‘Twas a stormy night … so here are some thoughts while being alone and wet in the dark. Looking at the sometimes tragic nature of modern world affairs, and being a firm advocate of evolutionary theory for explaining current human behaviour, I often wonder what drove humans to become so megalomaniacal?
What caused us to reach such an advanced level of greed and lust for power and dominance? At least in part I think it had something to do with cold, dark nights in the rain. There are perhaps few things more pitiful than being soaked to the bone under the blackness of a starless sky. Repeatedly forced to endure this and the many other inequities and discomforts of an ‘animal’ existence, it seems understandable that our (then still relatively small) brains would have begun and continued to strive for something better. Something more secure. Something resembling a good roof, a warm blanket and a mug of hot chocolate. Only this has long ago been achieved along with much else of genuine value.
Sadly though, the drive which successfully wrought this level of comfort did not stop there, and the ingenuity which was required has been twisted, perverted and diverted to other things far more dark than any stormy night our ancestors had to endure: nuclear weapons, the industries that result in environmental decimation and the perpetual need to find (and, if necessary, create) an ‘enemy’ that can subsequently be destroyed as some pathetic proof of our ongoing superiority. It is my firm belief that humans are quite amazing and equally as terrible as that.
My hope is that we will realise that the physical battle against the world of dark, cold, wet nights has been won and unless we redirect our considerable abilities to the psychological battle within ourselves, we will lose all that we hold dear. And that would be truly sad. The rain has stopped and soon the sun will rise.
