What is Human Nature?

The most common definition given in dictionaries is:

“the ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are common to most people”

And the most common viewpoint is that ‘you can’t change human nature’, that trying to do anything that goes against it is like swimming against the tide, and destined to fail.

But what are the natural ways of thinking, feeling and acting common to most people? Modern perception is that humans are, at their core, selfish and greedy, caring little for the welfare of others, and obsessed with the acquisition of ever more money and possessions. They would never endure even the slightest inconvenience in order to benefit the world at large. That belief is currently so pervasive that few would even consider the possibility that it could be wrong.

But could that perception be wrong?

There’s an old quote: ‘History is written by the Victors’, meaning that whoever wins in a particular conflict has the power to define that conflict for the history books. Our modern history comes to us through TV, the movies, and the Internet. So, who are the ‘victors’ on those platforms? They are the people in a position to influence their content, either through absolute ownership, or through the supply of essential advertising. What do these people, the moguls who control what we see and hear, all have in common?

First, they’re rich, basically by definition – and in most cases not just rich – they are stupendously wealthy. They are some of the wealthiest people on Earth. You don’t get to be rich by caring about people (except as customers), or by not caring about money, and you don’t become uber-wealthy without being greedy. Some might call it ambition – but what is the focus of their ambition? Curing cancer? Running the 3-minute mile? Ending world hunger? Writing a great symphony? No, their ambition is focused on one thing, and one thing only – making money. I don’t think anyone would claim that these people ‘need’ the billions they have. So, the only explanation for them wanting ever more, far beyond what they can actually use, is greed.

Engineered Behaviour

It’s suspicious to me that the current view of human nature corresponds exactly to what those who make money from the status quo find desirable. Of course, it could be argued that those people are merely taking advantage of a fundamental drive of humanity to ‘get ahead’. But is that a fundamental drive of humanity? For many centuries, most people were content to live their lives, raise their children, and feed their families. They weren’t focused on constantly increasing their wealth, getting more pigs and cows, or getting an ever bigger farm.

Maybe human beings do have an innate desire for advancement. But what does advancement mean? Buddha wanted to improve himself, but as far as I know, he never cared about money. Any monk, or artist, or musician, or athlete, or scientist, may want to improve themselves. But are they strictly focused on making more money and accumulating more possessions? Or is their goal proficiency at whatever they’re passionate about. Money and fame might flow from their proficiency, but is that their only reason for pursuing it? I’m an independent author. I would love it if millions of people suddenly clamoured to buy my books. But that’s not the reason I write. And if all I wanted was to make money, I can think of a thousand ways that would be easier than being a writer.

I submit that the people who control our media have spent decades engineering the desire for money and possessions in the general population, because:

1. That is their personal mindset, so they believe that everyone should feel the same way.
2.  It’s in their interest for people to be grasping and greedy, envious of others’ possessions, and constantly wanting more. If people didn’t constantly want more, the ones selling the things they ‘want’ would barely eke out a living.

Why is human nature important?

Say I showed you a bucket of water that was gradually emptying through a hole punched in the bottom. If I asked you to predict WHEN that bucket would actually be empty, could you do that? You could make a wild guess, but that’s all it would be, a guess.

But what if I asked you IF the bucket would be empty at some point in the future? In that case there wouldn’t be the slightest doubt – eventually, the water WILL be gone. How would you know? Because there’s finite amount of water in the bucket, and it’s dripping out at a regular rate. It’s impossible for it not to be emptied. The only question is when.

Our planet is in the exact same predicament. We are emptying it of resources at an alarming rate, much faster than they can be replenished. Like the water in the bucket, those resources are finite. It’s an extraordinarily complex system, so we can’t predict exactly WHEN we will run out, but there is no doubt  that it WILL happen. And everything that I see around me says that it will happen soon – probably within a decade.

When it happens, we will all be in big trouble.

And that’s where human nature becomes important. Because, in the very near future, all of us are going to be forced to do with far less. It won’t be a request – the planet is going to demand it. If, as the popular sayings go, you ‘can’t change human nature’, and if that nature really is to constantly accumulate money and ‘stuff’, then forcing (not asking) people to accept less will be truly catastrophic.

But what if people’s attitudes could change? What if they could be convinced to forego the superfluous fluff that most of them don’t really need anyway, for the sake of a better future? The transition would still happen, but it would be much less destructive.

So, what is the truth about human nature? That is the most important question of all.

We’re constantly bombarded with gushing declarations of how ingenious and adaptable human beings are. If that’s true, then why can’t we adapt to a world where we use fewer resources? Why don’t we have the ingenuity to think of a way to live happily without accumulating all the useless crap that’s destroying the planet?

I think we do have those qualities. Yes, at our core, we are animals – with instinctual drives and natural tendencies. But we are thinking animals. We can choose to override those drives and tendencies, to do things that at first glance might not seem to be in our own interest, knowing that in the future they will make the world in general, and our own world in particular, a better place. I KNOW I can do that, and I know there are many others out there who feel the same way.

I think what’s required is for us to get past our decades of programming, and focus on what’s really important – our beautiful planet, the living world, personal happiness, some reasonable amount of security, and love. We don’t have to give up any of those things to live with fewer demands on the environment.

And despite what the ‘Alpha’ personalities would like you to believe, they are all we need.

Photo 24909775 © Kasto80 | Dreamstime.com