Jealousy = the World is Flat

The brain has not biologically evolved in the last 100,000 years.  Nature has apparently decided that no further advantage exists for increasing brain size.  I agree — biological evolution is no longer relevant to a species that has achieved the ability to reason.  We’ve graduated from the school of Biological Progress, and are now attending the school of Intellectual Enhancements.  In this school, we’ve come a long way.

Consider our first real, man-made tools: sharp rocks tied to wooden handles.  Now consider modern tools: high-torque electric motors, forged gears made from case-hardened steel, comfortably-contoured plastic cases, and chemical battery packs that produce enough electricity to power the tool for hours.  Clearly some progress has been made!  Now consider human relationships.  When comparing current challenges to the earliest records of humanity (the writings of the Sumerians), it’s clear we’ve changed very little, and we may have even regressed in some ways.  The contrast between our great technological progress and our stagnation in relationships is depressing.

Let me share just one example of our complete lack of innovation in relationships … the people of Sumer had this proverb “A male aroused eats salt. A female aroused is dragged in the mud.” Salt was an expensive treat to improve the taste of food — a luxury.  Does this sound just a little bit like calling a man a stud and a woman a slut for the exact same behavior?  This pathetic double standard has existed for more than 50 centuries! Do you see what I mean by stagnation?  It’s so terribly shameful that I’m embarrassed by it.

In my book I spend some time discussing human evolution and the replacement of instincts with reason.  I conclude with the reflection that any advancement to our thinking can then be seen as a further enhancement to our evolution.  I’d like to take that a little further here.

In the spirit of René Descartes (formulator of the scientific method) and Galileo Galilei (champion of reason against errant “common knowledge”), I ask you to please make jealousy an item for history books.  It is the bringer of misery, an antagonist that kills relationships, and the sower of hatred and destruction.  We suffer under this wretched burden because we think it’s normal, because we think it’s “just human,” because we think we have no choice in the matter … because we don’t know what to do to change it.

I have news for you.  It’s optional.  And being optional, I can think of no reason to choose it.  You’ve grown up with the belief that the earth is flat, and I’m telling you that I’ve discovered — by my reason (and nearly by accident, as most discoveries go) — that it’s round.  Choose progress!

I’m not the first to make this discovery.  I’m just an average man that spends a lot of time thinking and experimenting; I had to re-invent this wheel because it was lost in some obscure and dusty corner.  The methods are my own, and they work.  There’s nothing complicated or difficult about them (though they do require a bit of patience).  The most challenging part is a repetition of history: confronting and eliminating existing, erroneous beliefs.  Those would be your beliefs.

If you’re on the this path of self-improvement, then I reassure you: your goal exists, and it can be won.  In the interest of seeing you get there, the next post will be an extended quote right from the book, of information that you can put to use immediately.

Your goal exists, and it can be won.