Humankind

September 29, 2020

Thinking over some of my recent reading, I keep coming back to one specific quote. It is from the book Humankind, A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Here is the quote:

If we believe most people can’t be trusted, that’s how we’ll treat each other, to everyone’s detriment. Few ideas have as much power to shape the world as our view of other people. Because ultimately, you get what you expect to get. If we want to tackle the greatest challenges of our times- from the climate crisis to our growing distrust of one another- then I think the place we need to start is our view of human nature.

I believe this is true. We will never be able to tackle the really big issues until we start to view each other in a more humane manner. It has become popular to believe in Thomas Hobbes’ theory that humans are selfish at their core. (This from his landmark work, Leviathan, as is his belief in absolute monarchy). As we have progressed in our study of humans though, the opposite seems to be true. Humans are cooperators, we are incredibly social, and we are learners (adapters). This does not mean we have an absence of all bad behavior. I think we can all see that bad behavior is out there. What is does mean is that this is not who we are at our core. I believe when we choose to behave poorly we do ourselves a great disservice. We are acting outside of our best character. To enjoy a greater sense of well-being we would need to act in accordance with our true character. Though we are not perfect little angels, we do have the ability to nurture that core goodness. We can CHOOSE to be kind. This choice does not depend on any affiliation other than humankind. It does not matter what political party, religion, nationality, gender, or age we are. We as humans can make the shift to being better humans.

So, here is the good news in this regard. We are, we are, we are. I see that shift slowly happening in my community. I see it slowly transforming social media. More and more I see positive interactions taking place. I see discussions instead of arguments. This is not to say that the bad behavior is not still there in spades. This is just a beginning. I want to say, ‘thank you’ to all my fellow humans out there that are starting to take a breather from all the fear and meanness that is so prevalent. It is my fervent hope that this trend grows. That at some point in our future (hopefully near future) we can discuss ideas and viewpoints, and find answers to the tough issues that face us without the dehumanizing hatred.

Love and Kindness to you all!

Lisa

This blog post originally shared at lisa-andrews-lafoon.com