Current e-Journal

We’ve recently been revisiting a post Hildy shared during the first Trump administration. Back then, she reminded us that the way we think about human nature actually doesn’t describe HUMAN nature at all. Instead, that phrase describes traits we share with many, if not all other animals.

Animals other than humans steal, kill, cheat, and deceive. Animals other than humans are greedy, fearful, thinking of their own survival above all else. Animals compete for resources and status. And they are often violent with their own kind.

The racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and cruelty we are witnessing these days is therefore not really our human nature.

Stemming from the long ancestral line of our animal DNA, those behaviors are, in fact, simply what it means to be an animal on planet earth.

What, then, does it mean to be human? And why are we dedicating this week’s newsletter to that humanness? Because the traits that are unique to our species hold the key to creating the world we all want to live in.

• A sense that we are part of something bigger than just our own selves and our own families / tribes. The ability to comprehend that each of us is one life among a vast whole of billions of people we cannot see, but whom we acknowledge and understand are there.
• The free will to consciously de-program our instincts and re-program new instincts. 
• The ability to imagine things that do not currently exist. To create something from nothing but our imaginations. The ability to envision the future, to envision what is possible.
• The capacity for self-awareness, to strive for self-betterment. The ability to be conscious that we are conscious!

While some animals may share one or more of these traits, to our knowledge, there is no other species that possesses all these traits. And this list is just the beginning!

Catalytic Thinking reminds us that our assumptions will determine our results. When we assume that “human nature” is all about greed, fear, and scarcity, the actions that determine our results will reflect those negative assumptions.

But when we assume that humans have a unique combination of traits that can catapult us towards the equitable, healthy, joyful world we want to live in, our actions will reflect and create THAT.