If there is one belief that has united the left and the right, psychologists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad. It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Pinker, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest.
From my more than eighty years of experience, I certainly subscribe to this view, but if now is the time for a new view of human nature, then I'm happy to be persuaded. To this end, I've started to read Rutger Bregman's "Human kind - A Hopeful History", which I had picked up from the Uniting Church op-shop during our recent drive to Ulladulla (in fact, I seem to remember having bought a copy some years ago but somehow it got lost in the as yet unsorted part of my ever-expanding library, so instead of trying to find it there, I simply bought another copy for two dollars).
An excellent chapter-by-chapter summary of the book
If you see me wandering about with a beatific smile on my face, it means the book has done its job or the sharemarket has gone up, or both.
Catching the early-morning sun by the kitchen door.
"The year's at the spring; And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in His heaven— All's right with the world!"
