A convenient but suspicious excuse

Who taught us that we must hoard money

and to consider it obvious and legitimate
that it grows and multiplies by itself?

Perhaps someone would reply to me, that it is not
necessary to look for culprits in mysterious explanations
dark conspiracies and secret organizations.

― Things are obvious, clear and very simple:
No one causes all this intentionally.
It happens by itself.
Everything is due to our innate greed.
We are by nature greedy and insatiable,
and this explains all.

Man is evil by nature and
this is to blame for all ills.

Now, here I will not agree.

This excuse seems to me far too easy,
far too convenient and therefore quite suspicious.

It may have been invented just for disorienting us.

It is not just that I do not agree,
but I want to protest strongly
against this view.

I consider it not only wrong,
but extremely dangerous.

We do not say:

greed is vile,

immoral,

unworthy of man.

We say:

it is innate.

This is the alibi!

― What can we do? It is innate.
What do you want, shall I change my nature?
As I cannot get rid of my spine, neither can
I get rid of my innate greed.

A very nice excuse, indeed!

It justifies both the greed and
all the crimes arising from it.

You would certainly say

that we cannot deny that it is innate,
because it occurs also in dogs
(though to a lesser degree)
and in small children.

You are right.

We carry with us such primitive qualities
which are destructive to society.

Like jealousy for example which appears
as well in dogs and in little children.

But, are these our sole qualities?

Why overstate the bad
side of our character?

Don't we have other innate qualities
which keep society together?

Don't we have instincts

• of love,

• of comradeship,

• of solidarity,

• of altruism?

Do not tell me please, that the moralists
only imagined all this, since dogs and
babies have these instincts too.

But must our behaviour be kept only
on the level of babies and dogs?

Have we not proven, we humans,
that we can control some of the inherent
characteristics which we got from our
primitive life, with general disapproval
and that we can strengthen others
with attention and refinement?

And since we are in the phase of protests,
I want to protest at something else.

There is a Latin maxim that says:

Homo homini lupus
(Man is wolf to man).

The first reason for my protest is
the abysmal ignorance of whoever
said it, in reference to the social
behaviour of the wolf.

The wolf is an exemplary and enviable
social animal, showing incredible care
and affection for the other members of the pack.

If only we could behave to each other like wolves do.

The second reason for my protest is more serious.

A maxim is something whose
truth is taken for granted.
And if it is moreover in Latin
then it is final, it can't be
doubted anymore by anyone.

But is it not true?

Don't we often show hostile behaviour to each other?

It is true.

But it is only a partial truth, one view of the truth.

Indeed, like all other animals, we have among our
other instincts the instinct also of aggression against
individuals of the same species.

An instinct which concerns the defense of one's living space.

The wolf too will show his teeth when someone
from a foreign pack appears in its territory.

But is this instinct still necessary?

Does our survival depend on it?

Or on the contrary is our existence threatened
(and this is the only threat!)
by maintaining and further cultivating an instinct
that has lost its usefulness and now can only be
considered as a perversion?

And do not start again with this:

― "You know, it's in my nature, it's like my spine"

because I would be forced to remind you

that you have already discarded a part of your spine,
your tail, when you realized that you didn't need it
anymore and that it hindered your movements.

Therefore let's leave behind
and discard this instinct too
and stop hanging it up in Latin,
like an inscription in gold letters.

This is not the only instinct we humans have.

We also, just like the wolves,
have instincts of solidarity,
of companionship, of friendship,
of love for the other man.

These are the instincts we should point out and highlight,
because at the point where we have now arrived,
our survival depends solely on their cultivation.

Back Contents Continue