By this I mean that so called civilized humans throughout known history have not behaved much better, or at all better, than we do now. Greed, hatred, genocide, unspeakable violence, have been the rule, and not the exception. Wars are "normal" and constant throughout the world, and throughout history. Politicians are almost universally corrupt and duplicitous ("diplomatic"). Business (empire) leaders are universally corrupt and duplicitous ("self interest"). The so called strong take lethal advantage of the so called weak. None of this is new, or uncommon, or "abnormal" or aberrant. The fact that we are surprised by these things is astounding, given their virtually universal repetition throughout time and place.
So, it is perhaps not surprising then that people draw the conclusion that it is human nature that makes it impossible for things to be any different. So it would seem. I'll propose a different view: it is not human nature that leads to the repetition of all of this madness. It is in fact the shared delusion that we are in line with human nature that causes it. Human nature, if it be known, would give us the opposite of what we typically see. It would give us kindness, love, generosity, compassion, kinship, collaboration and cooperation, tolerance and appreciation.
The question then becomes: How can we live sanely, in genuine alignment with our real human nature, in an insane world? The world at large is insane. Leaders are insane with power and greed and control and avarice. Ordinary people buy into this insanity and conduct their lives as though they were models of health and goodness.
The real madness continues and spreads.
Doing something different then will not be an easy task, or a lightly assumed responsibility. Who will rise to the occasion?
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