To evolve means to develop and achieve gradually. To devolve means to pass on, delegate or transfer duty or authority.
The human race has an amazing capacity to learn. With learning can come development and achievement. The human race also has an amazing capacity to ignore what it learns and live in denial.
We have managed to unravel fine details about how our bodies work, how the universe works, how our psychological system works, how to manage groups of people and infinite detail about things most of us will never understand.
At the same time most of this knowledge is ignored. Medical knowledge is used to help some of the people of the world. Most are excluded because they can’t pay for the help. Management of industry continues to repeat the failed exercises of the past even when research has shown these methods fail. The current economic mess is an example of greed and refusal to show honesty, humanity and good business practice. The human capacity to demonstrate denial of what is, over belief in individual competence, or perhaps that should be incompetence, is curious. The stubbornness of humanity defeats the best of intentions. A wise man said you can always discuss with another wise man but it’s impossible to work with a fool.
If evolving means development and gradual achievement, at one level the human race is superb. But at another level it is clearly extremely unevolved. The current generation seems to be sidelining the research and passing on to our children and grandchildren the problems that we can’t solve. Perhaps it isn’t that we can’t solve them but that we don’t want to accept what research has shown to be the case. Denial is a powerful way of ignoring what we don’t want to know, see, acknowledge or believe in, even when it is slapping us in the face. Some accepted belief systems do not allow humans to accept what research shows is happening. We cling to the safe ideas because to do anything else means change.
Change is the most frightening thing for many humans. Change means doing things a different way. It means changing ideas and that is the hardest activity for us. It feels safer to stay with what we have proved doesn’t work rather than risk trying to see if a different method brings more beneficial results.
Depression is a universal problem. Yet the psychologists know most of the causes. Anger is a widespread issue with road rage, intolerance of others’ beliefs, and the frustration that individuals cannot have their own way over other humans is widespread. A different approach to government, to everyday living and to treatment of other people would bring about a much more equitable society with less frustration and strong emotional resentments.
