Page 25 of
PDF Version 6. Solving the human condition had become a matter of urgency

Camus referred to a ‘world which is so obviously unjust’ and to ‘nations poisoned by the misery of’ the ‘infinite anguish’ of our depressing state of ‘contradiction’. To deny the issue of the human condition successfully, humans had to deny the reality of their corrupted state. Part of that strategy of denial was avoiding the true extent of our devastation of the world around us and within us. We had to, as we say, ‘put on a brave face’, ‘keep our chin up’, ‘stay positive’, ‘keep up appearances’. This delusion sustained us but it also blinded us to the extent of the devastation about us and within us, as was illustrated by the contrast between the way children and adults view the world. The adult world can’t see how serious the situation is that humanity has arrived at. The truth that will be revealed in this book is that the human race was entering endplay or endgame, the situation where the Earth could not absorb any further devastation from the effects of our corrupted condition, nor could the human body endure any more debilitating alienation. Unable to see how serious the situation is adults haven’t recognised just how urgent solving the human condition had become.

The truth is humanity had arrived at a situation where we desperately needed clear biological understanding of ourselves, understanding that would make sense of our divisive condition and liberate us from criticism, lift the psychological burden of guilt, give us meaning—‘calm the infinite anguish’ as Camus said. There had to be a scientific, first-principle-based, biological reason for our divisive behaviour and finding it, finding ‘those first few principles that will…stitch up’, reconcile and ameliorate our estranged, alienated, damaged, ‘torn apart’ state was a matter of great urgency. This quote from journalist Richard Neville is a rare attempt to acknowledge our species’ true predicament: ‘The world is hurtling to catastrophe: from nuclear horrors, a wrecked ecosystem, 20 million dead each year from malnutrition, 600 million chronically hungry…All these crises are man made, their causes are psychological. The cures must come from this same source; which means the planet needs psychological maturity…fast. We are locked in a race between self destruction and self discovery’ (Good Weekend mag., Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Oct. 1986). (Note, it should be mentioned here that later in this book the conclusion will be reached, and it will come as a surprise to many, that while Richard Neville is so very right about the race being between ‘self destruction’ and the arrival of ‘psychological maturity’ from the ‘self discovery’ of finding understanding of ourselves, it wasn’t the extreme selfishness, greed, competition and aggression and resulting horrific levels of inequality in the world from right wing individualism that posed the real threat of ‘destruction’ to humankind but the extreme levels of truth-denying, reality-evading, human-condition-avoiding, dishonesty and delusion of left wing pseudo idealism.)

Catch phrases of our time such as ‘human potential’, ‘self-discovery’ and ‘self-esteem’ stress this yearning for psychological maturity, self-realisation and self-justification, but the ability to appreciate and love ourselves ultimately depended on being able to understand ourselves—discover why we have been a competitive, aggressive and selfish species rather than a cooperative, loving and selfless one.

Being stranded in a state of insecurity about our worthiness or otherwise was to be stranded in a terminally upset state where as a species we, as Richard Neville warned, face ‘self destruction’. Historian Eric Hobsbawm described humanity’s stark predicament in his 1994 book Age of Extremes, when he wrote that ‘The alternative to a changed society—is darkness’. To paraphrase a famous expression of former British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli’s, ‘stalled halfway between ape and angel is no place to stop’. The 1991 film Separate but Equal accurately articulated our plight as a species through the dialogue of one character: Page 26 of
PDF Version ‘Struggling between two worlds; one dead, the other powerless to be born’—words which echo those of Marxist philosopher, Antonio Gramsci: ‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appears’ (Prison Notebooks, written during Gramsci’s 10-year imprisonment under Mussolini, 1927—1937). Until understanding of the human condition was found we were powerless to change our society. Australian politician Lionel Bowen alluded to the futility of trying to reform our world without finding ameliorating understanding of ourselves when he said, ‘I think it’s just impossible to bring about change until such time as some new civilisation develops to allow change’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Sept. 1988).

It is worthwhile ending this section with Tracy Chapman’s 1986 song Why? because it truthfully acknowledges the extent of the hypocrisy in human life and the need for Berdyaev’s ‘fearless’, ‘prophetic’, honest approach: ‘Why do the babies starve / When there’s enough food to feed the world / Why when there’re so many of us / Are there people still alone / Why are the missiles called peace keepers / When they’re aimed to kill / Why is a woman still not safe / When she’s in her home / Love is hate, War is peace / No is yes, And we’re all free / But somebody’s gonna have to answer / The time is coming soon / Amidst all these questions and contradictions / There’re some who seek the truth / But somebody’s gonna have to answer / The time is coming soon / When the blind remove their blinders / And the speechless speak the truth.’