Comments on THE Interview

    Video/Freedom Essay 4 presents other thinkers throughout history who have recognised instinct and intellect elements involved in creating the human condition. However, while elements of the human condition have been recognised by these thinkers, what is unique about Jeremy’s synthesis is he actually solves the dilemma of human condition of ‘why, when the ideals are to be loving and selfless, are we so competitive and selfish?’ by clarifying the difference between the way the intellect and instincts work. And by explaining the very good reason why our intellect had to defy our instincts, it makes redundant our defensive behaviours of anger, egocentricity and alienation, allowing us to return to that loving ‘utopian' state! That is the great breakthrough consequence of Jeremy’s work.     With regard to the left wing, we recommend Jeremy’s latest book, Death by Dogma, which is freely available here on our homepage. It sets out clearly the biological reason for why left-wing ideology is so dangerous. It also summarises the whole history of so-called ‘pseudo idealism’ going back to when the upset state of the human condition first emerged some 2 million years ago.

    Thank you Brenda, the long-awaited arrival of the truth about our human condition produces a paradigm shift in our thinking — a great deal of sweeping change to adjust to in fact — so re-watching THE Interview, and then watching the video/essay series that follows it, is exactly what we recommend. Also, all of our key publications, including Jeremy Griffith’s definitive book FREEDOM, are freely available here on our homepage.     You may also be interested in registering for our free, live events with Jeremy Griffith and others and joining our popular Facebook Group.

Thank you for your interest and appreciation, Massimo. You may be interested in reading our FAQ 1.20, which outlines ‘What scientific evidence is there for this explanation’, as well as the commendations Jeremy Griffith’s work has received from extremely eminent scientists and thinkers. These commendations appear on our homepage — HumanCondition.com — where we also provide a guide to ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’. This includes registering for our free, live, interactive events with Jeremy Griffith and others and joining our booming Facebook Group.

Hi Margaret, while Christianity and other religions and ancient philosophies like Confuscianism contain all manner of truths about human life, and our quest for social harmony and world peace, they are coming 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 in THE Interview and his book FREEDOM.

Hi Renko, we recommend reading 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?”, as it explains the unique significance of Jeremy’s work.

    Hi Linda, we encourage you to pursue your interest because understanding the human condition is the great unlocking point in the human journey of conscious thought and enquiry and provides the real basis for personal development and a lasting freedom from the torment of not understanding ourselves. Its resolution leads at last to an incredibly exciting and meaningful world for everyone.     And to verify this, Jeremy Griffith’s key books, including THE Interview and FREEDOM, are freely available on our homepage here to read online, print and download. (You can also purchase hardcopies and download free Kindle versions from Amazon.)

    Thank you for your wonderful and erudite analysis, Mátyás. The only thing we would like to do is clarify your comment that “the solution the site offers is faith”. We are aware that you did explain that Jeremy Griffith’s synthesis “offers salvation through understanding”, however this work is so easily misrepresented as a ‘faith’ that we wanted to take the trouble to clarify that point. What Jeremy presents is first principle-based, rational, testable, biological understanding of the human condition. There is no dogma, faith or belief involved. FAQ 6.1 explains why this information, and the movement which supports it, is the antithesis of a religion.     You might also be interested in Video/Freedom Essay 4 on other thinkers who have recognised instinct and intellect elements involved in creating the human condition. While elements of the human condition have been recognised by many thinkers throughout history, what is unique about Jeremy’s synthesis is he actually solves the dilemma of human condition of ‘why, when the ideals are to be loving and selfless, are we so competitive and selfish?’ by clarifying the difference between the way the intellect and instincts work. That is the great breakthrough his work represents.

Yes, it is just extraordinary how much this understanding helps us in all aspects of our lives. At the top of our homepage — HumanCondition.com — it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes registering for our free, live, interactive events with Jeremy Griffith and others and joining our booming Facebook Group.

Thanks for your comments Cliff. We suggest that the more you digest this instinct vs intellect understanding of the human condition, including some of the very important associated truths, such as how God is the Negative-Entropy-driven integrative meaning of existence (which Jeremy refers to in THE Interview, and further refers the audience to chapter 4 of his book FREEDOM); and how our instinctive orienation is loving and cooperative, then I think you will see that it does reconcile with religious and mythological accounts of a ‘separation’ such as that in the Upanishads. The research of Richard Heinberg from his book Memories & Visions of Paradise that is included in THE Interview is relevant: “Every religion begins with the recognition that human consciousness has been separated from the divine Source, that a former sense of oneness…​has been lost…​everywhere in religion and myth there is an acknowledgment that we have departed from an original…​innocence and can return to it only through the resolution of some profound inner discord…​the cause of the Fall is described variously as disobedience, as the eating of a forbidden fruit [from the tree of knowledge], and as spiritual amnesia [forgetting, blocking out, denial, alienation, which is our psychosis]’ (pp.81-82 of 282). So all our religions and most of our mythologies have recognised the basic conflict within us—that the emergence of ‘consciousness’ caused our ‘Fall’ from ‘innocence’.”

Yes Des – and we would suggest that ‘relief’ is something of an understatement! Not only can we now understand that our original instinctive orientation is loving and cooperative, but we can also understand that our competitive, aggressive, even destructive, behaviour was an unavoidable, indeed necessary, part of human life. This understanding defends our so-called ‘dark side’ and explains that despite all appearances to the contrary, all humans are ‘good’. And by explaining the very good reason why our intellect had to defy our instincts, it makes redundant our defensive behaviours of anger, egocentricity and alienation, allowing us to return to that loving state!

Hi Bob, the comments on this thread are real and reflect a fair representation of the feedback we receive. This includes counter opinion, and critical and negative feedback, however we do reserve the right to moderate the comments to ensure the thread is as constructive as possible. As is explained under our ‘Submit comment’ box: “Please note, to ensure constructive discussion we moderate comments (which may take some hours) and may not publish any we feel are motivated by malice, or that make criticisms already addressed and repudiated, or ask questions already prominently answered on our comprehensive website with its many freely available books, essays and FAQs that can be easily searched electronically.”

It is astonishing to finally have the human condition solved and be able to legitimately return to our natural loving state. To do this science had to answer the the crux question of why when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless are we so competitive and selfish? This is what Jeremy Griffith has answered with his ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation and why it is heralded as the biological breakthrough that can save the world (see FAQ 6.5 which explains the critical difference between Jeremy’s work and the New Age Movement). Only solving the human condition can stop the destruction of our world and the disintegration of society that is happening everywhere we look (see FAQ 1.6).

We recommend reading 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?”, as it explains the unique significance of Jeremy’s treatise — which does bring new insight to the story of Adam and Eve. But whereas in that pre-scientific story Adam and Eve were portrayed as ‘bad’ or even ‘evil’ to take the fruit of knowledge, and treated as ‘sinful’, we can now understand that humans were ‘good’, even heroic, to search for knowledge, even though it caused us to become psychologically upset angry, egocentric and alienated sufferers of the human condition. As Jeremy says in Part 1 of THE Interview, “‘No, no, that story got it wrong’. Adam and Eve are actually not just good but the heroes of the whole story of life on Earth.” What science can now add to that pre-scientific description of the human condition is that our instincts in effect criticised the emerging conscious mind’s search for knowledge, but importantly, we can now understand that the conscious mind was right, or ‘good’ to defy our instinctive self in order to fulfil its great potential to manage life. While religious assurances, such as ‘God loves you’ in Christianity, provided comfort, they failed to explain WHY we are lovable, and it is that missing explanation that this breakthrough provides.

Thanks Pieter but it is important to clarify Jeremy Griffith hasn’t overlooked genetics at all. Jeremy’s treatise explains that human instincts are altruistic/ unconditionally selfless as a result of the love-indoctrination process; and while we do still possess very primitive reflexes such as for ‘fight or flight’ beneath those instincts, these primitive reflexes do not control our behaviour beyond very narrow scenarios or threats. What we can now understand is that the source of all our aggression and dysfunction is a clash between our instincts and intellect. Jeremy explains that when our intellect emerged, a clash between those two operating systems produced the psychologically upset, angry, egocentric and alienated state of the human condition. 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 (see FAQ.1.29 ‘Is the human condition a biological or a psychological problem?’). And as Jeremy explains in Part 1 of THE Interview, “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.”

Thanks Keith. The question screaming to be answered is WHY would we not do that! Why when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless, are we so competitive and selfish, to the extent that we have nearly destroyed ourselves and our natural world? It is this eternal question of the human condition that Jeremy Griffith has answered and why his work is heralded as the great breakthrough that can save the world—see FAQ 1.3.

Thank you very much Rev Dr Schroeder for your consideration. The instinct vs intellect explanation of the human condition is completely logical and accountable and demystifies many truths that have previously been enshrined in metaphysical descriptions, however the more you digest the explanation, the more you will see that it does not rob life or explanations of life of their ‘spiritual’ element. We thought you might find our FAQs about religion of interest, in particular 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?’

Very insightful. I will have to get more info and time to mentally digest it all before I give my feedback. Will need to read the book. Thank you.

While elements of the human condition have been recognised by certain thinkers throughout history, what is unique about Jeremy Griffith’s synthesis is he actually solves the dilemma of the human condition by clarifying the difference between the way the intellect and instincts work. He has answered the essential question of why, when the universal ideals are to be loving and selfless, are we so competitive and selfish, to the extent that we have nearly destroyed ourselves and our natural world. See FAQ 1.13 ‘Is this idea original or new?’ and also Video/Freedom Essay 4 on other thinkers who have recognised instinct and intellect elements involved in creating the human condition. With our dark side truthfully explained and defended we can finally love ourselves and bring about a rehabilitated world, free of suffering, for ourselves and future generations, which you can learn all about on our Transformation page. This is what Jeremy Griffith’s treatise does and why it is heralded as the great breakthrough that can save the world.

Great to have your interest Merle. The human condition is the study of humans’ capacity for so-called ‘good and evil’and is therefore the realm of inquiry where science and religion overlap, so in explaining the human condition religion is demystified and explained. Jeremy Griffith’s treatise actually reconciles science and religion by bringing biological understanding to pre-scientific concepts, see our FAQs about religion. And yes, as THE Interview explains, with the ever-increasing levels of upset in humans increasing so rapidly, virtually doubling now in each new generation, people could no longer cope with the honesty of religion and sought less guilt-emphasising forms of pseudo idealism, with the extremely dangerous and negative effect being the loss of the precious honesty originally imbued in religion. This is comprehensively explained in Jeremy’s main book FREEDOM chapter 8, in particular 8:16H.

Hi Daniel, thanks for your feedback. Jeremy Griffith treatise does bring new insight to the story of Adam and Eve. Whereas Adam and Eve were portrayed as ‘bad’ or even ‘evil’ to take the fruit of knowledge, and treated as ‘sinful’, we can now understand that humans were ‘good’, even heroic, to search for knowledge, even though it caused us to become psychologically upset angry, egocentric and alienated sufferers of the human condition. As Jeremy says in Part 1 of THE Interview, “‘No, no, that story got it wrong’. Adam and Eve are actually not just good but the heroes of the whole story of life on Earth.” What science can now add to that pre-scientific description of the human condition is that our instincts in effect criticised the emerging conscious mind’s search for knowledge, but importantly, we can now understand that the conscious mind was right, or ‘good’ to defy our instinctive self in order to fulfil its great potential to manage life. While religious assurances, such as ‘God loves you’ in Christianity, provided comfort, they failed to explain WHY we are lovable, and it is that missing explanation that this breakthrough provides.

It’s great you want to learn more Phiwe! At the top of our homepage — HumanCondition.com — it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes registering for our free, live, interactive events with Jeremy Griffith and others and joining our booming Facebook Group.

We would love to have your involvement Ngongo! Our homepage—HumanCondition.com—shows all the ways to pursue your interest and join our WTM Community including registering for our live events with Jeremy Griffith and joining our popular Facebook Group.

Thanks Zoran, it’s great to have your interest. At the top of our homepage — HumanCondition.com — it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and guides you through the steps to pursue your interest. This includes registering for our free, live, interactive events with Jeremy Griffith and others and joining our popular Facebook Group.

lets stick to facts ! we are here ! what you make of it is not fantasies, but real, however we came here? your a bid of dirt borrowed , and you go back to the same place eventually , with out emotions or awareness of past feelings . your goals are to make it better for your childeren , teach them , you can not do so enough , share your experience if they trust you they understand , if they do not , they have to learn for themselves the hard way ! but maintain there respect , there are more foxes and wolfs than there are lambs. dont feed them your childeren .

Hi Tom, it’s worth pointing out that while Buddhism 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 in THE Interview and his book FREEDOM. We suggest FAQ 1.13 ‘Is this original or new?’ which explains the unique significance of Jeremy Griffith’s work.

Great to have your interest Lesetja, Jeremy Griffith’s key books, including THE Interview and FREEDOM, are freely available on our homepage here to read online, print and download. You can also purchase hardcopies and download free Kindle versions from Amazon.

Yes, because the human condition comes down to human biology it is ultimately a question for biologists to answer, however, as Jeremy Griffith has written in one of his earlier books (A Species In Denial), “The demystification of our world doesn’t mean the specialness of our world is removed, rather it means the specialness is made more tangible. Mechanistic science, like all forms of denial, has largely been a process of stripping the beauty and truth from the world whereas the denial-free explanation of the world restores all that beauty and truth. It allows humans to live with a full awareness of, and ability to savour, the beauty of integration. It is alienation that is devoid of spirituality, not the truth.” You may also be interested in reading FAQ 6.2 ‘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?’

Hi Meshack, Jeremy Griffith’s key books, including THE Interview and FREEDOM, are freely available on our homepage here to read online, print and download. You can also purchase hardcopies and download free Kindle versions from Amazon. If you haven’t read it already, we thought you would find psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen’s response to the question ‘How does understanding the human race’s condition help with an individual’s depression and psychosis?’ helpful — see FAQ 1.34 — and also FAQ 1.35 on ‘Does this heal anxiety?’ What is explained in those FAQs is that what is so significant about Jeremy Griffith’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’.

Hi Des, it isn’t actually being suggested that we are descended from bonobos, simply that they represent a better model of our distant ancestors than chimpanzees. We know that the hominin line separated from the chimpanzee line approximately 8 million years ago, and then approximately 2 million years ago the bonobo line separated from the chimpanzee line. This is all explained in chapter 5 of Jeremy Griffith’s definitive book FREEDOM, which you would find fascinating. What is really important though, and which is also explained there, is that the cooperative and gentle bonobo represents a far better model of our human ancestors than the common chimpanzee. Basically, bonobo physiology, bipedality, environment, intelligence and reduced canine size, better match our human ancestors. 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]”.

Thank you, Patricia. Please see our response to Stephen Woodruff’s similar comment below. And we encourage you to visit our homepage — HumanCondition.com — as it provides an initial guide to learn more. At the top of the homepage it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and leads you through the steps to pursue your interest.

Hi Stephen, you might be interested in 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?’ It explains that “Even those who were most committed to defensively seeking validation through gaining power and material goods, including those entrenched in positions of power, will quickly realise how empty and obsolete that strategy is now that we have the fully accountable, psychosis-addressing-and-solving, real biological explanation of the human condition that proves our worth at the most fundamental level.”

Hi Giancarla, thank you for your comment. Jeremy Griffith’s books and essays are being translated into many languages around the world, thanks to wonderful efforts from the WTM’s ever-expanding global network of support. Unfortunately we don’t yet have any Italian translations but our Translations page shows all languages that are available. Also people can watch THE Interview (and all the videos on our website) using the closed captions or subtitles function in their native language (just click on the ‘cc’ icon at the bottom of the video player/window).

Thanks very much Charles, our homepage — HumanCondition.com — provides an initial guide to learn more. At the top of the homepage it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and leads you through the steps to pursue your interest.

In THE Interview Jeremy Griffith presents what the human condition is and his explanation for why it occurred but you might find this brief FAQ 1.3 helpful. But basically, the question of the human condition is WHY have we become so psychologically upset (what we have historically termed ‘evil’) that we have nearly destroyed our own planet?! 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—can we free ourselves from the human condition and legitimately love ourselves and each other again. And it applies to all humans, no matter what walk of life or circumstances.

Hi Ann, you don’t need to wait at all! Electronic copies of Jeremy Grifith’s books are immediately available for free here on our homepage. This includes FREEDOM and the booklet version of THE Interview. You can also download free Kindle versions from Amazon.

    Essentially, Elarbi, we needed to find the scientific explanation for why when the universal ideals are to be loving, cooperative and selfless are humans 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 THE Interview and his book FREEDOM, see FAQ 1.3 for a very brief summary of the core concept. The human condition manifests in different ways in all as a result of our own experiences and exposure to the world, but the clash between instinct and intellect is the source of all our insecurity and subsequent anger, egocentricity and alienation, and so explaining it makes all those defensive behaviours redundant.     Our homepage — HumanCondition.com — provides an initial guide to learn more. At the top of the homepage it states ‘WHAT NEXT after watching THE Interview?’ and leads you through the steps to pursue your interest.

Thank you very much for your enthusiasm and interest Agneta! As with any new scientific breakthrough in history it will take time to gain mainstream acceptance, and from there break through the bastions of power in the world. However, with support from those who appreciate this understanding, the truth is that this enlightening, uplifting 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. We suggest you read our helpful FAQ 1.40 which answers the question ‘How are you going to reach the bastions of power’, explaining that “Even those who were most committed to defensively seeking validation through gaining power and material goods, including those entrenched in positions of power, will quickly realise how empty and obsolete that strategy is now that we have the fully accountable, psychosis-addressing-and-solving, real biological explanation of the human condition that proves our worth at the most fundamental level.”

Jeremy Griffith’s work opens up a new way of thinking so it takes a little time to fully absorb this new paradigm and our human condition does present the ultimate paradox, Tove. His biological ‘instinct vs intellect’ explanation of the human condition allows us to understand the real merits and liabilities of both the left and right wing. His work certainly doesn’t excuse the right-wing for its corrupting behaviour, nor unfairly focus on the failing of the left, which is that its insistence on ideal behaviour had the effect of oppressing the search for knowledge, but rather brings a profound understanding to both sides which ultimately will bring an end to the whole ugly business of politics. This is fully explained in our FAQs about politics. There is no political agenda in Jeremy’s work. His only focus is to end human suffering at its source by explaining our ‘good and evil’-stricken human condition and unite the human race, see FAQ 1.6 ‘Why does understanding of the human condition solve everything?’

Amazing explanation, I am made good I believe, God is love, thanks

Thank you very much, Gary, for your interest and your honesty. The human condition has caused so much unbearable suffering for humans it has been a deeply tragic reality. The core breakthrough of Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition 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. We can know our 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. So we can now look after ourselves with great compassion and kindness and we don’t have to overly confront the upset within us (as FAQ 1.19 summarises).