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The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect
As biologist Jeremy Griffith explains in THE Interview (which psychiatrist Professor Harry Prosen described as "the most important interview of all time"), while we humans lacked the explanation for our 2-million-year corrupted human condition we had no choice but to deny that our distant ape ancestors lived in a state of cooperative and loving innocence. But with the good reason for our corrupted condition now finally found, our species' original state of innocence can at last be admitted - and what that honesty finally allows us to see is the immense guilt and shame we humans have been carrying for corrupting our original instinctive self or soul. While it's all-relieving to have this 'Great Burden of Guilt' finally lifted, having it suddenly revealed is so exposing that the mind of many will initially refuse to take in or 'hear' what's being talked about. It will suffer from a 'Deaf Effect', which is what this booklet and its video presentation is all about overcoming.
74 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2022
About the author
Jeremy Griffith
14 books271 followersJeremy 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’.
Born on December 1, 1945, and raised on a sheep station in rural New South Wales, Australia, Jeremy was educated at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, a school whose visionary approach to education has produced such notable alumni as Rupert Murdoch and HRH The Prince of Wales. He matriculated with first class honors in biology and in 1965 began a science degree at the University of New England in northern New South Wales. While there, Jeremy played representative rugby union football, making the 1966 trials for the national team, the Wallabies. Deferring his studies in 1967, Jeremy undertook the most thorough investigation ever into the plight of the Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) — a search that was to last more than six years, before concluding the ‘Tiger’ was indeed extinct. His findings were internationally reported, with articles appearing in the American Museum of Natural History’s journal, Natural History, and Australian Geographic. His search also featured in an episode of the national television series A Big Country.
In 1971 Jeremy completed his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology at the University of Sydney and the following year, in the same self-sufficient spirit with which he had undertaken the ‘Tiger’ search, he established Griffith Tablecraft, a highly successful furniture manufacturing business based on his own simple and natural designs, which pioneered the use of bark-to-bark slabs of timber. It was during this time that, at age 27, Jeremy realised that trying to save animals from extinction or trying to build ideal furniture wasn’t addressing the real issue behind the extraordinary imperfection in human life, which is our behaviour, and that what was really needed in the world was a deeper understanding of ourselves — so it was to this issue of our species’ less-than-ideal behaviour that Jeremy turned his attention.
Since 1975 Jeremy has spent the first, often pre-dawn, hours of each day thinking and writing about the human condition, and in 1983 he established the non-profit organisation FIX THE WORLD, which is dedicated to the study and amelioration of the human condition. The result of that dedication are his many articles and over 20 books about the human condition: including A Species In Denial (2003), which was a bestseller in Australia and New Zealand, and in 2016, his summa masterpiece book, FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition. In 2020 he presented the one-hour video explanation of the human condition, the transcript of which is provided in the booklet, THE Interview; and in 2021 Jeremy wrote Death by Dogma to explain the extreme danger Marxist Critical Theory presents. 2025 brought The Human Condition, which is one of Jeremy Griffith’s three most important presentations, serving as a powerful short-in-length bridge between THE Interview and FREEDOM. It takes his human-race-saving insights to a new depth of clarity, so is a MUST READ!
You can learn more about Jeremy Griffith's work on the Fix The World website at www.humancondition.com.
Born on December 1, 1945, and raised on a sheep station in rural New South Wales, Australia, Jeremy was educated at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, a school whose visionary approach to education has produced such notable alumni as Rupert Murdoch and HRH The Prince of Wales. He matriculated with first class honors in biology and in 1965 began a science degree at the University of New England in northern New South Wales. While there, Jeremy played representative rugby union football, making the 1966 trials for the national team, the Wallabies. Deferring his studies in 1967, Jeremy undertook the most thorough investigation ever into the plight of the Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) — a search that was to last more than six years, before concluding the ‘Tiger’ was indeed extinct. His findings were internationally reported, with articles appearing in the American Museum of Natural History’s journal, Natural History, and Australian Geographic. His search also featured in an episode of the national television series A Big Country.
In 1971 Jeremy completed his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology at the University of Sydney and the following year, in the same self-sufficient spirit with which he had undertaken the ‘Tiger’ search, he established Griffith Tablecraft, a highly successful furniture manufacturing business based on his own simple and natural designs, which pioneered the use of bark-to-bark slabs of timber. It was during this time that, at age 27, Jeremy realised that trying to save animals from extinction or trying to build ideal furniture wasn’t addressing the real issue behind the extraordinary imperfection in human life, which is our behaviour, and that what was really needed in the world was a deeper understanding of ourselves — so it was to this issue of our species’ less-than-ideal behaviour that Jeremy turned his attention.
Since 1975 Jeremy has spent the first, often pre-dawn, hours of each day thinking and writing about the human condition, and in 1983 he established the non-profit organisation FIX THE WORLD, which is dedicated to the study and amelioration of the human condition. The result of that dedication are his many articles and over 20 books about the human condition: including A Species In Denial (2003), which was a bestseller in Australia and New Zealand, and in 2016, his summa masterpiece book, FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition. In 2020 he presented the one-hour video explanation of the human condition, the transcript of which is provided in the booklet, THE Interview; and in 2021 Jeremy wrote Death by Dogma to explain the extreme danger Marxist Critical Theory presents. 2025 brought The Human Condition, which is one of Jeremy Griffith’s three most important presentations, serving as a powerful short-in-length bridge between THE Interview and FREEDOM. It takes his human-race-saving insights to a new depth of clarity, so is a MUST READ!
You can learn more about Jeremy Griffith's work on the Fix The World website at www.humancondition.com.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 8, 2022
This booklet goes where no one else has ever gone. In it, biologist Jeremy Griffith explains humanity's great guilt over having destroyed our original state of cooperative, loving innocence. This guilt is so powerful that we don't even acknowledge that we have it, and yet it drives every aspect of our lives. But in this booklet it is explained that this guilt was the product of our conscious mind's absolutely necessary experiments in self management, during which it had to defy our pre-established instinctive self. So this is a redeeming understanding that Griffith is presenting, but this historic fear we have of the whole issue of having destroyed paradise explains why people still find it very difficult to 'hear' any discussion of the subject - hence the 'deaf effect' in the title.
September 23, 2022
The booklet, ‘The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect’, by Jeremy Griffith, is an authentially fascinating, unique and compelling read.
For starters Griffith, a biologist, defines the human condition in a very novel and particular way. Ordinarily, in my view, the term ‘human condition’ is used in a broad, amorphous fashion ranging from the practical aspects of human behaviour and life, to the more religious and philosophical engaging issues of the meaning of life and morality.
In the ‘The Great Guilt’, Griffith posits that: our pre-fully conscious ancestors were guided by selfless, cooperative and loving instincts (of which our ‘soul’, morality, conscience is a manifestation); when our fully conscious mind (the ability to understand cause and effect and manage our lives from a basis of understanding cause and effect) emerged it wrested management from our instincts; at this point we became psychologically upset — competitive, aggressive and selfish.
In the ‘The Great Guilt’ Griffith defines the human condition as the immense guilt and shame we feel at behaving contrary to our loving instincts, for having corrupted our soul so to speak. Griffith pin points this guilt as the root psychological cause for our resistance to engaging with discussion of the human condition — a defensive mental reaction he terms the ‘deaf effect’ to protect us from we anticipate will be insoluble, confronting and depressing thoughts. This ‘deaf effect’ thus preventing human’s accessing the hugely relieving and much-needed therapeutic benefit of honest and direct discussion of our condition. For me this booklet makes tangible, brings to life, allows us to resonate, connect with, feel this shame and guilt.
One portion that I found particularly moving was Griffith’s analysis of the Neolithic archaeological site in South Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, Göbekli Tepe. What I was struck by was how Griffith points out that it is only if and when we acknowledge that our species was originally innocent (selfless, cooperative and loving) can we begin to empathise and connect with the psychological predicament of the residents of Göbekli Tepe and therefore understand what motivated them to build and decorate the immense stone structures. The booklet is worth the read for this analysis alone.
Helpfully, the booklet includes people attesting to the reality of the ‘deaf effect’ and experiencing it in themselves and working through this resistance. It also includes really honest and enlightening illustrations of how insecure we are about what the human condition really is by way of including quotes and artwork from the likes of Descartes, van der Post, Jung, Goya, Bacon, R.D. Laing and van Gogh.
For starters Griffith, a biologist, defines the human condition in a very novel and particular way. Ordinarily, in my view, the term ‘human condition’ is used in a broad, amorphous fashion ranging from the practical aspects of human behaviour and life, to the more religious and philosophical engaging issues of the meaning of life and morality.
In the ‘The Great Guilt’, Griffith posits that: our pre-fully conscious ancestors were guided by selfless, cooperative and loving instincts (of which our ‘soul’, morality, conscience is a manifestation); when our fully conscious mind (the ability to understand cause and effect and manage our lives from a basis of understanding cause and effect) emerged it wrested management from our instincts; at this point we became psychologically upset — competitive, aggressive and selfish.
In the ‘The Great Guilt’ Griffith defines the human condition as the immense guilt and shame we feel at behaving contrary to our loving instincts, for having corrupted our soul so to speak. Griffith pin points this guilt as the root psychological cause for our resistance to engaging with discussion of the human condition — a defensive mental reaction he terms the ‘deaf effect’ to protect us from we anticipate will be insoluble, confronting and depressing thoughts. This ‘deaf effect’ thus preventing human’s accessing the hugely relieving and much-needed therapeutic benefit of honest and direct discussion of our condition. For me this booklet makes tangible, brings to life, allows us to resonate, connect with, feel this shame and guilt.
One portion that I found particularly moving was Griffith’s analysis of the Neolithic archaeological site in South Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, Göbekli Tepe. What I was struck by was how Griffith points out that it is only if and when we acknowledge that our species was originally innocent (selfless, cooperative and loving) can we begin to empathise and connect with the psychological predicament of the residents of Göbekli Tepe and therefore understand what motivated them to build and decorate the immense stone structures. The booklet is worth the read for this analysis alone.
Helpfully, the booklet includes people attesting to the reality of the ‘deaf effect’ and experiencing it in themselves and working through this resistance. It also includes really honest and enlightening illustrations of how insecure we are about what the human condition really is by way of including quotes and artwork from the likes of Descartes, van der Post, Jung, Goya, Bacon, R.D. Laing and van Gogh.
September 15, 2023
We are all familiar with the feeling of guilt. For having misbehaved as children and having received punishment from our parents. Or for having been selfish and having hurt someone who did not deserve it, when we were older.
But these feelings are but a small manifestation of the enormous guilt that each and every person feels for having corrupted our once ideal cooperative and loving world in which our species originated. It is the greatest Guilt. The guilt of having destroyed paradise and having corrupted our selfless, sensitive and loving instincts. It is a guilt so great that it is completely blocked inside our unconscious, and that often prevents us from accessing the knowledge that the biologist Jeremy Griffith presents in his works (deaf effect), in which he explains, through his theory of instinct vs. intellect, that we had good reasons to corrupt that instinctive soul, and that we are not horrible monsters after all, but that we are good, not just good, but the heroes of the history of the Earth.
The good news is that with perseverance you can overcome this deaf effect to access the greatest gift that is capable of putting an end to all the pain and all the crises that exist on Earth today.
But these feelings are but a small manifestation of the enormous guilt that each and every person feels for having corrupted our once ideal cooperative and loving world in which our species originated. It is the greatest Guilt. The guilt of having destroyed paradise and having corrupted our selfless, sensitive and loving instincts. It is a guilt so great that it is completely blocked inside our unconscious, and that often prevents us from accessing the knowledge that the biologist Jeremy Griffith presents in his works (deaf effect), in which he explains, through his theory of instinct vs. intellect, that we had good reasons to corrupt that instinctive soul, and that we are not horrible monsters after all, but that we are good, not just good, but the heroes of the history of the Earth.
The good news is that with perseverance you can overcome this deaf effect to access the greatest gift that is capable of putting an end to all the pain and all the crises that exist on Earth today.
September 15, 2022
I first watched 'The Great Guilt' video and there was so much to absorb I was incredibly happy to find the book version because I wanted - needed - to revisit so much of it. Griffith has written a lot about the 'Deaf Effect' in his earlier works but this all-encompassing, collective Guilt - THE GREAT GUILT - I don’t think has been as clearly described and it is fascinating.
The idea that we as a species carry this innate guilt and shame about who we are, how far we’ve strayed from our paradisiacal past and the great burden of guilt we now carry in our present human-condition selves as a result. It has to be at the very cutting edge of where the current psychological thinking is at. All the self help books that offer tools to cope with the world really need to be underpinned with this greater psychological burden that blankets us as a species and how we can now emerge from that shame and guilt into a most enlightened, free, happy species that Griffith describes so brilliantly in this little book: "we have been immensely, immensely lonely—feeling that we were just garbage on Earth and that everybody and everything hated us. It’s hard for us to see our situation because we are now so practiced at denial... solving the human condition, explaining why we are good and not bad, opens up a whole new world of truth... the dawn of enlightenment has arrived; the sun is finally coming up to drain away all the darkness from our lives!"
The idea that we as a species carry this innate guilt and shame about who we are, how far we’ve strayed from our paradisiacal past and the great burden of guilt we now carry in our present human-condition selves as a result. It has to be at the very cutting edge of where the current psychological thinking is at. All the self help books that offer tools to cope with the world really need to be underpinned with this greater psychological burden that blankets us as a species and how we can now emerge from that shame and guilt into a most enlightened, free, happy species that Griffith describes so brilliantly in this little book: "we have been immensely, immensely lonely—feeling that we were just garbage on Earth and that everybody and everything hated us. It’s hard for us to see our situation because we are now so practiced at denial... solving the human condition, explaining why we are good and not bad, opens up a whole new world of truth... the dawn of enlightenment has arrived; the sun is finally coming up to drain away all the darkness from our lives!"
September 11, 2022
This is an exceptional read that delves deeply into the subject of the human condition, and explains why there is an initial deaf effect that prevents readers from understanding the most glorious of all gifts humans can be given, which is (biological) self understanding of ourselves and our behaviour. After overcoming the deaf effect this understanding of the human condition is deeply profound and moving, and will liberate all of humanity from the horror, guilt, shame and loneliness of what we have suffered from, but also worked towards gaining an understanding of, for two million years as a species. It’s just such a wonderful and important presentation that I can’t recommend this read highly enough.
February 17, 2025
Jeremy Griffiths life’s work to bring the vitally important understanding of the human condition into the forefront of our understanding of ourselves has been an arduous task. If the human race is to have a future we need to understand ourselves and what is driving our behaviour and ultimately discover what we can do about it.
But without that compassionate and redeeming understanding it has been almost impossible for humans to go near the subject of the human condition.
Jeremy Griffith’s book ‘The Great Guilt’ gives great guidance on how to overcome that fear. And in short explains that with the compassionate explanation for the human condition it no longer needs to be feared and it is safe to explore and understand this greatest of all gifts that makes complete sense of what it is to be human.
But without that compassionate and redeeming understanding it has been almost impossible for humans to go near the subject of the human condition.
Jeremy Griffith’s book ‘The Great Guilt’ gives great guidance on how to overcome that fear. And in short explains that with the compassionate explanation for the human condition it no longer needs to be feared and it is safe to explore and understand this greatest of all gifts that makes complete sense of what it is to be human.
September 2, 2025
A powerful and eye-opening read. It dives deep into the real reason we struggle to hear and absorb honest explanations of human behavior. What stood out to me most was the section on ancient history. It was fascinating and brought so much context to our modern psychological blocks. Griffith connects the dots in a way that’s both confronting and incredibly enlightening. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the deeper layers of human nature and where our resistance to truth really comes from.
October 17, 2025
I found the description of the Gobleke Tepe monuments and their meaning fascinating. And it's true, I believe, that there is great resistance to going into our deeper psychology for fear of what we will find there, describing the reason for this being our destruction of innocence in our forebears is credible at the very least.
Even if your jury is out on Griffith (I'm working my way through his books) I think most people if they took the time would find this presentation of great intellectual interest, and, as others have said, it carries within it a deeply sensitive vein of truth.
Even if your jury is out on Griffith (I'm working my way through his books) I think most people if they took the time would find this presentation of great intellectual interest, and, as others have said, it carries within it a deeply sensitive vein of truth.
April 5, 2026
The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect by Jeremy Griffith presents a thoughtful framework for understanding denial and resistance in the face of confronting truths, encouraging readers to reflect on their own responses. The work aims to foster greater self-awareness and compassion. Its optimistic perspective on resolving inner conflict makes it a valuable read.
April 25, 2026
In 'The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect', Jeremy Griffith takes us back to the emergence of human thought and the journey to where we are today. The most moving and eye opening reads I've experienced.
April 29, 2026
An absolutely wonderful, penetrating analysis of the cause and solution to the psychologically upset we find ourselves in. Excellent read!
May 4, 2026
Jeremy Griffith talks a lot about this 'Deaf Effect' and I'll admit I didn't really consider it for myself but as I've delved deeper and watched my reactions I can only conclude it's truth and severity. I liken it to stories of people hearing a cancer diagnosis from the doctor and only absorbing 10% of what the doctor says such is the mind's defense mechanism to hearing information that is perceived as threatening or terrifying or undermining. There are personal examples at the beginning of the book that are very interesting of people before and after experiencing the deaf effect. It's short and i think important if you're grappling with this 'human condition'.
May 3, 2026
I got a little lost when reading this but found I couldn't ignore it as there was something resonating. So I read more on the Fix The World website about the 'deaf effect' Griffith describes which made sense and sure enough with perseverance I came back and read 'The Great guilt' for a second time and it all fell in to place. Not easy going as it does cut through the denial of our human condition, none the less well worth it.
April 2, 2026
The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect get right to core explanation of the human condition and it's origin. Jeremy Griffith gives a compelling presentation of the guilt and destructive effects we carry from leaving/destroying our so called 'Garden of Eden' in our evolutionary past.
April 18, 2026
The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect by Jeremy Griffith is a wonderful exploration in to the source of the insecure, destructive state humanity finds itself in. A read that encourages deep reflection on our human condition.
April 6, 2026
In 'The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect', Jeremy Griffith provides and engrossing explanation for the cause for humanity's insecure psychological state.
April 26, 2026
Griffith is passionate about ending the suffering in the world and the 'The Great Guilt that causes the Deaf Effect' is another work that compliments this goal. Excellent read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews