In his book titled, [i] Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness [/i] Chet Shupe argues that civilization has brought an unnatural state of suffering by preventing humans from being true to their feelings. He believes that mankind has continually defied the law of life and instead become dependent on institutions, states, governments, and material wealth. He uses his personal stories, book excerpts from other authors, bishops’ words, TED talks, documentaries, quotes from famous people, and comments from media personalities to support his arguments. The book is organized into twenty chapters, where each chapter defends the main argument by using a different perspective. The first few chapters discuss the emotional pain that people are currently experiencing, spiritual and legal obligations, the idea of language being a curse and a blessing, our feelings, and our belief in the emotional nature and law. He continues the discussion by examining how things are and what we think they should be as we continue trying to overcome future uncertainties. He also argues that we are currently living in denial of our emotions and that evolutionary wisdom is the source of happiness, but not accumulated knowledge. The book also includes discussions of how marriage has led to institutional subjugation, why soldiers find it difficult to come home from war, our struggle with our two self-identities, and how to build and maintain a spiritual home. The middle part of the book examines the concepts of eternal life, serving life, selflessness, and the serpent’s false promise. The last two chapters offer recommendations on how to live spiritually free by first recognizing our circumstances and then getting out of the institutional cages by utilizing our emotional intelligence. Most of the chapters begin with a quote or an excerpt from a book or documentary that becomes the basis on which the author makes his arguments either by supporting it or opposing it. The author concludes the book with three essays and a table comparing two realities.
One of the positive attributes of the book is that the discussion in each chapter is detailed enough because the author critically examines the concepts of the law of life, the story of creation in the Bible, Charles Darwin’s theory of human evolution, civil order versus natural order, the origin of women rights, soldiers’ narration of their war experiences, and spoken words from prominent people among others. As you read the book, you cannot say that you are not convinced by the evidence used to back Shupe’s viewpoints. The other positive aspect is that, at the end of each chapter, the author hints as to what will be discussed in the next one, thereby making the discussion coherent and easy to follow. It is also interesting how the author uses the coronavirus pandemic to show that suffering makes people exercise brotherhood and sisterhood. Lastly, I liked how the author keeps repeating the theme in each chapter because you cannot forget it at all.
Regarding the negative aspects, I feel like the author is protesting too much in the book by claiming that the whole of mankind has deserted from its natural way of life and adopted the institutional lives governed by laws and rules of money. He goes further to argue that he cannot know how life would be if people got out of their emotional cages and became spiritually free. This is inconsistent with his reference to the Pirahã people, who he argues that live in the Amazon without laws, marriage, or government, and are still happy. Therefore, the whole of mankind is not suffering if the Pirahã people live happily. For the most part, the book is professionally edited, but there are a few spelling and grammar mistakes in the book. For example, Shupe has wrongly used the article, “the” in a sentence on page 129 and has started some sentences with the conjunction, “and” in other pages.
I would give the book a rating of [b] 4 out of 5 stars [/b] because first, it is professionally edited. Secondly, the structure is clear as the book is organized into chapters. Lastly, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses.
I would recommend the book to career professionals in the fields of leadership, psychology, academics, law, theology, and mental health because it discusses a phenomenon that needs further research to improve practices in their fields. It is inconceivable that an author can oppose the laws and rules of money that govern the life of every human being in the world, and instead propose a return to the natural way of life, which is ancient and still unclear to many people. However, posing such a question would spark the interest of many professionals who are struggling to explain the causes of the modern state of unhappiness in society to conduct further research.
Comments