the greater context and love to all human psychosis and suffering, and then, from under the umbrella of that safe position, everyone can gradually work inwards to their particular experience of all the imperfections in human life that have now, finally, been made sense of” — see FAQ 1.34 ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s depression and psychosis?’ and also FAQ 1.35 on ‘Does this heal anxiety?’.     The key breakthrough of this understanding is we no longer have to be burdened by the fundamental question of whether we are good or bad because our core goodness as individuals and as a species has been biologically established. Our psychological upset was the price humans had to pay for searching for knowledge so the human story is the greatest, most heroic story ever told. That macro comforting truth looks after all humans now and we can treat ourselves with great compassion and kindness, and most significantly, we don’t have to overly confront the upset within us. This is summarised in our FAQ 1.19 ‘A caution about the danger of over-exposure / Advice for people with mental health issues’.

Good on your Dawid! Parts 2, 3 and 4 are equally fascinating and revealing as Part 1 so sending you lots of encouragement!

The transcript of THE Interview is available to read here on our website. You can access this via the ‘TRANSCRIPT’ link under the video of THE Interview at the top of our homepage or there is a ‘Transcripts of videos’ button under ‘The Main Videos’ also on our homepage. We hope you enjoy it Kathleen!

Yes Sandy in order to stop the suffering we see all around us and truly shed our negative attitudes we needed to sit down and understand our human condition — why, when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless, are we so competitive and selfish? It is this crux question that Jeremy Griffith confronts and answers through first principle biology because only through understanding the dark side of ourselves — why we departed from our all-loving instincts and became selfish — can we free ourselves from the human condition and legitimately love ourselves, each other and the world again. This new science represents the culmination of humans’ search for knowledge to “become enlightened” and “doing right” because we had to lose ourselves to find ourselves; we had to suffer becoming angry, alienated and egocentric until we found sufficient knowledge to explain ourselves. So at last we can be honest about the devastating self-corruption the search caused in us, which is initially “raw”, but we can understand it was an unavoidable consequence of humans’ necessary search for self-knowledge and see just heroic we have been! With this fully compassionate understanding now found, we can know we are good and can reconcile with our cooperative and loving instincts and our divisive behaviour can come to an end, see FAQ 1.5 ‘Why is understanding the human condition important to my life?'.

Sounds amazing and must be true. we cannot go on like this nor do we wish to. Why not strive for harmony on this planet? what stops us?

WHERE CAN I CLICK INTO FOR TO READ THIS NEW THEORISTS BELIEFS

     Absolutely. Jeremy Griffith shows that the core of the human condition is the clash between our instinctive, genetically-programmed orientations and our conscious, nerve-based mind. Our instincts were shaped in a long, nurturing past that oriented us to cooperative, loving behaviour, but our emerging intellect had to break from that programming in order to think freely and discover knowledge. That unavoidable conflict is what produced all the insecurity, anger, and egocentricity in human life.      What Jeremy provides is the biological explanation that finally reconciles those two systems — instinct and intellect — and in doing so removes the guilt and confusion that have burdened us for so long. Understanding that clash, and why it wasn’t anyone’s fault, is what allows genuine balance and psychological liberation.

Thanks Jared. And the extraordinary paradox is that we ‘save the world’ by understanding that it is not “rotten” at all. Certainly we are approaching endplay, where we are threatening to destroy our planet and everything we love, but we can now underand humans’ psychological upset was the price we had to pay for searching for knowledge and that the human story presents the greatest, most heroic story ever told. So we can bring great compassion and kindness to ourselves and others. And the truth is that this redeeming, compassionate and healing explanation of the human condition is SO liberating and SO exciting that it won’t be long be everyone realises that it is completely pointless to keep trying to compensate for their insecurity through the pursuit of power, fame, fortune and glory. Basically, so exciting and relieving is this breakthrough, and the freedom from the human condition that is now on offer, that everyone will want it, and so it will catch on like wildfire and this is already happening.

Mental peace

Great to have your interest, Mary. You can immediately access free electronic copies of Jeremy’s definitive book FREEDOM (along with his other key books, including THE Interview) to read, listen to or download on our World Transformation Movement homepage. You can also download free Kindle versions from Amazon. (Otherwise you can purchase hard copies from Amazon or other good bookstores.)

    Hi Frank, as mentioned to Martin below, the human condition has indeed created an extraordinary amount of anguish for people. As biologist Jeremy Griffith sets out in THE Interview, every human is born with cooperative, loving moral instincts, yet we all end up experiencing a universal psychosis that stems from the fundamental conflict between our instinctive orientation and our emerging intellect. This clash led us to become angry, egocentric and alienated — or, in short, ‘upset’. In that sense, all humans carry the burden of the human condition to differing degrees.     As psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen, former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, wrote in his Introduction to Jeremy’s main book, FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition: “the beauty of Griffith’s treatise is that the healing starts at the macro level of the universal human condition; the healing of the shame and blame that the whole human race has suffered from…It brings the greater context and love to all human psychosis and suffering, and then, from under the umbrella of that safe position, everyone can gradually work inwards to their particular experience of all the imperfections in human life that have now, finally, been made sense of.”     You can read more in FAQ 1.34, ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s depression and psychosis?’, and also FAQ 1.35 on ‘Does this heal anxiety?’ What these FAQs emphasise is that what’s transformative about Jeremy’s explanation is that we no longer have to carry the tormenting doubt about whether humans are fundamentally good or bad — our underlying goodness, both individually and collectively, has been biologically validated. Our psychological upset can be understood as the unavoidable cost of humanity’s heroic search for understanding.     With this explanation, we can finally make sense of the origins of our upset and relate to ourselves and others with much more compassion and gentleness. Importantly, we also don’t need to over-confront the pain within us — see FAQ 1.19, ‘A caution about the danger of over-exposure / Advice for people with mental health issues’.

    Thanks for your interest Elizabeth. As THE Interview explains, solving the human condition solves all the confusion, frustration and suffering in human life at its source so we can actually stop the destruction of ourselves and save the world. So it couldn’t be a bigger breakthrough and the difference it makes is enormous! We can now understand our behaviour has been driven by a deep insecurity about our fundamental goodness, so now that our goodness is biologically established we no longer have to behave insecurely and selfishly and can legitimately return to a selfless way of living. This is the rapidly transforming effect of being able to understand the human condition. We suggest the following FAQs: FAQ 1.5 ‘Why is this important to my life?’ and FAQ 1.6 ‘Why this solves everything?’     The following is an excerpt from FAQ 1.5: “It does not matter who you are, having understanding of the human condition will completely transform your life into the most wonderful existence imaginable. This is because biologist Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition gives you the ability, for the first time ever, to understand every aspect of human behaviour in yourself and in everyone else with 100% clarity and confidence. The explanation will change how you view humans, and most importantly yourself, literally overnight—and your behaviour will change naturally as a result, and just as quickly.”

    Yes, with the human condition now safely defended, we can admit the evidence, including that of the extraordinary bonobos, confirms our cooperative past, not a savage, ‘red in tooth and claw’ past as is commonly held. It is this instinctive heritage that forms the basis of our moral conscience or soul.     For example, in chapter 5 of his definitive book FREEDOM, Jeremy Griffith evidences that the cooperative and gentle bonobo represent a far better model of our human ancestors than the common chimpanzee. Both share approximately 99% of their DNA with humans, however bonobo physiology, bipedality, environment, intelligence and reduced canine size, better match our human ancestors. Reduced canine size is particularly relevant as it is arguably the outstanding features of the hominin clade, and universally accepted as an indication of reduced aggression. Fossil evidence of our cooperative past, including reduced canines, has lead the prominent anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy to write that “our species-defining cooperative mutualism can now be seen to extend well beyond the deepest Pliocene [well beyond 5.3 mya]”. As to how cooperative and nurturing the bonobos are, consider the following quotes, “they’re surely the most fascinating animals on the planet. They’re the closest animals to man [in that they share 99 percent of our genetic make-up]. They’re the only animals capable of creating the same “gaze” as a human. When you look at a bonobo you’re taken aback because you can see behind the eyes it’s not just curiosity, it’s understanding. We see human beings in the eyes of the bonobo…​Once I got hit on the head with a branch that had a bonobo on it. I sat down and the bonobo noticed I was in a difficult situation and came and took me by the hand and moved my hair back, like they do. So they live on compassion, and that’s really interesting to experience”. And, “Bonobo life is centered around the offspring. Unlike what happens among chimpanzees, all members of the bonobo social group help with infant care and share food with infants. If you are a bonobo infant, you can do no wrong…​Bonobo females and their infants form the core of the group.” We also recommend FAQ 5.2 if you would like to read about what bonobos tell us about our own evolutionary heritage.

Yes, and we suggest, that is exactly what is presented here. As Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview, all humans suffer from the universal psychosis caused by the clash between our instinct and intellect. We became angry, egocentric and alienated or in a word ‘upset’ so all humans, to varying degrees, suffer from the human condition. As psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, wrote: “the beauty of Griffith’s treatise is that the healing starts at the macro level of the universal human condition; the healing of the shame and blame that the whole human race has suffered from…It brings the greater context and love to all human psychosis and suffering, and then, from under the umbrella of that safe position, everyone can gradually work inwards to their particular experience of all the imperfections in human life that have now, finally, been made sense of” — see FAQ 1.34 ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s depression and psychosis?’.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts. What you’re touching on — conflict between groups, fear of invasion, the urge to defend or seize land — actually goes far deeper than race or territory. These selfish annd aggressive behaviours are manifestations of the human condition: the fact that humans became psychologically upset when our conscious intellect began conflicting with our older, instinctive orientation to love and cooperation.     Being unable to explain that inner conflict has meant that the whole human species became insecure, defensive and angry — and that insecurity is what drives wars, land disputes, tribalism, and the belief that safety can only come from rigid separation. The impulse to take land, or to protect land at all costs, is a symptom of that deep unresolved insecurity.     What is so extraordinary about the explanation of the human condition that is presented in THE Interview is that we can now see that our intellect had to defy our instincts , and by explaining the very good reason why it had to (which is that genes can orientate but nerves need to understand) all our defensive behaviours (our anger, egocentricity and alienation), are made redundant. It is this defence of our ‘dark side’ that brings an end to all this fear, division and territorial thinking, and brings about the peaceful world that we have all longed for.

Thanks for your interest Harry. What is presented is an accountable scientific, first principle-based, rational, testable understanding of the human condition, which has attracted the support of eminent scientists and thinkers around the world. FAQ 1.3 presents a very brief summary of the key ‘instinct vs intellect’ concept. Essentially, when we humans developed a conscious mind some 2 million years ago, a battle unavoidably developed between it and our already established cooperative instincts. The result of this conflict between our instinct and intellect was that we became psychologically defensive, angry, alienated and egocentric – the upset state we refer to as the human condition. But now that we can explain and understand this conflict, all those insecure, defensive behaviours are obsoleted, brought to an end, and we free ourselves from the human condition.

I like this comunity

Hi Martin, the human condition has certainly caused so much unbearable suffering for humans, it has been a deeply stressful and depressing reality. As biologist Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview, all humans are born with all-loving, moral instincts but we now suffer from a universal psychosis caused by the clash between our instinct and intellect. We became angry, egocentric and alienated or in a word ‘upset’ so all humans, to varying degrees, suffer from the human condition. As psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, wrote: “the beauty of Griffith’s treatise is that the healing starts at the macro level of the universal human condition; the healing of the shame and blame that the whole human race has suffered from…It brings the greater context and love to all human psychosis and suffering, and then, from under the umbrella of that safe position, everyone can gradually work inwards to their particular experience of all the imperfections in human life that have now, finally, been made sense of” — see FAQ 1.34 ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s depression and psychosis?’ and also FAQ 1.35 on ‘Does this heal anxiety?’. What is explained in these FAQs is that what is so significant about Jeremy’s explanation of the human condition is that we no longer have to be burdened by the fundamental question of whether we are good or bad because our core goodness as individuals and as a species has been biologically established. We can understand humans’ psychological upset was the price humans had to pay for searching for knowledge and that the human story presents the greatest, most heroic story ever told. We can at last understand the source of our upset and bring great compassion and kindness to ourselves and others and, most significantly, we don’t have to overly confront the upset within us — see FAQ 1.19 ‘A caution about the danger of over-exposure / Advice for people with mental health issues’.

Inspiration

    You’re pointing to something real, but it’s only the surface of the problem. People don’t choose ignorance because they’re lazy or irresponsible — they avoid the truth, ultimtely the truth about ourseles, because, without an explanation of the human condition, facing ourselves has always been unbearably confronting.     For as long as we lacked understanding of why humans became angry, egocentric and alienated, any attempt at “growth” felt like walking straight into guilt and condemnation. So denial wasn’t a moral failure — it was a psychological survival mechanism.     This is where Jeremy Griffith’s instinct-vs-intellect explanation changes everything. By finally explaining why our behaviour became corrupted — and showing that our upset was unavoidable, not sinful or bad — it removes the fear that kept people in avoidance. Once our goodness is biologically defended, the need for denial dissolves. People can look at themselves without terror, and genuine responsibility becomes possible for the first time.

It’s very true... thanks for brightening up the mind

    Thank you for your consideration Francis. What biologist Jeremy Griffith explains is that our species has a loving and cooperative past, which we suggest the evidence for is now incontrovertible, and that our current unloving and competitive behaviour is not a product of savage animal instincts within us, but the result of a universal psychosis caused by the unavoidable clash between our instinct and intellect. For example, it is now clear that on the basis of physiology, bipedality, environment, intelligence and reduced canine size, that the cooperative and gentle bonobo chimpanzee represents a far better model of our human ancestors than the common chimpanzee (Jeremy explains this in Part 2 of THE Interview and the evidence is presented in detail in chapter 5 of his definitive book FREEDOM). Reduced canine size is particularly relevant as it is a defining features of the hominin clade, and universally accepted as an indication of reduced aggression (of all the non-human primates, bonobos have the smallest canines). All this evidence has lead the prominent anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy to write that “our species-defining cooperative mutualism can now be seen to extend well beyond the deepest Pliocene [well beyond 5.3 mya]”. In FREEDOM Jeremy also includes analysis of the sensitivity and gentleness of so-called primitive peoples, such as the San Bushmen and the Australian Aborigines, as well as evidence from mythology of a ‘golden age’ of innocence in chapter 2:7. There is also evidence provided by the astonishing sensitivity to paleolithic rock painting in chapter 8:11C. The entire chapter 8 is a revealing application of the ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny principle to human evolution, showing a journey from innocent childhood to psychologically upset adulthood.     Even though other animals display various levels of socialness, genuinely cooperative, unconditionally selfless genetic traits are self-eliminating, and therefore cannot normally develop in animals—which means animals are not normally able to cooperate beyond situations of reciprocity or kin selection. Part of the brilliance of Jeremy’s treatise is he explains how humans biologically overcame this genetic limitation through what he identifies as the ‘love-indoctrination’ process, which produced our all-loving, altruistic instincts and he uses the example of the bonobos, who have developed this ‘love-indoctrination’ process to a lesser degree. So while there are remnants of selfish reciprocity, sexual opportunism and aggression in bonobo behaviour, as indicated in THE Interview and evidenced above, they are extraordinarily nurturing, gentle and cooperative and far less aggressive than common chimpanzees. In Part 3 of THE Interview Jeremy explains how the selfish process of natural selection was able to create loving selflessness in our forebears through nurturing or this ‘love-indoctrination’ process. It is absolutely fascinating biology which is summarised in our FAQ 5.2 ‘How did we humans acquire our all-loving, unconditionally selfless moral conscience?/ What do the nurtured and cooperative bonobos tell us about our own evolutionary heritage? / How do you account for reports that bonobos hunt and kill, and even that male bonobos are more aggressive than chimpanzee males?’     Without understanding of the human condition, humans have found the cooperative and gentle nature of bonobos, and our cooperative heritage, highly confronting of our own upset state (dealt with at length in FREEDOM chapters 5 & 6) and instead want to use chimpanzee’s aggressive nature as a model for human behaviour (which supports the false ‘savage instincts’ excuse addressed in this interview). This quote from primatologist Frans de Waal, who refers to the bonobos as ‘the forgotten ape’, supports this (see FREEDOM ch 6:6): “Two strategies have emerged to keep bonobos at a distance so as to preserve chimpanzee-based scenarios of human evolution, which traditionally emphasize warfare, hunting, tool use, and male dominance. The first strategy is to describe the bonobo as an interesting but specialized anomaly that can be safely ignored as a possible model of the last common ancestor... The second strategy, adopted by [Craig] Stanford, is to minimize the differences between the two Pan species: if bonobos behave, by and large, like chimpanzees, there is no reason to question the latter species’ prominence as a model”.     While humans do still possess very primitive reflexes, such as for ‘fight or flight’, beneath our altruistic instincts, these primitive reflexes do not control our behaviour beyond very narrow scenarios or threats. The truth is that our “violent” behaviour is not instinctive in any way; it is the result of a psychosis. We recommend reading FAQ 1.29 ‘Is the human condition biological or psychological’ and FAQ 1.46 ‘Isn’t the source of humanity’s problems the divided hemispheres of our brains?’     So all human aggression and anger, in our individual lives right through to international conflicts – is ultimately an expression of our psychologically upset angry, egocentric and alienated human condition. The only way we could end this destructive behaviour, and legitimately return to the cooperative and loving state humanity once lived in and we all long for, was through removing the insecurity that was driving that divisive behaviour, which is the solution Jeremy’s explanation makes possible, see FAQ 1.6 ‘Why does understanding of the human condition solve everything?’.