Comments on THE Interview

Hi Carolyn, thank you for your candour. 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, especially in one viewing. 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. Thankfully 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 'Why can’t I understand these ideas’. So we encourage you to re-watch THE Interview and also our 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. 

   Hi Parvez, great to have your interest. The explanation of the human condition does produce a huge paradigm shift in our thinking, so this critical new science does take time to digest, but as explained in Part 4 of THE Interview (titled ‘How does the psychological rehabilitation of the human race that the arrival of understanding of the human condition finally makes possible actually occur?’), while the upset within us will take generations to be completely healed, importantly we can be immediately free of its effects. We can at last 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. This is the rapidly rehabilitating and transforming effect of being able to understand the human condition. Our FAQs 1.4 to 1.6 are helpful as they talk about the far-reaching practical applications of this understanding. This is further explained in Freedom Essay 15 ‘How our lives can be immediately transformed’, while the Transformation section of our website is brimming with invaluable insight, counsel and personal affirmations.

   We also encourage people to join FIX THE WORLD’s Facebook Group as it provides a wonderful platform for participating in, or just observing, interesting and exciting discussion with others about how we can live with this critical new science.

We appreciate you taking the time to comment, Steve, and your concern for humanity’s future. Until we could solve the source of the self-destruction we couldn’t stop its trajectory, but Jeremy Griffith actually has got to the bottom of the problem. As the renowned psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen said: “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” (there are more commendations from thought leaders here on our homepage). You may find FAQ 1.40 helpful as it addresses the questions of ‘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?'

THE Interview explains our instinctive self or soul is perfectly aligned to a loving and selfless way of living, so that is innate in all humans – but the critical question is why did we leave and corrupt that original loving state? Ultimately we needed to find the scientific explanation for why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are we so angry, competitive and selfish. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is the great biological breakthrough Jeremy Griffith presents here and his book FREEDOM.

   As Professor Harry Prosen, former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, has said about the plight of the world that “the fastest growing realization everywhere is that humanity can’t go on the way it is going. Indeed, the great fear is we’re entering endgame where we appear to have lost the race between self-destruction and self-understanding.” The point he is making is that we need answers, especially about ourselves, and we need them urgently.

   Jeremy Griffith’s work explains that all the crises that the world faces, such as war, environmental destruction, drug and mental-health epidemics etc are merely symptoms of a deeper problem and will not fundamentally change until we end the underlying insecurity that is driving it all, which is exactly what Jeremy’s explanation of the human condition in THE Interview does. With our goodness biologically established all our insecurity and subsequent anger, egocentricity and alienation, is made redundant; we no longer have to behave insecurely and selfishly and can legitimately return to a cooperative, peaceful way of living, and all the terrible problems besetting the world will be able to be fixed, almost overnight!

   Hi Me, the human condition has certainly been such a deeply tragic journey full of so much unthinkable pain and suffering that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and other mental health conditions, are unfortunately very common. What is significant about biologist Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition is we can at last understand the source of the human races’s psychologically upset or corrupted condition. We no longer have to be burdened by the fundamental question we all have struggled with of whether we are good or bad anymore because our fundamental goodness as a species has been biologically established (which THE Interview summarises). That macro truth looks after all humans now and we can treat ourselves with great compassion and kindness and know that what happened to us in our lives was because the human condition caused a level of upset in humans so great it can cause horrifically traumatic events or situations. As our FAQ 4.2 ‘Aren’t some people just born psychopathic, or even ‘evil’?’ explains: “At long last we have the reason for humans’ capacity for shocking acts of cruelty, sadism, hate, murder and warfare—we now know the source of the dark volcanic forces in us humans” but “Importantly, this understanding of why we became upset as a species does not condone or sanction ‘evil’, rather, through bringing understanding to humans’ upset behaviour, it gives us the power to ameliorate and thus subside and ultimately eliminate it—and, in the short term, to transcend all that upset and take up a transformed life in complete support of an anger, egocentricity and alienation-free world.” 

   So at last we have the biological understanding of ourselves to bring about the psychological rehabilitation of the human race. As the distinguished psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen (who wrote the Introduction to Jeremy’s definitive book FREEDOM) said, quoted in our FAQ 1.34 ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s psychosis’: “What Griffith is presenting is understanding of the source insecurity that the whole human race suffers from for having destroyed our species’ innocent soul. It is a universal self-blame that his understanding at last provides healing insight into. All human behavior is saturated with that universal insecure, depressing state and resulting anger, egocentricity and alienation that has developed from it, but we finally have the compassionate foundation insight needed to dismantle all that ‘upset’/psychosis. So the real psychotherapy of our collective and individual psychoses can begin”. Also FAQ 1.35 ‘Does this heal anxiety?’ and the beginning of Jeremy’s book, Therapy For The Human Condition provide further valuable discussion about understanding the human condition and mental illness.

   It is important to stress explanation of the human condition is extremely relieving and healing but also necessarily extremely confronting of all the psychological upset and denial that the human condition has caused, to varying degrees, in humans. As upset sufferers of the human condition this is something we all need to be mindful of because it can be destabilising, especially for those with a history of psychological instability or extreme trauma. This is explained in our FAQ 1:19 ‘A caution about the danger of over-exposure’ which also urges people to seek the ongoing support of professional help and stresses any information we do provide should not be used as, or as a substitute for, professional counselling. 

Yes, as THE Interview explains the human condition has been the most terrifying of subjects to face because it is the issue of whether we are fundamentally good or bad as a species, and we have necessarily lived in almost total denial of it so there is a lot to consider and digest which takes time.

Thank you for your feedback Cristina. While great care has been taken to present the information as quickly and simply as possible (which is done in Part 1 of THE Interview), explanation of the human condition can be initially difficult to access. This is because it has been the most terrifying of subjects to face as it is the issue of whether we are fundamentally good or bad as a species, and we have necessarily lived in almost total denial of it. We suggest looking at The Great Guilt where Jeremy Griffith explains this initial ‘deaf effect’ and how to overcome it. Also FAQ 1.3 presents a very brief summary of the key ‘instinct vs intellect’ concept.

Great quote thanks Peter. We can now understand why our “Superior Reasoning Power”, the conscious mind, which is surely nature’s greatest invention, led to the emergence of the human condition, which is the ‘good and evil’ stricken duality that plagues our existence. When our conscious mind emerged and began experimenting in self-management, it came into conflict with our pre-established instincts, causing us to become psychologically upset, which is the source of our divisive behaviour. Our capacity to create “unimaginable horrors” is not driven by us having savage animal instincts “like any other animal” but by a psychosis caused by a clash between our intellect and cooperative instincts. So we can now understand that all human selfishness and indifference is psychological in origin and ultimately an expression of the human condition. Importantly, a psychosis is changeable as it can be healed through understanding—a revelation that can transform the human race!

   Hi Alan, what Jeremy Griffith explains is that all humans are born with loving and moral instincts, not savage animal instincts, but now variously suffer from a psychosis due to the human condition caused by the conscious mind’s necessary search for knowledge. In Part 3 especially Jeremy evidences this key biological distinction that humans suffer from the conscious-mind-based, psychologically troubled human condition, not the genetic-opportunism-based, animal condition. And, most importantly, as Part 4 explains, a psychosis can be healed with understanding, so our psychologically upset human nature is fixable or changeable—not unchangeable, which is what it would essentially be if our competitive and aggressive nature was instinctive; if it was something that is in our genes and we were born with. 

   While it is true that due to their circumstances, some individuals have less exposure to the human condition than others, and are therefore less psychologically upset than others, by this stage of the human journey everyone suffers from the human condition. The evidence of this is stark, just look at the destruction of our world and the disintegration of society that is happening all around us. As Jeremy says in THE Interview, “While we have learnt to significantly restrain and conceal—‘civilise’ as we refer to it—the phenomenal amount of upset within us, under the surface we all must be boiling with rage, and sometimes, when our restraint can no longer find a way to contain it, that anger must express itself—hence our capacity for shocking acts of cruelty, sadism, hate, murder and war.” Importantly, this understanding of why we became upset does not condone or sanction our destructive behaviour, rather, through bringing understanding to it, it gives us the power to ameliorate and thus subside and ultimately eliminate it, see our FAQ 1.38 Aren’t some people just born psychopathic, or even ‘evil’?.

Hi Joe, thank you for your interest. We suggest our reply to Diane, directly below, will help you see how this ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation of the human condition gives the mind the knowledge you are talking about. As Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview all humans are born with loving moral instincts but we all now variously suffer from a psychosis due to the human condition and this psychologically conflicted state produces our ‘upset’ behaviour. What is so extraordinary about this explanation is that it explains the real reason for why humans’ selfish, competitive and judgemental behaviour became an unavoidable, indeed necessary, part of human life. That is why it is so powerful: it actually allows us all to reconcile the selfish madness of the world, and in ourselves, with ideality. And by explaining the very good reason why our intellect had to defy our instincts, it makes redundant our ‘upset’ defensive behaviours of anger, egocentricity and alienation, and the shame and guilt we carry for not being ideal, which is what makes it totally different to pseudo idealistic demands that we all just behave cooperatively. (See FAQ 6.5 which explains the critical difference between Jeremy’s work and the New Age Movement.) As the highly respected 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). We also suggest our FAQ 1.6 ‘Why does understanding of the human condition solve everything?’.

Hi Diane, given you’ve been searching for understanding for such a long time it’s exciting you have come across FIX THE WORLD and are interested in THE Interview with biologist Jeremy Griffith (which is freely available to watch, read or listen to at the top of our homepage HumanCondition.com). We suggest that what is unique about Jeremy’s work is that he has answered the essential question, which has eluded us, of why when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless are we so competitive and selfish!? Our endeavours in philosophy, psychology and biology have failed, until now, to provide a truthful, real, fully accountable, genuinely clarifying explanation. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is what Jeremy’s treatise does and why it is heralded as the great biological breakthrough that can fix the world. You might like to read the astonishing commendations Jeremy’s work has received from a broad range of eminent scientists, thought leaders and members of the general public on our Commendations page. We also recommend FAQ 1.13 ‘Is this idea original or new? / How does biologist Jeremy Griffith’s ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation of the human condition differ from other theories that recognise these elements?’

Hi Kathryn, yes Jeremy Griffith’s work is totally enlightening, so much so we no longer have to imagine living as one, we can live as one as we have the science that explains us at last! The question of the human condition is WHY do we no longer live harmoniously — why when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless are we so competitive and selfish? It is this crux question that Jeremy 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 and alienated from nature and each other—can we free ourselves from the human condition and legitimately love ourselves and each other again. This is the critical difference between Jeremy’s work and the new age movement, see FAQ 6.5.

Hi Lynn, as you intimate, what becomes clear on digesting this explanation of the human condition is that all humans, not just politicians, suffer from the psychologically upset state of the human condition. 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 at last we have the first principle science which liberates us to be honest about our conflicted upset state instead of denying or transcending it.

Hi Moses, 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 FIX THE WORLD 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!

   Thank you for your heartfelt and sensible comment Mia-Louise. It is absolutely wonderful you have tested and verified this explanation for yourself as that is exactly what we encourage everyone to do. You might also like to explore the extraordinary commendations Jeremy’s work has received from a broad range of eminent scientists and thought leaders on our Commendations page on our website.

   Yes, it will take generations to completely heal the human race, but as Jeremy says in Freedom Essay 15 ‘How you life can immediately be transformed’, “It is this particular undeniable consequence of the arrival of understanding of the human condition of the transformation of our lives from living selfishly and competitively to living selflessly and cooperatively that is going to eventually catch on as being the right response now for everyone and when it does, it will spread like wildfire across our planet, and save the world. And it is not a revolution that involves warfare and bloodshed like so many revolutions in the past, but a peaceful revolution that is driven by irrefutable knowledge/understanding. We humans are conscious beings and what consciousness needs is understanding, and now we have it. Ultimately, we humans respond to knowledge—anything less was bound to be ineffective. This is the real and lasting transformation that the human race has lived in hope, faith and trust would one day occur. It is the revolution of our minds.” And this is happening! Along with the above mentioned commendations you can read the ecstatic responses THE Interview is receiving daily on our homepage and scroll down to see the rapidly growing appreciation and support with many reviews, interviews and articles about this explanation and over 80 FIX THE WORLD Centres all around the globe! 

   So it is clear there is nothing cult-like in the way this understanding is spreading as it is all logic-driven and allows for truly independent, open and free thinking for the first time, obsoleting any need for adherence to faith or dogma of any kind – as is explained in FAQ 3.11 titled ‘Why has FIX THE WORLD at times been persecuted for its work’.

We’re so pleased to hear how much THE Interview has helped you Rhonda, thank you for your heartfelt comment. 

   What is explained is that the human condition is the guilt and shame our species suffers from for having corrupted our loving and cooperative instinctive self and life and that this is a universal condition that arose in our species some 2 million years ago with the emergence of consciousness.

   What we are suggesting is that all humans, even though they express it in a myriad of different ways, suffer from this fundamental insecurity over their self-worth caused by the clash between our instincts and intellect. Whenever we have historically tried to think about the human condition it has seemed an overwhelming and depressing ‘extraordinarily complex and multifaceted concept’ with ‘many different philosophical, psychological, and sociological perspectives attached to it’, however, if you persevere with applying this instinct vs intellect explanation, the clarity of Jeremy’s explanation of the human condition, and the simple transparency about life that that provides, becomes very clear and actually very obvious. As WTM Patron Tim Macartney-Snape says, “[I have] this simple analogy, which serves as an accurate metaphor for untangling the human condition. This is one of my climbing ropes, which has been coiled in a way that makes it easy to undo, but, nevertheless, when it is lying in a heap like this it looks like a mess that you could never hope to untangle. In fact once you find the unlocking start point, which I have here, it all easily unravels as if by magic. So the inference is, that by finding the unlocking point of the seemingly impenetrable human situation it too will easily unravel. You are going to be absolutely amazed by what you are about to hear, by the power of the idea to make sense of our human situation.” (see this Introductory Talk)

   Thank you very much, Gail, for your considered feedback.

   Yes, Part 1 of THE Interview begins with an exposition of the premier ‘alternative explanation’, which is that our competitive, selfish and aggressive behaviour is instinctive, the result of our genes need to compete for mating opportunities. But as Jeremy explains, “Surely this idea that we have savage competitive and aggressive, must-reproduce-our-genes instincts cannot be the real reason for our species’ competitive and aggressive behaviour because, after all, words used to describe our human behaviour such as egocentric, arrogant, inspired, depressed, deluded, pessimistic, optimistic, artificial, hateful, cynical, mean, sadistic, immoral, brilliant, guilt-ridden, evil, psychotic, neurotic and alienated, all recognise the involvement of OUR species’ fully conscious thinking mind. They demonstrate that there is a psychological dimension to our behaviour; that we don’t suffer from a genetic-opportunism-driven ‘animal condition’, but a conscious-mind-based, psychologically troubled HUMAN CONDITION.”

   We can now understand that while the corrupting search for liberating knowledge was underway religion played a significant role as both the custodian of the ideal state and as a means of solace for those exhausted by the corrupting journey. However, it follows that with the redeeming biological understanding of why we had to depart from our original innocence now found, those metaphysical, faith-based accounts that looked after us are now redundant. In fact, what people discover is Jeremy Griffith’s work actually reconciles science and religion by bringing biological understanding to pre-scientific concepts. In fact, it presents the fulfilment of a time that all religions looked forward to when we could actually explain ourselves, see FAQ 6.3 ‘Does this undermine religion/God’.

   With regad to the question of greed and whether humans can change their ways now that this redeeming understanding has been found, Part 4 of THE Interview, titled ‘How does the psychological rehabilitation of the human race that the arrival of understanding of the human condition finally makes possible actually occur?’, presents the answer to how this understanding allows us to transform our lives. It explains that 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. So instead of being focused on power, fame, fortune and glory, all our energies will be freed to truly work together on doing whatever it takes to end the suffering and save our world. How this healing is immediately open to us all is summarised in FAQ 1.5 and FAQ 1.40 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?’.

   For a very brief summary, we recommend FAQ 1.3 ‘What is biologist Jeremy Griffith’s ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation of the human condition?’

   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.

Clearly, while other animals have various levels of ‘awareness’, or are sentient and able to perceive or feel things, none are ‘conscious’ in the fundamental sense that none can consciously manage events like humans can. Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview that consciousness means being sufficiently aware of how experiences are related to attempt to manage change from a basis of understanding cause and effect, and so it is accurate to describe humans as the only animals possessing ‘fully conscious minds’, see FAQ 5.5 ‘Aren’t other animals capable of conscious thought like humans? / How can you say humans are the only fully conscious animals?’ Also we recommend Chapter 7 of Jeremy’s definitive book FREEDOM which provides a comprehensive explanation of how full consciousness developed in humans as a result of nurturing or the love-indoctrination process which is absolutely fascinating (summarised in FAQ 5.4 ‘What is consciousness? / Why is it that humans became conscious while other animals haven’t? / How did consciousness emerge in humans?’).

   The human condition is the study of humans capacity for acts of both so-called ‘good and evil’. It is the realm of inquiry where science and religion overlap, so in explaining the human condition religion is also explained. This represents a reconciliation of science and religion, see FAQ 1.15.

   The real issue here is the difference between a more literal fundamentalist interpretation of scripture and our more biological, science-based interpretation. If you prefer the more literal interpretation then we respect your right to do that, as we hope you’ll respect our right to a science-based interpretation.

The idea that becoming conscious of our mortality underpins the human condition does not take into account that our ancestors were not originally psychologically upset and at odds with their instinctive self and the rest of the universe which was aligned with that instinctive self, and therefore were not afraid of death. As Jeremy explains in Part 5.2 of Freedom Expanded Book 1, “When we were innocent we were so in tune with everything around us and so happy inside and so alive that death was not an issue. Death is only an issue when we live a wretched life, where we become so selfish that it matters if we die or not. Fear of death is a product of selfishness, which in turn is a product of alienation, which in turn is the loss of the generosity and meaning we once had before we became upset.” Yes, fear of death followed the advent of the human condition, it did not cause it, and when we humans are no longer tortured by the human condition, it will go.

Just follow your interest Robert and you won’t be disappointed! Our FIX THE WORLD homepage — HumanCondition.com — provides an initial guide to learn more (and it is all FREE, and no registration required). At the top of the homepage it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and leads 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!

Jeremy Griffith’s instinct vs intellect explanation of the human condition at last reconciles science and religion by bringing biological understanding to pre-scientific concepts. In fact what people discover is it is the fulfilment of a time that all the great prophets looked forward to when we could actually explain ourselves — see our FAQs about religion, which decipher religion, absolutely fascinating. The acclaimed physicist Charles H. Townes summed up this ultimate reconciliation of science and religion best when he wrote, “they [science and religion] both represent man’s efforts to understand his universe and must ultimately be dealing with the same substance. As we understand more in each realm, the two must grow together…converge they must.”

Hi Diane. While Christianity and other religions contain all manner of truths about human life, it is all from a pre-scientific view. Ultimately we needed to find the scientific explanation for why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are we so angry, competitive and selfish. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is the great biological breakthrough Jeremy Griffith presents. We suggest our FAQs on Religion might be of interest.

   Hi Reinoud, thank you for your thoughts and warm message for humanity. Firstly, it is important to clarify that Jeremy Griffith’s work doesn’t contradict a belief in religion or God. In fact Jeremy has a deep respect for religious scripture which he often considers to be a repository of extremely rare denial-free truth, containing all the truth about human life albeit from a pre-science view, which his work simply brings biological understanding to.

   So religions have been a repository of truth during humanity’s long corrupting search to find knowledge but importantly, as THE Interview explains, while religious accounts may describe our condition ultimately we needed to find the scientific explanation for it. Specifically why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are we so angry, competitive and selfish. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is the great biological breakthrough Jeremy Griffith presents here. We suggest FAQ 1.13 ‘Is this idea original or new?’ which explains it was only through finding the rational, accountable, scientific understanding of our condition that we could finally bring peace to it. In fact, what people discover is that this represents a fulfilment of a time that all religions looked forward to when we could actually explain ourselves. This is all dealt with further in FAQ 6.3 ‘Does this undermine religion/God?’ which also stresses the great role religions have played in our individual lives and in humanity’s journey. 

   Also Jeremy’s Video/Freedom Essay 53 expands on thinkers (both ancient and contemporary) who, while they could not explain it, did recognise the instinct and intellect elements involved in creating the human condition. It includes the following passage about human’s original ‘golden age’ of instinctive innocence from the Mahabharata (of which the Bhagavad Gita is a part): ‘The Hindus of the Brahmanic period preserved the following in the Mahābharata: “The Krita Yuga was so named because there was but one religion, and all men were saintly; therefore they were not required to perform religious ceremonies. Holiness never grew less, and the people did not decrease. There were no gods in the Krita Yuga, and there were no demons… Men neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labor, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of desires… In those times, men lived as long as they chose to live, and were without any fear of Yima (the god of Death)… Being all like gods, they ascended to the sky and returned at will… Self-subdued and free from envy, they beheld the gods and the mighty prophets, and had a clear perception of all duties.” …And in the Vaya Purāna it is written: “They were characterized neither by righteousness nor unrighteousness…they moved about at will and lived in continual delight.”’ 

Hi Candy, thank you for your comment. 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, especially in one viewing. 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. Thankfully 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 'Why can’t I understand these ideas’. So we encourage you to re-watch THE Interview and also our 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. 

Thank you for your comment Eva. Not only can we now understand that our original instincts are to live together peacefully and selflessly amongst nature but what is even more significant is we can also understand that our angry, egocentric and alienated behaviour was an unavoidable, indeed necessary, part of human life! This is what is so significent and why this understanding has the power to fix us and the world. It defends our so-called ‘dark side’ and explains that despite all appearances to the contrary, that apparently ‘bad’ behaviour has been ‘good’! We had to suffer self-corruption in order to continue the search for knowledge in order to one day find this redeeming understanding of ourselves. Finally, with this understanding, we no longer have to continue with our selfish behaviour, because it was all born out of insecurity over our self-worth. Knowing why our intellect had to defy our instincts makes redundant our defensive behaviours of anger, egocentricity and alienation, allowing us all to return to the loving, selfless way of living you crave! We suggest you will find the following FAQs helpful: FAQ 1.26 ‘What is soul, have we all got one, has it been repressed, and if so, how do we rehabilitate it?’ and FAQ 1.40 ‘How can you hope to transform the world? — In particular, how are you going to change the behaviour of the rich and powerful? / Won’t the greedy and power-hungry simply ignore this?’.

   The key insight that is presented by biologist Jeremy Griffith in THE Interview is that when our conscious mind emerged it came into conflict with our pre-established all-loving, moral instinctive self or soul (what some term ‘innerstanding’), which in effect criticised the conscious mind’s experiments in self-management. This ‘criticism’ caused us to become insecure and defensive; as a result we became psychologically upset, angry, egocentric and alienated. Now that Jeremy has explained and defended human’s upset angry, egocentric and alienated condition we can at last reconcile our conscious thinking mind with this instinctive, moral denied part of ourselves and bring our soul back to life. We recommend FAQ 5.2 ‘How did we humans acquire our all-loving, unconditionally selfless moral conscience?’ and also FAQ 1.26 ‘What is soul, have we all got one, has it been repressed, and if so, how do we rehabilitate it?’.

   So ultimately ‘understanding’ is paramount to solving the human condition as it allows us to reconcile our divided selves and embrace our ‘innerstanding’ or the truthful world of our soul. To quote from FAQ 1.36 ‘Does the search for knowledge now end?’: “The explanation of the human condition is the fundamental understanding our conscious mind has been in search of ever since we corrupted our innocent instinctive state, because it was only by finding that redeeming understanding that we could end the underlying guilt and insecurity from destroying that original innocent state that lies at the heart of everyone’s psychosis (soul-illness) and neurosis (mind-illness). Having found this key explanation does not mean that the search for knowledge now ends however, instead, as Jeremy Griffith explains in paragraph 1136 of FREEDOM, being at last free of that fundamental insecurity, it can now progress in a healthy, truthful way: ‘Of course, the search for knowledge will continue, but not from a basis of dishonest denial, and with the key piece of knowledge we needed found of the explanation of the human condition, the priority for the immediate future will be—as will be explained in the next chapter—to take up the human-condition-reconciled Transformed Way of Living.’ (You can read about the Transformed Way of Living in Section 4 of the FAQs.)

   Having the redeeming, reconciling explanation of why our conscious mind had to defy our original ideal-behaviour-insisting instinctive self or soul does not mean our instincts will stop continuing to seek to impose their selfless, loving and cooperative orientation. However, being able to now understand the very good reason why the conscious mind has to search for knowledge means that these instinctive directives will no longer be interpreted by the conscious mind as ‘criticism’, and so it will no longer be psychologically upsetting; indeed our instinct’s/ conscience’s feedback will forevermore be wonderful ‘guidance’.” 

Just follow your interest Silvia, and you won’t be disappointed! The more you digest Jeremy Griffith’s ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation, the more you will realise how accountable it is in getting to the source of all humanity’s psychological upset thereby opening up a whole new world free of the human condition!! Our FIX THE WORLD homepage — HumanCondition.com — provides an initial guide to learn more (and it is all FREE, and no registration required). At the top of the homepage it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and leads 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 which provides a wonderful platform for participating in, or just observing, interesting and exciting discussion with others about how we can live with this critical new science.

Thank you for your thoughts Margaret. As THE Interview mentions Jeremy Griffith’s treatise explains, from first principle biology, that the nature or meaning of life is integration or order (see our FAQ 5.3 ‘What is the integrative meaning of life’) but how could we entertain that when we are so out of order with the world. Ultimately we needed to find the scientific explanation for why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are we so angry, competitive and selfish. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is the great biological breakthrough Jeremy presents in this interview. We can now understand all humans are born with loving moral instincts (not savage animal instincts) but now variously suffer from a psychosis due to the human condition caused by the conscious mind’s necessary search for knowledge. And, most significantly, a psychosis can be healed with understanding, so our psychologically upset human nature is fixable or changeable—not unchangeable. As Jeremy says in Part 1: “And it is actually really good news that our behaviour is due to a conscious-mind-based psychologically troubled condition because psychoses can be healed with understanding. If our competitive and aggressive behaviour was due to us having savage instincts then we would be stuck with that born-with, hard-wired, innate behaviour. It would mean we could only ever hope to restrain and control [or “nail” down] those supposedly brutal instincts. But since our species’ divisive behaviour is due to a psychosis, that divisive behaviour can be cured with healing understanding. So that is very good news. In fact, incredibly exciting news, because with understanding we can finally end our psychologically troubled human condition. It’s the understanding of ourselves that we needed to heal the pain in our brains and become sound and sane again.”!

Hi Ermilisa, thank you for your comment. As biologist Jeremy Griffith explains in this interview prior to having the redeeming understanding of our disharmonious behaviour we have had to live in denial of our harmonious heritage because it was just too confronting. As Jeremy says in Part 2: “we’ve had to live in denial of our corrupted, psychologically upset condition while we couldn’t explain it”. However now that the human condition has been solved, we can admit we have all-loving and moral instincts (not savage animal instincts) because we have the reconciling, redeeming and rehabilitating understanding to fix our upset behaviour and therefore fix the destruction it has caused in the world. To quote our FAQ 1.6 ‘Why does this understanding solve everything?’ "So, in a world fast going crazy from the effects of the human condition, this is the now desperately needed reconciling understanding that brings about a new world for humans FREE of the agony of the human condition. This is the understanding that ends human suffering at its source, and unites the human race."

   We are very sorry to hear of your struggles Stephen. The human condition has certainly been such a deeply tragic journey full of so much unthinkable pain and suffering, especially for children. What Jeremy explains in this interview is that all humans are born with all-loving moral instincts (not savage animal instincts) but now variously suffer from a psychosis due to the human condition caused by the conscious mind’s necessary search for knowledge. What is significant about this is we no longer have to be burdened by the fundamental question we all have struggled with of whether we are good or bad anymore because our fundamental goodness as a species has been biologically established. That macro truth looks after all humans now and we can treat ourselves with great compassion and love ourselves at last because we now know that what happened to us as infants was not because we weren’t good enough or that we were unlovable but rather because the human condition caused a level of upset in humans that was so great they weren’t able to give the love our instincts expect. As Jeremy stresses in Part 4, which explains how we can rehabilitate ourselves and all of nature: “Well, what this real—and actually very obvious—instinct vs intellect explanation of the human condition fundamentally does is lift the ‘burden of guilt’ from the human race. It establishes that we humans are good and not bad after all. While we are all inevitably variously angry, egocentric and alienated from our different encounters with humanity’s heroic battle to find knowledge, ultimately self-knowledge, understanding of our corrupted condition, we can now know that every human is fundamentally good. And this ability to understand and know there was a good reason why the human race became psychologically upset, is the key, relieving understanding we have been in search of ever since we became conscious some 2 million years ago and our corrupted condition emerged. That is the key relief for our mind—being finally able to understand that we are good and not bad is what brings us the greatest psychological relief of all.”

   Also, you may find psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen’s response to the question ‘How does this understanding help an individual’s psychosis?' helpful. He 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, which is non-personal and thus more easily confronted, absorbed and accepted. 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. Explaining the human condition necessarily exposes the level of upset within ourselves and the world and importantly we don’t have to overly confront that upset within us as FAQ 1.19 ‘A caution about the danger of over-exposure / Advice for people with mental health issues’ summarises. 

   Hi Derek, thank you for your thoughts. In THE Interview Jeremy Griffith presents first principle-based, rational, testable, biological understanding of the human condition, there is no faith or belief system involved. Yes, as Jeremy explains in Part 2, the bonobos are “extraordinarily matriarchal, or female role focused, and extraordinarily nurturing”. Part of the brilliance of Jeremy’s treatise is he explains how humans biologically acquired loving, altruistic instincts through the ‘love-indoctrination’ process and uses the example of the cooperative and maternal bonobos. Importantly however, bonobos have not completed this process, as evidenced by their use of sexual appeasement behaviour to quell residual tension. Jeremy refers the audience to his definitive book FREEDOM chapter 5 where the love-indoctrination process is fully explained and this is summarised in FAQ 5.2 ‘How did we humans acquire our all-loving, unconditionally selfless moral conscience?/ What do bonobos tell us about our own evolutionary heritage?’.

   We suggest that the more one digests this explanation, the more they see that even though it is rational and accountable, it actually enhances the ‘spiritual’ dimension of life through making it understandable. You might find our FAQ 6.7 ‘How can a scientific explanation ever hope to account for and encompass the great ‘spiritual’ dimension we know exists in life? / Isn’t ‘spirituality’ beyond a purely rational explanation?’. We also suggest FAQ 1.26 ‘What is soul, have we all got one, has it been repressed, and if so, how do we rehabilitate it?’.

   In terms of humans egocentricity as Jeremy explains 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’, which in the extreme produces delusions of self-importance or meglomania in people. What is so important about this explanation is it finally explains the real reason for why humans’ competitive and power-hungry behaviour became an unavoidable, indeed necessary, part of human life. Proving we were better than someone else gave us validation and reinforcement to counter the deep insecurity we felt about having to become self-corrupted. And so competition, sustained by the incentives of materialism and capitalism, are what maintained humanity’s heroic search for knowledge, ultimately for self-knowledge. With our goodness and worth now biologically established, we no longer need to be preoccupied with proving our goodness and worth. 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 each other and fix the world. See FAQ 1.40 ‘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?’. As Professor Harry Prosen, psychiatrist and former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, said: “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.”

   While Christianity and other religions contain all manner of truths about human life, it is all from a pre-scientific view. Ultimately we needed to find the scientific explanation for why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are we so angry, competitive and selfish. Answering this question required finding the clarifying difference between the way the intellect and instincts work, and that is the great biological breakthrough Jeremy presents which actually reconciles science and religion, see FAQ 1.15 ‘If this is biology, why are there religious references?’. Also in Part 2 of THE Interview it is explained we can now understand it is science that is the liberator or saviour of mankind. The host Craig Conway summarises that, “science’s discovery of the way genes and nerves work has finally made it possible for the liberation of humanity from the horror of the human condition”, to which Jeremy replies, “Yes, that is the essential truth: science is the liberator, the so-called ‘messiah’ or ‘redeemer’ of humankind, as we always hoped it would be!” This explanation really does represent a huge demystification of ourselves and our world, which does take time to fully absorb, so we hope you find these links helpful in response to your comment Derek. 

Kelly, Jeremy Griffith’s work explains that humans’ selfishness and greed isn’t the cause of our problems, rather it is the result of a psychosis, caused by the clash between our instinct and intellect. And what is so extraordinary about the instinct vs intellect explanation of the human condition is that it defends our so-called ‘dark side’. We can understand the battle between our intellect and our cooperative instincts caused us to become psychologically angry, alienated and egocentric, the upset state we refer to as the human condition. Now that we can understand this conflict all those insecure behaviours, such as greed, are obsoleted, brought to an end, and we free ourselves from that state and can legitimately return to a cooperative 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. So instead of being focused on power, fame, fortune and glory, all our energies will be freed to truly work together on doing whatever it takes to end the suffering and save our world.

Thanks for your supportive comment Elisapeci. We will reach out to you about the possibility of playing THE Interview on Radio Viti.

   Thank you for your comment John and we hope the following links help with your consideration of this treatise.

   THE Interview explains all humans are born with loving moral instincts but we all now variously suffer from a psychosis due to the human condition and, in the extreme, that psychologically conflicted upset state produces psychopathic behaviour. Importantly, this breakthrough explanation doesn’t condone or sanction the horrendous atrocities humans can commit (what historically has been termed ‘evil’) rather, through bringing compassionate understanding to the source of humans’ upset behaviour, it gives us the power to ameliorate and thus subside and ultimately eliminate it. We suggest FAQ 1.38 ‘Aren’t some people just born psychopathic, or even ‘evil’? / How does this explanation rehabilitate people capable of ‘evil’ behaviour? / Does this condone ‘evil’ behaviour?’ and FAQ 1.40 ‘How can you hope to transform the world? / Won’t the greedy and power hungry simply ignore this?’

   We also need to draw a distinction between Trump and Putin. In his book FREEDOM, Jeremy explains the twin political problems we have are the brutality of the right-wing’s need to continue the corrupting search for knowledge free from too much condemning idealism, and the left-wing’s dishonest and deluded dogmatic imposition of pseudo-idealistic politically correct values. However, as THE Interview explains, freedom of thought and individualism, sustained by the incentives of materialism and capitalism which right-wing constitutions uphold, are what maintained humanity’s heroic search for knowledge, ultimately for self-knowledge. And so paradoxically it was the right-wing that actually held the moral high ground and the left-wing that posed the real threat to humanity due to the fact that its dogmatically imposed pseudo-idealism gravely endangers freedom of thought and the search for understanding. Now the core mystery and problem about human behaviour of our so-called ‘good and evil’-stricken human condition has at last been solved we can understand the real merits and liabilities of both the left and right wings of politics and bring the whole necessary but ugly business of politics to an end (see our FAQs about politics).