How much more majesty there is in the vision that the unique aspect of our nature is animated not by tooth and claw, but rather by our tribe’s ancient mission to transform the power of aggression into the bounty of communion.
The fundamental unit of behavior in a hierarchy consists of a political triangle: two attempting to intimidate a third. When four possible political triangles between four individuals socially interact, the individual with the most alliances ends up at the apex of a stable social pyramid in which all four members are bound together by bonds …
It’s called Darwinism Human nature is determined by: 1) The survival of the fittest (natural selection); 2) Including group selection: There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each …
The subject of this blog, now in its 7th year, is human nature. Anything that comes across the transom that reflects human nature is potential grist for the blog. So, over the past several years, NBC’s magazine documentary, DATELINE (in its 26th year) has come into its own as a marvelously entertaining window on the …
In 2005, Newt Gingrich gave a several minute summary on the NPR series, “This I believe.” He started out by saying, “I believe that the world is inherently a very dangerous place, and that things that are now very good can go bad very quickly.” In the following talk, he gave many examples from all …
All of a sudden the term “liberal” is off the table, and everyone is using the term “progressive.” Your only assignment in this first post is to listen carefully—more than just once— to Franklin Deleno Roosevelt’s fourth inaugural address in 1945. Keep in mind that Roosevelt was dying of congestive heart failure with his blood …
My basic clinical observation is that at the heart of mental illness is the pathological hyperactivity of the painful social emotions and that the inability to experience pleasure is secondary and reactive.
How the mentally ill tell us who we are
Although there are limitations on how much can be known scientifically about the evolution of emotional experience through deep time, other methods of knowing can penetrate the origin of our emotions and thus reveal the core of human nature.
