The Unfinished Species

We are a disastrously unfinished species. We are hardwired with tendencies that do not serve us well in the twenty-first century. The human species can be extremely aggressive, xenophobic, petty, acquisitive, obsessive and often delusional. These are attributes that may have served early humans well in the primeval competition for survival. But that is in the past. We have supposedly tamed nature to the point at which our unabated intervention in the flow of natural processes is now endangering our own collective survival. We have proclaimed ourselves to be free, yet vast numbers of individuals are tied to the yolk of a failed vision in regards to human commerce and political infrastructure. We believe ourselves to be released from the restraints imposed by superstition, yet the motivation for living remains tethered to a profound subservience to a superhuman superhero in the guise of what is referred to as God. We pride ourselves in the advancements made in science, our understanding of the workings of the natural world, yet we are clueless about our own inner workings.

Without a deep understanding of our own essential natures, we will never be freed from the disastrous future that will necessarily come from our own collective and profound ignorance. There is an immense beauty and simplicity that underlies our conscious life and that is accessible through the inner workings of the intellect. Living without an appreciation for the life of the mind, is an incomplete life at best. This reality lies, in my mind, at the very heart of education. In essence, understanding how to think and how to utilize the vast resources of the intellect, how to discipline and corral the barrage of emotions, impulses and affectations that undermine our well being both individually and as a group can provide release from the savage wheel of human history upon which we seemed to be impaled.