The True Nature of Humankind

It is true that suffering does lead you to truth, if you truly want out of it. The part ‘truly want out of it’ is key. It is easy to seek revenge, to hurt another and make them pay, but it is a false justice and only leads you to more suffering as we see through acts of violence or war at the extreme end.

When you are in pain and truly seeking a peaceful way out, you seek so deeply and find truth emerges within yourself. The poem below has come from pain, but I transmute that pain by finding the truth within, by focussing on the world I know we can have, when we stop fighting and start choosing peace.

There is something in human nature that just reaches for virtue of what the world could be. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Rights of Man all emerged out of great pain. When you experience a situation that nearly takes your life or perhaps you witness the taking of life around you, you feel your humanity and you don’t want others to go through the pain. That is how we know our humanity is shared.

I have come to see clearly that our true nature, upon which this blog is named, comes from virtues. Those virtues you are born with, they are not learned. We know when we go against them as we feel negative or divide from others, we see ‘the other’. If we are in harmony, we feel goodwill. Virtues are natural. You see them come out in great heroism to save another, in the courage to confess mistakes, or wrong doing, or the loving look of a parent into the eyes of their child. Those values nurture humanity, they represent its greatest strength.

Yet to our civilisations demise, men in particular, have perceived weakness as softness or the opening of emotions, yet the irony is the natural instinct is to express feeling and nurture values. For example children are taught values so they grow up strong and resilient. The values teach them to be honest, responsible, to solve problems, feel empathy, express love, to be kind to animals, to allow others to speak, to take responsibility for their mess and so on. It is very important they learn to face fear and to show courage to overcome fear. But not through bullying or violence. Schools are teaching that this is not strength but a problem or what I teach as powerlessness. Therefore, as they grow through their fears (nonviolently), they see the fears are not significant and life gets easier. By contrast, if you treat a child harshly, ignore them, belittle them, criticise them, over indulge them, shout at them, not use boundaries etc. they become unhappy, lonely, disempowered and insecure adults. Violence turned inwardly or outwardly springs from the lack of awareness of intrinsic values, self inquiry and the life experience of overcoming fear. Therefore, it is very important to remind and teach children of humanity’s true nature e.g. love, honesty, responsibility, this is how you model humanity to itself. The unity within and between people is the real power.

Leadership worldwide shifts from power and control over others to natural virtuous or principled leadership that shares power and promotes empowerment. This type of leader never seeks to harm another, she or he is in harmony with their true nature. These are the true leaders who will change the world.

Are you one of them?

THE TRUE NATURE OF HUMAN KIND

Our world is a shared commons,
It is common to share,
For natures bounty is free for all,
Sharing is our true nature.

We are all human beings,
To be is to be human,
Some question to be or not to be,
Yet to be is natural but not normal,
This means to come into life,
And be true to ourselves
Is the gift of knowing our true nature.

Humankind,
Is not just a word,
It is to be kin,
To be kind,
And this is the family of love,
That circles the earth,
When we are kind
We remember our true nature.

Nature is unity,
As each thread in the web of life,
Is intricately woven,
For the whole knows the sum of the parts,
And we are not apart from nature,
To know this,
Is to live in harmony with our true nature.

All go into nature to find peace,
Some go to the ocean,
The forests,
Fishing on the streams,
Swimming in the lakes,
Playing on the sand,
It is to understand,
The natural world is our playground,
It is the place of great peace,
Yet when we tear it down,
We are at war,
With our true nature.

The greatest strength is gentle,
The greatest beauty is loving,
The greatest friendship is smiling,
The kindest face is giving,
For the human heart is fragile,
The seed is in nurturing,
Branching family into collective community,
Connecting community embraces diversity,
Uniting diversity balances sustainability
with all life,
Therefore gentleness, love, friendship and kindness,
Is the true nature that births peaceful coexistence,
For it shares, cares, reveals and heals,
And this is the true bounty
As love is our true nature.

So I ask you are you true to your nature?
For truth is a way to see what is so,
It is not positioned as right or wrong,
It is the song that brings all tunes together,
For this world is a master peace,
The real world only knows harmony.

Discord that harms is always dysfunction,
It is not a manhood statement,
Nor is softness a motherhood statement,
Harmony is a universal declaration,
A covenant that is not binding but freeing,
That what you see in me is yourself,
And what I see in you is myself,
And all problems are challenges,
They are mountains to be conquered,
Not shadows on a wall,
Leadership waits for you at the summit,
Cowardice runs down below,
For fear is the only enemy of humanity,
And the responsibility to protect,
Is the protection of responsibility,
That shares responsibility and looks for what is fair,
Not as a vanity fair,
But to care to share a wise solution,
For justice reveals ones face
and shows ones hands,
Above boards,
That is not only the rights of men,
But the rights of women,
And this is the universal law that sees no agenda,
For natural law sees all as one,

As the scales of justice …

Sees no evil,
Hears no evil,
Speaks no evil,

For the mirror image of evil is to live
in freedom,

And it is the true nature of all,
To live in peace,
As nature intended.