Free: The End of the Human Condition

by Jeremy Griffith

Griffith's first book introduces the issue of the human condition and his biological explanation of it. It describes how the human condition is the result of a conflict between our instinctive self struggling against our intellect's need to understand existence. It presents the understanding needed for our species psychological rehabilitation.

Free: The End of the Human Condition (1988) received many reviews, reproduced below:

'Could you please send me an extra copy of your book? [Mine] is on loan because it was so appreciated.'
The late Sir Laurens van der Post, who was a pre-eminent philosopher, author of 24 books and a close friend of Carl Jung
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'Your [Jeremy Griffith's] work is a cool breeze in the furnace of human history. How badly the world needs such optimism and generosity.'
Dr Bob Brown, Australian MP and founder of the Australian conservation movement
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'Your work 'Free: The End of The Human Condition' will be very useful and certainly very appreciated by all the researchers of this laboratory.'
Professor Henry de Lumley, National Museum of Natural History, Institute for Human Palaeontology, Paris
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'I consider the book ['Free'] to be the work of a prophet and I expect the author to become recognised as a saint.'
The late Dr Ronald Strahan, eminent Australian biologist, former director of Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo and former Executive Officer of the National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife at the Australian Museum
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'I found the book ['Free'] stimulating. I shall gladly keep one copy and give the other one to our library.'
Dr Barz, President of the C.G. Jung-Institute Zurich, Switzerland
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'Thank you for your letter and Griffith's book. I was trying to find the book and you saved me the trouble.'
Dr David Suzuki, world renowned conservationist
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'Jeremy Griffith spoke about his concepts [from 'Free'] on my radio program 'The Search For Meaning' and the interview received the second most enthusiastic public response in the program's [twice weekly for 8 years] history.'
Caroline Jones, senior radio journalist who has been awarded the 
Order of Australia and the Media Peace Prize Gold Citation
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‘Was Jeremy Griffith struck by lightning on the road to Damascus…Such was my cynicism reading the summary…Then whack! Wham! Reading on I was increasingly impressed and then converted by his erudite explanation for society’s competitive and self-destructive behaviour. His is not a band-aid cure for mankind’s sickness but a profound thinking through to the biological cause of the illness.’
Macushla O’Loan, Executive Woman’s Report magazine
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‘Jeremy Griffith’s book Free: The End of The Human Condition…certainly represents a contribution to the modern comprehension of the behaviour patterns of the human species. Moreover, its insight into our past in a search for key references and explanations is enlightening.’
Dasa Sasic, Yugoslavian Sociology Journal Facts and Tendencies
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'The Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is one of the oldest on the Balkan Peninsula, established in 1869. Our publishing programme includes books, reports, monographs, periodicals, etc. from all spheres of pure and applied science...We will appreciate if there is a possibility to send us a copy of the Book [Free], as we would like to present it to an adviser with a view to translating and publishing it in Bulgaria.'
The Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
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‘['Free'] raised in me a thousand questions of the variety: “how can he make such a categorical statement about such and such—where’s his evidence for it?” etc, etc. I suggest you persevere, “suspend your disbelief” for a few hours, and read this book—it could have much to say to many of us—especially those interested in the life sciences. No, Griffith makes no attempt to “explain away” altruism, love and integrated behaviour. On the contrary his aim is to champion these.’
Patti Burke, Southern Crossings, alternative lifestyle magazine

Genres: Science, Philosophy

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Jeremy Griffith (1945-) is an Australian biologist who has dedicated his life to bringing fully accountable, biological understanding to the dilemma of the human condition–the underlying issue in all human life of our species’ extraordinary capacity for what has been called ‘good’ and ‘evil’.

Reviews

[Anthony Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prepare to have your mind officially blown! “Free: The End of the Human Condition” by Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith is one of those very rare books that will totally change the way you look at yourself and the world around you, and leave you with a profound feeling of optimism for the future of humanity! Given the state of the world today, that can only be a good and timely thing.

First published in 1988, “Free” is just as relevant today as when it was written. It is not overly long, considering the magnitude of the subject matter, but certainly manages to pack a punch. The book raises and explores the subject of “the human condition” (a subject that we humans have learnt to avoid) and goes on to fully explain how and why it emerged; all the paradoxes that it gives rise to; and the new approach humanity can and must now take to repair ourselves and our planet and ultimately to bring about peace on earth.

The book makes many bold claims, but each claim is backed up by sound logical rationale, which, even to readers of a non-scientific background such as myself, is accessible and understandable. To give you a bit of an idea, here are some examples of the remarkable claims made in this book:-

“Our problem has always been not, as we like to think, with finding the meaning of life, but with accepting it. We intuitively know the meaning of life…” (page 15)

“…since human upset first appeared on earth, the members of each new generation have had to learn to repress their true selves… Now, suddenly, this pattern is broken. Now with explanation at last available children will no longer have to die inside themselves in a sea of silence, superficiality and what is to them lies.” (page 40)

“It can be seen that it was maternalism that made us human.” (page 52)

“On a much larger scale our whole academic system placed excessive emphasis on the need for I.Q. in inquiry. Everywhere the need for more I.Q. was being stressed when what was required was more soul – was more soundness of self.” (page 61)

“To free ourselves from our embattled state we had to become secure in our understanding that our intellect and the exhaustion that it gave rise to was not bad – that all humans are equally good.” (page 71)

“While we have had to evade the fact, the devastation of our planet and more importantly the deprivation and suffering of its people was entirely due to the human condition of upset – was due to our egomania, aggression and superficiality/blindness/ alienation. Study any example closely enough, mental illness, famine, war, nuclear proliferation, corruption, air pollution, soil erosion, rainforest or wildlife destruction, to name a few, and we will see that this is true.” (page 77)

“The New Age movement was advocating a false freedom and was mostly being led by false prophets or alienated/‘blind guides’… Exhaustion/alienation could not investigate alienation – could not reveal the truth. If it could it would not be alienated. Only innocence could investigate and liberate us from alienation.” (page 80)

“Alienation is a very real phenomenon although, unable to defend it, we have hardly been game to mention it, let alone study it. Instead we have coped by repressing the fact that it even existed. For example, while such things as ‘human nature’ and ‘human affairs’ are defined in most dictionaries, ‘Human Condition’ is never mentioned. That is how evasive we have been.” (page 132)

“Love-indoctrination’s earliest achievement was the development of the first totally integrated specie society or group of larger multicellular animals. Its second achievement was the liberation of the mind to think or relate information effectively. Now its third achievement has to be introduced. This was that it correctly orientated the mind. Love-indoctrination gave us our conscience.” (page 151)

There are many more excerpts that I could have highlighted here, but I think you will get the idea that this book covers a lot of territory and demands to be taken very seriously indeed. Not only that, some of the concepts that Griffith explains are just so wonderfully simple and revelatory that they will leave you gasping! When it comes to books of this type, I honestly believe that Griffith is streets ahead of all other authors. He is able to make sense of the seemingly inexplicable.

Whilst Griffith has gone on to write several other books to do with the subject of the human condition and its resolution, “Free: The End of the Human Condition” is an exceptional condensation of the key ideas. It is a ground-breaking book and essential reading for anyone who yearns to know more about the most important of all subjects!

[Damon Isherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book where Griffith gets all his ideas down. The book that allows you to understand all other books. Could not be more important.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn't get much better than this. Had to share this review I just read about 'Free' from a 16 year old…

'Before stumbling upon Free: The End Of The Human Condition that was discreetly shoved in the back of the philosophy section, I was at the end of my road. I had experienced a year of complete and utter pain, confusion, anger and frustration. When I finally took the plunge to seek medical help (as I was suicidal), I was diagnosed with severe depression and put on medication. After reading your book (which I stayed up till 2am reading, I just couldn’t put it down), I have been one of the fastest recovering depressants around. No wonder why. If everyone knew your insights, so much would be resolved. The purpose of this letter is to thank you for your courage in publishing your sure-to-be controversial work, and for basically recovering and saving this 16 year old. Not only is your work the absolute truth and has restored my faith in humanity, it has given me inspiration to help others. I may seem young to know what I’m talking about but, well, I do. I have tested all your work and others and yours always held up.’

[Nicoletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading Griffith’s book Free: The End of the Human Condition and all I can say is WOW!

This was published in 1988 and I’m only reading it now! It makes incredible sense of my own behaviour and all of human behaviour. Griffith connects each and every human on the macro scale through these understandings of our human condition.

Free is a very well written book and for all those science lovers, it expresses the importance of having finally solved all the questions humans have been searching for and trying to understand for over 2 million years. Jeremy Griffith reconciles science and religion through biology, psychology and philosophy which is a never done before breakthrough!

I definitely recommend everybody to read this book and more of Griffith’s work because once you start you will be wanting more...

Unfortunately 5 stars is the maximum review however if I could, I would give this book 1000000 stars!

[Roz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did I think? Wow and mind blowing! At first you think its another self help book, right? But think again, actually its a complete explanation of how humans operate and WHY. Why are we on the one hand kind, loving, caring and then on the heartless, cruel, selfish and lets face it down right bloody nasty and thats just in our day to days lives! Where everything seems to be about winning, when actually everyone knows it isn't but can't say why. This book actually tells you why humans are like this, what the reason for it is AND how knowing this does put on whole new slant on the situation we find ourselves in personally and the planet as a whole. Seems incredible that this author hasn't been on worldwide television, with scientist and therapists clamering to discuss it with him and get this out there. I have started reading it again with a high lighter pen in hand! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

[Reads to Learn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once you begin reading this book the way you view the world will change in the most extraordinary way. In the first few pages the author, biologist Jeremy Griffith, explains the cause of the human condition, or, as the cover states, why humans have had to be individual, competitive, egocentric and aggressive.
The core of his explanation is the story of intellect vs instinct but with a novel twist. Griffith identifies exactly what caused the conflict between these two parts of ourselves and how that conflict resulted in us becoming competitive and aggressive. The book establishes that the theme of existence is one of order or integration driven by the law of negative entropy. From there it discusses the intrinsic difference between our instinct and intellect and in doing so redescribes them as our genetic-based learning system and our mind or nerve-based learning system. This new terminology is very helpful in gaining an appreciation of the evolutionary process and the biological limitations that needed to be overcome in the development of both our instincts and our intellect. It is absolutely fascinating reading.
With this fundamental understanding of the reason for our destructive dark side in place Griffith goes on to reveal what understandably we haven’t been able to admit and look at about ourselves and our world. You are taken on the most incredible journey of discovery as so many mysteries are solved before your very eyes.
It is a book about where we have come from, where we are and where, with this reconciling understanding, we are going which is to be free of the human condition and that is the best news ever.

[Gerald Blainy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy Griffith’s Free: The End of the Human Condition was the first time I’d ever read something that actually made sense of why humans are the way we are. It’s a book about compassion through understanding. Humans appear 'evil' or at least to have an inbuilt 'evil' side to ourselves and we are deeply shameful about that, but this book explains simply and biologically how that bad behaviour began and why that destructive behavior doesn't mean we're fundamentally bad or worthless, it's actually a tragic and heroic outcome of the clash between our instincts and our developing intellect. Some 2 million years ago.

He explains we have cooperative instincts and not selfish, survival of the fittest, warring inbuilt instincts that we've all been taught. A complete reversal of the current thinking but makes so much sense of our torture at being so divisive and our ability to be so loving and kind and our desperate need to feel like we are loving beings and just want to be loved.

One of the parts that really stood out to me is the birthday cake example. Griffith describes a simple scene, a group of young children at a birthday party, one of them sees the cake and thinks, “why not take it?” That tiny act of selfishness perfectly symbolizes what must have happened when our conscious intellect first started to experiment with free will. Just like that child, our early ancestors began testing their independence, trying to think for themselves. But because their new conscious behavior often went against their instinctive cooperative nature, their instincts in effect “criticized” them — and from that misunderstanding, the conflict between instinct and intellect began.

It’s such a simple image, but it opens up the whole story of humanity. From that innocent “grand mistake of pure selfishness,” as Griffith puts it, grew all the turmoil and confusion that became the human condition. Yet, seen this way, it’s not a story of evil, it’s one of innocence, bravery, and the incredible price we paid for consciousness.

Reading Free gave me such a sense of relief. It’s beautifully written and profoundly hopeful. It explains that we were never flawed or “fallen” — we were simply misunderstood. And now, with this explanation, that misunderstanding can finally end.

Griffith's later books are brilliant, too, but they've all got the same base explanation in them.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeremy Griffith has had a vision. The Sydney Morning Herald called him "a man who went in search of the Tasmanian Tiger and found the meaning of life." It then asked, "Is this person a prophet, a saint, or just a crackpot?"

For sixteen years, while establishing a furniture factory, Griffith worked toward his book, driven by a "desperate need to reconcile my extreme idealism with reality". The result is an instantly controversial blend of holistic science and messianic vision, somewhat akin to the efforts of Ken Wilber or Teilhard de Chardin, except more down home.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice little book and I believe it does what is says it will namely bring an end to the human condition. Well in principle anyway, the ideas are unique but simple and nicely profound.

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free, is an absolute gem. This is the first of Griffith's books. The core explanation hasn't changed in the 35 years since he first wrote this. I've read all his books and each has the same magic of truth and beauty that he breaths back into the human race with his explanation of the human condition.

[Peter Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t expect a biology book to hit me emotionally, but Griffith's book did. Griffith’s explanation of how our conscious mind started clashing with our instincts made me rethink what it means to be human and where our species is up to on the development spectrum. This is a brilliantly unique take on humanity and our unique condition.

[Ian King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a few years ago and was enthralled from the outset. I've read some of Griffith's later work which is more comprehensive but the concepts in 'Free: The End of the Human Condition' have remained the same. This is his first offering from 1988 and gives a wonderful window in to his clean thinking. His logical, scientific approach is thorough and convincing and is used among other things to bridge the chasm between science and religion by demystifying religious metaphor. We desperately need to understand ourselves if we are to end the desperate plight of the world and in this book gives us the foundation to do just that. Excellent read!

[Justin Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free: The End of the Human Condition is deep, bold, and utterly unique in how it tackles the biggest question of all: why are humans so contradictory? Capable of love, compassion, and creativity, yet also anger, greed, and destruction. The difficulty with Griffith's work is that it's so complete and so completely new, until you connect with his instinct versus intellect explanation which is forms the foundation of all his work, the rest of what he has to say can seem a complete anathema. But once his Adam Stork analogy he uses to explain his instinct versus intellect explanation makes sense and you can run with his logic I guarantee you are in for the greatest mind awakening imaginable. It's only a matter of time before all Griffith's work becomes a household discussion.

[Harry Tilbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some of Jeremy Griffith's other work but thought I'd go back to his first offering and it didn't disappoint. The concepts are very simple but their implications for every human are huge. He presents an amazing explanation for the utterly dysfunctional state we find our selves in and a clear path forward for humanity.

[Alex Rosewall · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world void of any effort to address our behavior in anything but a superficial way, 'Free' dives in to an incredible explanation for the selfish, dysfunctional place we find ourselves in. A great introduction to Griffith's work and the foundation he's built on over the years to develop his understanding of and solution to, our human condition.

[Krystal Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I'd read this to see how closely aligned to Griffith's later work it is, and it clearly shows the consistency of his ideas and his progression in explaining them. The language is simpler and the editing not as good but there's something about the very straight forwardness of it that I liked, and it's shorter so easier to read.

[Justin Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Free: The End of the Human Condition' is the first of Jeremy Griffith's published works and a very good beginning to what is a lifetime of research, in an effort to bring understanding to our human condition. I very much enjoyed reading it and the hope it brings for humanity.

[Jeremy Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffith raises so many new ideas in this book it's hard to keep up, but I did enjoy it and would recommend to anyone looking for a foundation for his later work where he digs deeper in to the concepts presented in 'Free: The End of the Human Condition'.

[Shayden Saberi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure at the time it was written it was seemingly quite an important exploration but reading it in 2024 feels outdated. I've read and attended lectures exploring the same concepts in a way more inspired way. A lot of the sections seem quite fluffed up and overall wouldn't make this your first venture into this subject matter. Requires critical thinking to discern what is still relevant and whats an empty assumption.

[Tayloring Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanx but no thanx