People of Note Reviews & Feedback
Beyond The Human Condition
Prime Minister of Australia R. J. L. Hawke
Letter received on 13 Nov. 1991
‘Your book is certainly thought-provoking and will no doubt be the subject of much debate within the scientific and general communities. My congratulations.’
Tim Macartney-Snape
Twice-honoured Order of Australia recipient, world renowned mountaineer, biologist, author and a founding director of the WTM/FHA.
‘Griffith’s explanations have clarified so much that was inexplicable about myself and what goes on in the world. It is like having mist lift from country you’ve never seen in clear weather. This book could well have as much impact on humanity as the Bible.’
Dr Bob Brown
Australian MP and founder of the Australian conservation movement.
‘Your [Jeremy Griffith’s] work is a cool breeze in the furnace of human history. How badly the world needs such optimism and generosity.’ (1 May 1988)
Dr Ronald Strahan
Eminent Australian biologist, former director of Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo and more recently the Executive Officer of the National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife at the Australian Museum.
‘I consider the book [Free] to be the work of a prophet and I expect the author to become recognised as a saint.’
[Note by Jeremy Griffith: In 1988 Dr Strahan gave me permission for the publicist of Free, Lee Buchanan, to use the above quote in her media release for Free. The quote was a condensation the publicist drew from two comments Strahan had made to me, which were: ‘St Jeremy…Thanks for regarding me as still worthy of receipt of your insights. What I get from them is the message of an innocent, concerned and generous soul, having much in common with Jesus and Gautama. You love to such an extent that I must love you and—by extension—other people. However, like both of these prophets, you assume a teleology—arguing that time has a direction. I disagree…The game that I play eschews the concept of “truth”…I fear that the only course open to you is to proclaim yourself as a prophet and, in the long run, to be recognised as a saint. It was not as a joke, but as a matter of getting in first with recognition, that I addressed this letter as I did’ (23 July 1987 letter). And secondly: ‘Dear St Jeremy…You are one of the few prophets who prophesy in any detail. Most have been only concerned to say, “You’re a slack mob—guilt-carriers—and you’d better straighten up, or else.” You are like Teilhard [de Chardin] in postulating a teleology. Except in terms of the second law of thermodynamics, I reject teleology but—if there were a direction to evolution—my response would be to relax and drift with the current. Why fight the system?’ (6 Aug. 1987 letter).
Incidentally in these letters Dr Strahan has acknowledged, not ‘rejected’, teleology—because he has accepted the second law of thermodynamics. As is explained in my books this law acknowledges that matter integrates, it’s an acknowledgement of integrative meaning. Dr Strahan was also revealing of his allegiance to the mechanistic or reductionist—as opposed to holistic—approach of much of science today when he compassionately (because it ends the denial), and courageously (because he is self-exposing), signed his letter to me, ‘Yours evasively’, and acknowledged that ‘the game that I play eschews the concept of “truth”’.]
Australian film producer David O’Brien
David O’Brien produced the TV series Down to Earth and the film Shot Gun Bride.
‘In 1990, I attended a lecture given by Jeremy Griffith. I approached him with an expression of interest in making a programme. I now believe this idea [put forward in Griffith’s book Free] can literally change the way we think and the way we see ourselves. Radical and controversial, it has the potential to unlock humanity’s crisis.
From a personal point of view, I can only emphasise that the impact brings a gradual process of awareness, investigation and realisation. My initial response was one of caution. But the remarkable aspect of it is that it answers every question thrown at it. It is the most challenging idea of our time. This proposed television special will act like a steamroller across conventional thinking and attitudes.’ (Note that while this program didn’t eventuate due to unsuitable timing, the FHA does look forward to the production of such a program.)
James Balog
Described by National Geographic magazine, in which his work has appeared, as ‘an award-winning photographer whose work has been published worldwide’. He is also the author of the book Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife.
‘Mr Griffith’s work is extraordinarily insightful and I am quite pleased to have the benefit of his wisdom.’ (From 4 Sept. 1992 letter to the FHA)
