Chet Shupe’s Life-Expanding Book Explains How Humans Can Regain the Happiness We Have Lost, as Captives of Modern Civilization

Chet Shupe’s book, “Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness” (Spiritual Freedom Press; 2020), goes beyond philosophy, sociology, psychology, and self-help, to expose the great cost, to mankind, that living in mass cultures has caused. It destroyed our inherent trust in the human spirit, thus in each other. Shupe clearly defines how differently modern humans live, vs. how Homo sapiens evolved to live. All species, including humans, seek happiness by doing things that feel good, and avoiding activities that cause emotional pain. All animate beings, quite naturally, obey this “Law of Life.” But, modern humans now struggle to live by a manmade philosophy of life, which defines all things in terms of good and evil, then burdens all humans to act, only according to what institutions define as good.

The problem with modern life is that it is wholly unnatural to human beings. It places us in total opposition to the way evolution programmed our emotions. As modern people, we still have the instincts evolution gave us. But, none of the wisdom evolution has put there is useful in following the maze of artificial rules, under which we live. Modern life flies in the face of evolution, which programmed us to serve Life, by instinctively seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, in response to every life experience natural humans might encounter. Instead, our emotions struggle and founder, under the artificial stresses of modern life. Modern humans aren’t free to serve Life, thus, they cannot thrive.

Shupe argues that evolution programmed emotions, so that every individual serves Life, by obeying the Law of Life. This is real life, as Nature created it, because every living being wants to do things that make it feel good. In this way, the members of countless species celebrate life, by taking care of it. Thus, life on earth has flourished for millions of years, despite the fact that, at the individual level, existence is far from ideal, given that all beings face hardships and uncertainties, including death.

Modern humans are the unique exception. We do not comply with the Law of Life! Based on the presumption that we know what’s good and what’s evil, we have subjugated ourselves, instead, to legal systems. Thus, we live in a largely artificial environment imposed by laws created to eliminate life’s uncertainties. These laws define virtually every aspect of human behavior. Yes, this enables us to enjoy the physical comforts of living in mass societies. But our dependency on legal systems severs our emotional connection to one another, to the planet that sustains us, and to Life, itself. This has trapped us in an unnatural state of suffering—from loneliness, anxiety, social isolation, and habitat destruction. We also suffer from an alarming inability to answer the question, “What is life about?”

Shupe says we cannot recover from humanity’s great mistake, by becoming better people, creating better plans, or devising better legal systems. Recovery, if it comes, will result when our suffering reawakens us to the need to answer to our souls: Then, we’ll again embrace the natural human way of seeking pleasure—by living in the moment, and trusting our lives to those close to us, within social groups bonded by mutual dependence. This is how humans evolved to live. Living as dependents of legal systems, as we do, right now, deprives us of the elemental social bonds through which we would normally enjoy the freedom to serve Life. Living in mutual dependence, we naturally take pleasure in placing the needs of the people around us above our own. It’s the only lifestyle that can satisfy the needs of the human soul.

Delve deeper into the heart of the matter in Chet Shupe’s “Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness.” Order on Amazon or the author’s website at https://spiritualfreedompress.com/

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
Author | Chet Shupe
Published date | 2020
Publisher | Spiritual Freedom Press
Genre | Philosophy, Evolutionary Psychology, Psychology, Self-help

Author Bio

As a whistle-blower to the world, Chet Shupe speaks with urgency about the need to rediscover our connections with their own nature, if we are ever again to experience the contentment of sisterhood and brotherhood that is our natural heritage.

Chet Shupe is an electronics engineer who suffered from severe Attention Deficit Disorder, for much of his life. When he was 43, his condition was finally diagnosed, and he began treatment with Ritalin. Suddenly, life made sense. As a result of that extraordinary experience, he began writing on brain dysfunction to provide a conceptual framework for medically treating the brain.

As a result of that effort—combined with his professional knowledge of system control theory—Shupe’s subject soon changed from brain dysfunction to cultural dysfunction. He realized that the brain cannot find lasting contentment, nor can it produce behavior that serves its species, when functioning in a reality that, emotionally, it does not comprehend.

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