Its in our DNA to above all to survive. Our presence proves it. Deception and clever behavior can outwit opponents to win the prize.
In Nature, the higher life forms learn the ways of those they prey on to assure a meal and secure another day either to enjoy or to pass on their genes. The latter is the ultimate goal in evolution. Within species, the same game is played. The stronger, smarter, more clever or just the lucky ones will get to mate and carry on in their offspring.
The nature of human beings plays out the same way. Though we have learned to be civilized in certain circumstances the game is the same. Play to win.
As the human brain evolved and we became more self aware; we learned,we pondered. We spoke about morality and created religions. And religions may also be a way to circle the wagons and survive as much as to live a moral code.
If the moral code was really the goal of religion, this morality would be the true expression of the world we live in. The moral code itself is evolving. If peace and cooperation insure survival, then eventually these modes of living will dominate human culture and we will have evolved into that survival mode of living.
In our world now, different cultures have evolved and want to survive and some to dominate. They must feel or have been told that there is not enough to go around and they must fight for their share.
This must be a learned behavior, this fear. As humans were evolving and creating tribes, the need to survive depended upon food, shelter and surviving the animals that thought of them as dinner.
As they moved around the planet and encountered other tribes, what was their thought? They had no idea the size of the planet, so the unknown may have initially created a fear, a fight or flight response to escape or confront a perceived enemy ready to kill or compete for food and females. Evolution tells us that both scenarios are part of the picture leading to the current state of humanity. The game is still being played the same way. Fight, run, win, lose, pass on your DNA all with the cooperation of the subconscious, but guided by particular cultural norms that evolve within societies to assure a civilized peace. Nature as it is today exists mostly in a state of peace. Natural history reveals that creation itself was not an easy task and that the birth of the universe was about a big bang bringing the elements together in some great mysterious way.
And so it all began. In about four billion years the sun, our generous star will collapse and with it the whole solar connection including our earth. Existence here can only hope to be a memory in the great infinity. So maybe its like this. We have a bit of time and a few billion years could offer the human species a way to get a few things "more" right and in order for the purpose of the peace we all crave and talk about, but increasingly eludes us as resources seemingly become more scarce and the planet more crowded.
If humanity as a whole would come together for the purpose of survival in peace, information would be shared and cooperation and compromise could create a paradise on earth. That is the ideal of religion as each of our prominent religions promotes peace as its core. Shared evolved knowledge and the reality of a generous planet supporting all life could conceivably allow this condition of conscious evolution toward sustainable and abundant living for all.
But that is not likely to occur. Though knowledge of nature and natural history is growing exponentially, it is not often received as truth and beliefs are the code by which many in the human culture live.
As the planet is becoming more crowded, Nature is telling us her story of balance. She is the boss and we must cooperate with her laws. She knows more and she always wins. We think we can deceive and out wit other humans for survival, but nature is the real decider. Those who understand will have the advantage and can attempt to share the knowledge. Those who choose to live in darkness and belief cannot be dragged into the light. The survival gene is always turned on and the smart, clever and lucky ones will continue to do what they do to survive.
Recently we watched a presidential campaign unfold. The one most clever, deceptive and lucky survived and won the prize. This is evolution in action. This prize is the opportunity to spread the winner's particular narrative for a limited period of time. But nature will have the last word. Change is the only constant. Built into natural law is a truth that survives the deception. If a fox raids the hen house, he has the prize of a few good meals, but the more evolved and smarter farmer will eventually eliminate him. Truth stands clear on this with eons of evidence.
If we experiment with something and it does not work, we learn. The lesson of natural law tells us that we will keep getting the lesson until we learn it. We know deception works for short term survival, but we must also evolve consciously for our own selfish reasons of peace, prosperity and contentment. And we can never settle in for a good nights rest thinking that we no longer have the struggle for survival and knowledge. Knowledge is survival.
Humans came upon a truth that nature always knew. There is a food chain and survival is a struggle. But unlike the fox in the hen house, just take what you need for the time or the next meal may not be coming. This is the balance built into nature. So deception to has its "natural" death.
The winner of the recent election was able to deceive his followers in order to secure his "meal". In human evolution this is called ego. In nature, enterprise and luck tend to insure that the stronger genes pass on and continue to compete in the next generation for survival. Dinosaurs were deceptive and lucky for a time, but the evolving planet favored mammals and dinosaur luck ran out, no matter their size or fierce aggression. Their brain was still reptilian with an act~react composition. Mammals were evolving to respond to situations for attaining survival in changing world. There are different theories as to why dinosaurs disappeared, but science now reveals that their genetic material is found in birds, so adaptation favored a unique species connected to the reptilian brain.
Deep in their DNA, humans know that survival requires work, intelligence and self sufficiency. Any person alive today has this knowledge secured deep in the genes. Belief and refusal to own their own knowledge fostered self deception. For a period of time mothers take care of their babies, but then it is up to them to care of themselves or perish. We can see a planet in flux with storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, drought, firestorms all in play with climate change. Many have and will perish but greater chances for survival will rest with the same ability to know the game and deceive the prey. As resources become scarcer with deception and growing planet population fear and chaos will continue to shape evolution. Those deceived into thinking that central planning and not their own enterprise could deliver their survival, will inevitably be gravely disappointed . Again survival requires cooperation and intelligence for the long term. Females have always been the keeper of evolution, choosing the more attractive and strong over the weak and inept, hence assuring a stronger species moving forward. So deceiving females into thinking that central planning will assure their health and future prosperity insults the known DNA within each mature woman. Collective thinking will serve to deceive and the central planner will control the prey without their knowledge.
History tells us that the winner controls the narrative. The winner has no real use for the support team other than to secure his position. The ego will continue the deception including the deceiver himself. History also tells us that the deceiver can hold the winner position for generations. Nature will eventually decide again on a change. Humans love to think of themselves as altruistic, but this is a rare quality. Become a sage renouncing all material excess and one will likely be supported by those who love the world more, but support the ideal. Or become an altruistic "freedom fighter" for those who are not willing and an early death may be likely. The first freedom fighters in the American Revolution were the brave, but opposed by the majority. Many more joined in likely because it became apparent that this choice was between and ideal that they began to accept so that turning backward to the known was no longer viable. The world as we know it can only be changed by ideas, not by deceivers. History knows periods of ideas, Renaissance, American Revolution, World War 2, that change the direction and become the story or narrative. The periods of failure become a footnote, Marxism, Naziism, Berlin wall in recent history because society is not moved forward and eventually rejects the deceptive story that brought no real benefit or insight. The contributions of the Roman Empire, the culture of ancient Egypt, early Greek philosophy and the great Dynasties of China are remembered, revered and recorded for generations because of the value embedded in the human experience those contributions made.
So though deception is the tool of evolution, deception itself does not survive the story which is the product that lives to tell the tale. So if the deceiver as in a Hitler has no lasting product to deliver, there will be no evolution. If the deceiver like the Royalty of England produces a product say chivalry and decorum those elements will move society forward and survive.
Civilization tends to go to hell and back, but the "back" is what survives, not the hell. Could humanity come to a place where altruism could be the ultimate selfish act as the planet warms and fills with other humans? Could we deceive ourselves from eons of selfish evolution into thinking that altruism could ultimately be the final product, and lasting product of the last deception.
At that utopian level, there will be nobody needed to relate the narrative. The ultimate story of evolution would be told. As we know the planet is finite. Could we see it to its end in balance or will the ego of deception take us all to an early end?
Either way, that story will never be written.
