Introduction to articles on ...

Human Nature

There are fundamental similarities that all people share. For example, each of us wants to experience freedom, enjoy family relationships in whatever form they take, live in a secure environment, procreate, and maintain a reasonable standard of living. This is a basic tenet of human nature. It defines "who we are" at our core.

Life, however, is much more complicated than what human nature expects of us. Culture — any culture — blurs the lines of what we require to be fully human and what we desire to have for ourselves. Does that make us innately selfish? Are some people simply more prone to materialism (substitute power, sheer wealth, fame, or prestige, if you prefer) than others? Or is that a function of our environment?

Consider advertisements on television (an environment in which too many of us spend far too much of our time.) It doesn't matter if the ads are commercial, political, religious, or as seemingly undemanding as a public-service announcement. They all have one thing in common: They want to alter the way we think, talk, and act.

In the course of each day, we face an onslaught of propaganda intended to coerce us to take specific actions. Some of the hype is fairly easy to recognize, but creative spinning is subtle. And if we are not attentive and decisive, we can fall prey to the schemes of others.

The focus of the articles listed below delves into the realm of human nature in all of its complexities. Explore the realities we face in a society absorbed with shams and pretense. Knowledge of the veracity of social interaction can help free you from the hold your environment may have on you.

Read ... and learn.

Articles

Some people seek power for its own sake. They are not interested helping others. They seek only to compel or restrain others in an effort to reach their own goals. Can they be eradicated? Find out in this compelling article.
People of the Lie

Anyone can tell a lie, even a preposterous lie. Many times that is not a huge concern for most people. It becomes a concern when those preposterous lies are intended to re-write history. This article is the first of a three-part series that looks into the propaganda that can become truth if not monitored.
Transforming Fiction into Fact, Part I: What is Reality?

How do lies become fact? What is involved in the transformation process? Dig deep into this article and discover how much of what you know may be true simply because it has been repeated often enough to take hold. Transforming Fiction into Fact, Part II: Gradualism

This is the final article in a three-part series that explains how to protect yourself from believing the lies that are represented as truth in our society.
Transforming Fiction into Fact, Part III: Common Sense

This article will treat you to a frank discussion about the numbing of our minds to the real issues facing our nation. Our focus isn't where it ought to be at all. Why? You will have to find out for yourself.
Let the Good Times Roll

If you attract people who are like you, what does the composition of your sphere of influence say about your character? More importantly, does it matter? Take a moment to find out why respect and success should go hand-in-hand in this.
Can Niceness and Firmness Coexist?: Personality Traits That Attract

What goes on behind closed doors? More than you know and some things you might find surprising.
Behind Closed Doors

What would you do if you won the lottery? Find out how one family was crushed beneath the burden of lottery MISfortune.
The Curse of the Lottery: Money Talks

When things aren't what they appear to be, it may not be time to look a little deeper, but time to look away. Explore the first of two timely articles below:
Charades, Part I

There are many aspects of human nature that are difficult to rein in. However, as a society, we must provoke ourselves — and one another — to face reality. We have to face it as it is and not as we want it to be. Read the second installment in this series here:
Charades, Part II

I hear enough B.S. from people I come in contact with every week to last a lifetime. Most of the people you deal with promise short and deliver long. They overstate their figures. They spin the facts.
A Tsunami of B.S.

Back in the early eighties, when I was publishing my newsletter The Tortoise Report, the thought crossed my mind that the crumbling U.S. empire might find itself breaking up into smaller pieces — as Rome and the British Empire did. The reality is that no one knows for certain how things are going to play out in the coming years, but I believe there is a real possibility that the United States could eventually break up into a number of independent states or regions.
Breaking Up

Now that I'm finally back down to my playing weight, I can tell on myself: I was a bad boy on Thanksgiving. To steal a couple of my own (old) jokes, the way I ate, I was lucky the universe was expanding. They say no man is an island, but I came close. It was sheer gluttony!
An End to the Age of Gluttony

Go to top of "Human Nature"