Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature

Shupe's book goes beyond self-help. It reveals how our emotional connections to one another have been severed, by our dependence on legal systems. Shupe reminds us that humans once lived in a state of contentment, because they depended on each other to survive. But our current dependence on legal systems has deprived us of our greatest need—to love and to be loved by our fellow man. Shupe's book informs us of something modern people fail to grasp: We humans do have an inborn wisdom, endowed by evolution. It is essential to our happiness, and to the wellbeing of life, that we be true to this inborn "map of life." Humans created civilization, because we thought life would be better if everyone complied with sovereign laws. In terms of material benefits, civilization has succeeded. But depending on laws—not emotional intelligence—to maintain order, has so socially isolated us that reality, as we experience it, is a spiritual wasteland. Unable to emotionally engage in our surroundings, we have no access to the wisdom of human nature, which reveals itself exclusively through feelings in response to one's immediate circumstances. The result of this spiritual alienation is pain. To manage it, we modern humans "space" ourselves out on beliefs, ideologies, drugs, hope, dreams—and even the promise of science. When those fail to quell the pain, people turn to suicide—the only option left. Shupe's answer is to return to the natural "spiritual homes" in which Homo sapiens once thrived. But people cannot establish a spiritual home, merely by design or intent. Spiritual homes will eventually form naturally: When enough people become disillusioned with the promises of modern life, they will acquire a new perspective on what life is about. Among spiritually awakened people, a real home is organic. Indeed, for humans to experience a natural sense of emotional and material comfort, a spiritual home—one that is maintained by our emotional intelligence—is the only option that exists.

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature is a book I wrote to explain how civilization destroys happiness. What do I mean by "the wisdom of human nature?" Well, all animate beings come into this world with an inborn wisdom—the instincts that inform them on how to behave in ways that enable their species to flourish. This wisdom has been genetically accumulating, in each species, since the first stirrings of life on earth. Countless species are able to live in sufficient harmony for life to flourish on this planet, not because animals are good. It's because, like us, they love to do things that make them feel good: Evolution has programmed their feelings so that, when they seek pleasure, and avoid pain, they are serving life, without knowing it. In other words, evolution created a reality in which happiness, and species survival, go hand in hand. That's how life flourished on this planet for hundreds of millions of years until only just few a thousand years ago, when humans invented civilization. Since then, humans have not been living in harmony with anything. Our survival requires, not that we seek happiness by being true to our innate wisdom, but that we comply with the laws of sovereign states. Living, as we do, in a world in which we must repress our inborn wisdom to survive, we are increasingly anxiety ridden, and our species is in trouble. If what I have said makes sense to you, then you will love this book. If it makes just a little sense, I encourage you to read it, anyhow. Whether you agree, are disagree with my thesis, I promise one thing: You will get an entirely new perspective on what life is about, one that can be found nowhere else. Given the increasingly painful circumstances of our existence, a new perspective is long overdue. It might enable us to re-inhabit the reality in which contentment is natural, not something we continually strive for, but never really experience.

Chet Shupe is an electronics engineer who once suffered profound Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). With ADD, so-cial relationships baffled him. After years of bewilderment and depression, his condition was finally diagnosed, and effectively treated by the drug Ritalin. Suddenly, at 43, life made sense. Shupe emerged from ADD with a unique perspective on the human condition. His engineer's mind forced him to ask basic questions about the brain's purpose, how the mind is organized, why feelings exist, the origin of good and evil, the true dynamics of every relationship, and how all of this relates to our happiness and to the wellbeing of humanity. For years, Shupe has pursued his inquiry with passion and conviction, ranging far into the intricacies of the mod-ern social contract, to question how well it is serving us, both individually and collectively. As a scientist, he bol-sters every conclusion with logical and compelling exam-ples. As a person of feeling and intuition, he expresses his hopes for humanity with genuine compassion and sinceri-ty. As a whistleblower to the world, he speaks with urgency about the need to rediscover our connections with our own Nature, if we are ever again to experience the contentment of sisterhood and brotherhood that is our natural heritage.