Isn't war and violence built-in to human nature?
War and violence is built into human nature. It has been part of the struggle for survival in our evolution. The problem is that when you have the combination of ancient habits of violence and modern technological capacities then you see devastating effects.
A handful of people in Mumbai created this devastation recently. We see it everywhere in the world and read about it everyday in the media. Jonas Salk the discoverer and of the polio vaccine, and great evolutionary thinker, said, “ Survival of the fittest must be replaced by survival of the wisest.” He suggested this as the next stage of humanity’s evolutionary growth.
The time has come where we must collectively participate in the next state of evolution from our violent nature into our wise and peaceful nature or else we will not survive.
Deepak Chopra
Comments
Only if human nature is the stagnant propagation of ignorance over the masses for profit whereas the evolution of human nature of our species is the evolutionary consciousness of peace of spiritual beings.
scienceofspirt@live.ca
i think PEACE is in everyone's nature, not violence. that's why peace makes us feel good. in the case of violence, i think it is nurture over nature. if you look at certain cultures such as the radicals behind 9/11, you will find that they were raised with the belief, and taught at a very young age, that killing for religion is an honorable act. child abusers often grow up to abuse their children. (and deepak chopra's kids are highly peaceful because they were raised by highly peaceful parents.) violence is a learned habit. countless war veterans have developed psychological disorders. five american soldiers try to kill themselves everyday. why do you think this is? something has gone wrong inside of them... people are not meant to see each other get blown up. it can make you lose your mind. i agree with jay-- violence is not human nature, it is a corruption of human nature.
love, katie medico
I primarily agree with what u typed, u almost hit the nail on the head. It's true that there are many people indoctrinated by evils both violent and sexually perverse by parents, people, and malevolently superstitious cults and religions to commit evils. But there is also violence evoked from arbitrary wants and desperate times, which have always existed.
Some could be in want of food or water and assault some one to steal theirs or even cannibalize if necessary. Some could be slaves who kill their masters to break free. Some could be unable to buy a toy,jewel, whatever or just not not want to pay for it while being psychopathic and rob and kill for it. Some can be driven mad by the loss of a person's love or not being able to gain that person's love, whether or not their intention was for a relationship involving platonic and or physical love with them, and instead of reconciling with themselves or the person they love with each going their separate way, one of them could end up murdering the other, torturing the other, raping the other or even doing those things to themselves(excluding rape lol). Now all these violent actions would come from people who are either psychopathic, deprived of living essentials, abused, taught to live that way, or a combination of those things. But all these violent acts of desperation and their potential catalysts as well the violent acts driven by psychopathy irrefutably prove that people are very VIOLENT when a situation calls for it and or their psychopathic. People all have idiosyncrasies, so u can't generalize the whole human race saying their inherently peaceful or violent and evil. Combinations exist in everyone, real extremes are pretty rare, with very few people being capable. I, probably like you and many others have learned to seek peace when called for(almost always is, hopefully neither of us ever see a day in our lives where it isn't) from learning, seeing and perhaps even experiencing the horrors of evil human behavior. It sucks, it's brutal, but violence is part of human nature.
This is in response to Katie Medico
I primarily agree with what u typed, u almost hit the nail on the head. It's true that there are many people indoctrinated by evils both violent and sexually perverse by parents, people, and malevolently superstitious cults and religions to commit evils. But there is also violence evoked from arbitrary wants and desperate times, which have always existed.
Some could be in want of food or water and assault some one to steal theirs or even cannibalize if necessary. Some could be slaves who kill their masters to break free. Some could be unable to buy a toy,jewel, whatever or just not not want to pay for it while being psychopathic and rob and kill for it. Some can be driven mad by the loss of a person's love or not being able to gain that person's love, whether or not their intention was for a relationship involving platonic and or physical love with them, and instead of reconciling with themselves or the person they love with each going their separate way, one of them could end up murdering the other, torturing the other, raping the other or even doing those things to themselves(excluding rape lol). Now all these violent actions would come from people who are either psychopathic, deprived of living essentials, abused, taught to live that way, or a combination of those things. But all these violent acts of desperation and their potential catalysts as well the violent acts driven by psychopathy irrefutably prove that people are very VIOLENT when a situation calls for it and or their psychopathic. People all have idiosyncrasies, so u can't generalize the whole human race saying their inherently peaceful or violent and evil. Combinations exist in everyone, real extremes are pretty rare, with very few people being capable. I, probably like you and many others have learned to seek peace when called for(almost always is, hopefully neither of us ever see a day in our lives where it isn't) from learning, seeing and perhaps even experiencing the horrors of evil human behavior. It sucks, it's brutal, but violence is part of human nature.
...they are corruptions of human nature. War and violence, which both begin in our own minds, are the result of the delusion that we can be happy at the expense of others.
Unfortunately, the idea that "war and violence are parts of human nature" (and other nature, to boot) has been the operating principle of the scientific establishment since behavioral science has existed.
Granted, we humans are imperfect. But let us not obscure the matter by further degrading the human image with inanities like "war and violence are built into human nature." Rather, nonviolence and compassion are built into human nature - this is why the practice of nonviolence, while difficult at first, is ultimately so rewarding.
--Jay