Are We Violent By Nature?

An article came into my inbox a few days ago and it got me thinking. I hate conflict. I am repulsed by war. I don’t like being yelled at and/or threatened. But when I look around the world; and see it through the lens of the television media, social media, movies and television shows, there is a lot of violence around. It seems like it is everywhere. I have even heard that there is an all-out battle here on Steemit.

I don’t believe this is mankind’s natural state. Even though we see it everywhere; I still ask the question: Is this really how we as mankind are? Is this how we naturally settle differences? To go into battle with each other over territory, resources, money, opinions . . . jealousy? Everything in me says that we are not naturally like this.

What I witness most often, is people reaching out and helping each other. I can walk down my country road where we live, I can stop into any one of the yards I come upon and say hi to my neighbor. We will have a conversation; and cooperation, helpful attitudes, generosity and kindness will follow. When we lived in a busy neighborhood in the city the general spirit of the neighborhood near my home was of peaceful co-existence. Neighbors were friendly and helpful. They opened their yards and homes to our family.

When I think about the last natural or man-made disaster that came up in the news. What I saw happen, virtually instantly, whether it was the average person who was there at 'ground zero', or people from around the globe who see and hear about what has occurred; is an outpouring of support & supplies, kindness, empathy and compassion. The local and global communities rally together to rescue and rebuild.

I was in a private meeting last night and the people in the auditorium in the same building had their music playing very loud. It was making it difficult for us to continue with our meeting. One of the members of our group peacefully went to the next room and asked if the people wouldn’t mind turning the volume down on their music. A couple minutes later – silence. They turned the music down so low, we did not hear it at all and they left the building shortly after that. Simple. We didn’t need to plan our strategy, arm ourselves, and go as a group to let that other group know just how we felt about their loud music. All it took was one man, in peace and positive expectation asking for the music to be turned down a bit.

Maybe, the belief that we are violent creatures that could potentially explode in an uncontrolled rage with just the right provocation, is a belief that has been 'given' to us by the books we read, the news shows, television shows, news stories and movies we watch?

Of the rare times I have been faced with someone ‘going to war’ with me; I had no idea how to react, or what to say. I was taken off guard and by surprise by their harsh and angry response. It would be hours or sometimes days later that I would think, ‘Aha! That’s what I should have said – or done -- in response to the attack’. I used to think it was a flaw in my character that I wasn’t ever ready with a quick and cutting response when someone came at me with anger, or threat. But now I am beginning to think that we as a species are just NOT wired for war, conflict and violence. My friend, @wwf, speaks of going to peace all the time. He calls people on their violence, but he never goes to violence. Not everyone appreciates this.

The title of that article I mentioned at the beginning of this post is 'Human Beings are Wired for Morality' by Craig Axford.

In the first paragraph of the online article is the statement:

"According to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, our cells react positively to well-being produced through actions motivated by a noble purpose, …."

When we help others, it feels really good. And the more we do it, the better we feel.

And this quote suggests that maybe the world is not as violent as we are led to believe:

"One factor feeding this pessimism stems from technology’s capacity to bring news of the disasters to our doorsteps. Every day, lots of people and institutions do incredible things—and we sometimes hear about them. Yet we also have unprecedented access to the all the tragedies occurring in the world, and we hear about those with more regularity. "

In my opinion, we need to reject the myth that we are violent, vicious, cruel creatures. We CAN reject that message – because it is false. It is just that; a myth.

We as a species are ‘wired for morality,’ designed for community, cooperation, coordinated effort, compassion. Our natural response to those in trouble bears witness of that. Healthy parents naturally care tenderly for their sons and daughters. Neighbors naturally seek ways of getting along. Strangers naturally go out of their way to help -- even by going across the globe to do it. We can start focusing on that. We are not, and never were, wired for violence and war.

Let's seek our 'noble purpose.'