Chapter 1
The Issues
I think we can make a fresh start with this question.
What can we do to make human societies peaceful, while not restricting people from progressing with their call? How to allow and encourage their natural propensities to bloom unhindered?
In fact humans are never at ease, as it has been since ages. The unease may originate anywhere, like religion, love, or other matters like politics. Those specializing in each of such entities regularly come up with some remedy, which always fail. Rather than investigating into it, it seems humans have accepted that their society is a turbulent one. And for reassurance, they compare the same with the disorder existing among all other forms of life, and find that we are better off. (Perhaps in the past, they looked for some reasons, and failed to find any!)
We are wrong here. There is a culprit, and I think it is human nature. Common sense tells me it is correct to think so, human nature being the only common factor of all such particularities or priorities of life. And the fact that human nature essentially is a set of abstractions, and that each of those have the power to derail any steps for correction or moderation, makes it all the more difficult, if not impossible, to remedy this. The most potent one among all these, which is also a global favorite, is nothing but ‘the ultimate aim of life’.
How are we dealing with this currently? We in fact are addressing each individual component of human nature carefully and making an elaborate system of justice that consist of rules, punishments, etc. Thereafter we need to make an assumption, like what we presently do. That such corrective steps on individual components shall result in making desired changes to one’s nature. A better way is to manipulate directly, the parameter that encompasses all those components, namely, human nature. And it makes sense to do this.
For, when we issue lengthy, cumbersome advices to keep one odd facet of human nature in check, we are bound to face the brunt of the uproar and turbulence caused by other facets. Which, in addition to suppressing the potency of our control efforts, may give wrong feedback about the nature and extent of the uproar, eliciting disproportionate or misplaced corrective actions, to say the least. (Think of adverse reactions to a medicine, and how it could be confused with the symptoms of interest)
But, when we approach human nature holistically, one can expect comprehensive and steady progress in all aspects of whatever social turmoil we may be reacting to.
However, owing to the style of living adopted by us so far, I think, the most potent component of human nature has become powerful enough to sustain its influence on its own merit. Hence it will be more appropriate to address this particular issue, namely, the ultimate aim of life, as a separate one.
Thus, these are the two issues, this book will discuss. Human nature, especially why it is far different from the nature exhibited by any other form of life. And the leaning, humans show to invent at the earliest, an ultimate aim for life.