| HUMAN
NATURE
By:
Bill Hanson We
humans are what we are because it is our nature to cooperate. As individuals
we are easy prey to any number of other creatures and we can be stopped by any
number of circumstances. As a species we can defend our selves against any creature
and we create our own circumstances. Cooperation is our primary survival characteristic.
Without
cooperation the benefits of creative genius die with their creator. With cooperation
the benefits of genius can be shared with contemporaries and passed on to succeeding
generations. Through cooperation we learn. Our success as a species is measured
by the degree to which we, as individuals, have each learned to cooperate with
each other. The
less we consciously cooperate with each other the more likely we are to be in
conflict with each other. The more our knowledge, skills, energy, resources and
creativity are wasted in conflict the less of these things we have available to
us to dedicate to achieving our positive purposes. Whenever we do not cooperate
in peace we will slip closer to cooperation in violence, the ultimate perversion
of human nature. Individual against individual, group against group, nation against
nation, species against species. Us against the world! Moment
by moment, action by action, word by word and thought by thought we always have
the option of choosing cooperation over conflict. How much can you or I, not
distracted by conflict, accomplish? How much can we, fulfillling a shared goal,
accomplish? How much if we all help fulfill each others goals? If we truly want
to move beyond need, frustration, anger, violence, brutality, war and extinction
we need only live in tune with human nature. We need only choose to cooperate.
The more effectively we do so the more we fulfill our true nature and the more
we live in harmony with our "selves", with each other and with our world.
Harmony
is the point of balance that everything stabilizes around. As babies we find
harmony in such experiences as becoming sufficiently balanced physically to stand
up without hanging on to furniture or a big hand. Subsequently it is found at
every point in our lives that we are balanced securely enough in our knowledge,
abilities and relationships to make our own life choices. It is found at every
point where we take responsibility for the consequences of the choices we make.
It is found at every point that we are able to fulfill our selves without imposing
on others. It is found at every point where we choose to cooperate with others
and with the world we inhabit. It is found whenever, and wherever, we act in
a way that fulfills our human nature. Harmony
depends on our learning how to listen openly, to communicate clearly and to understand
fully. Harmony is the point where we, as individuals, have learned how to
cooperate with our true selves, with each other and with our world so well that
there is no reason for disharmony. Harmony is our reward for every success of
human nature that we have to celebrate in life. As
individuals we are but sparks in the night. As a species we are a dawning light
of awareness. We are recognizing that we are part of the mind of our planet.
That we are part of its sinews and its guts. Together, in the growing light
of understanding, we will cooperate in creating harmony. It is inevitable.
It is our human nature!
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© Bill Hanson 1999
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