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Transform Your Life And Save The World - Through The Dreamed Of Arrival Of The Rehabilitating Biological Explanation Of The Human Condition
This is the Second Edition of Transform Your Life And Save The World following significant additions in June 2019. The book is supported by a very informative website at humancondition.com
The world is in crisis! What is the solution?
Ultimately, we have to find the redeeming, and thus transforming, understanding of our psychologically troubled human condition. And it is precisely that dreamed-of insight, and its now desperately needed transformation of our lives, that Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith presents in this book.
Titled 'Transform Your Life And Save The World - Through The Dreamed Of Arrival Of The Rehabilitating Biological Explanation Of The Human Condition', this book is a very short but powerful condensation of Griffith’s definitive treatise of the human condition that is presented in his book 'FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition'.
The genesis of 'Transform Your Life And Save The World' lay in Griffith’s address at the June 2016 launch of ‘FREEDOM' at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Commencing with very brief extracts from Tim Macartney-Snape’s Introduction at the launch, and Sir Bob Geldof’s keynote address, it goes on to summarise the content of 'FREEDOM' in 3 powerful chapters: ‘The Dishonest Biology’, ‘The Truthful Biology’, and ‘The Resulting Transformation Of The Human Race’.
In fact, in just 82 pages of sensational world-shaking but at the same time spectacular world-saving TRUTH about human behaviour, Griffith delivers a presentation that is so profoundly liberating, relieving and transforming of your life that this little book may be all you need to read!
As Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, has said, “I have no doubt this biological explanation of the human condition is the holy grail of insight we have sought for the psychological rehabilitation of the human race.”
The world is in crisis! What is the solution?
Ultimately, we have to find the redeeming, and thus transforming, understanding of our psychologically troubled human condition. And it is precisely that dreamed-of insight, and its now desperately needed transformation of our lives, that Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith presents in this book.
Titled 'Transform Your Life And Save The World - Through The Dreamed Of Arrival Of The Rehabilitating Biological Explanation Of The Human Condition', this book is a very short but powerful condensation of Griffith’s definitive treatise of the human condition that is presented in his book 'FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition'.
The genesis of 'Transform Your Life And Save The World' lay in Griffith’s address at the June 2016 launch of ‘FREEDOM' at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Commencing with very brief extracts from Tim Macartney-Snape’s Introduction at the launch, and Sir Bob Geldof’s keynote address, it goes on to summarise the content of 'FREEDOM' in 3 powerful chapters: ‘The Dishonest Biology’, ‘The Truthful Biology’, and ‘The Resulting Transformation Of The Human Race’.
In fact, in just 82 pages of sensational world-shaking but at the same time spectacular world-saving TRUTH about human behaviour, Griffith delivers a presentation that is so profoundly liberating, relieving and transforming of your life that this little book may be all you need to read!
As Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, has said, “I have no doubt this biological explanation of the human condition is the holy grail of insight we have sought for the psychological rehabilitation of the human race.”
- GenresScience
128 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2022
161 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Griffith
13 books130 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’.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 31, 2016
'Transform Your Life And Save The World' (TYL) is the condensation of Griffith's definitive work 'Freedom: The End Of The Human Condition', and as such provides an wonderful introduction to his extraordinary, albeit confronting, work.
It is very important to bear in mind this confronting aspect of Griffith's work. Griffith says that all our actions and behaviour spring from a core of insecurity about not being able to answer the one fundamental question in our lives: the question of are we good or are we bad? In other words, why are we human's so brutal, greedy, indifferent and selfish when the ideals of life are to be cooperative and loving? Being unable to answer this great question of questions, this ultimate question, Griffith says we have been been so insecure in our self-worth that we haven't even been able to admit that we are insecure; moreover we have learnt to devote every second of every day to proving our worth.
The point is, when Griffith starts walking around in this arena, and talking about our core insecurity, it is very exposing, and for some people, it can be too confronting, even though the whole point of Griffith's work is to defend our behaviour! Indeed, if you were to sum up Griffith's work, you would describe it as the biological defence for our angry, aggressive, selfish behaviour; the defence for our 'dark' side! Unfortunately, in the shock of having light shone on this 'forbidden' realm, some people can lose sight of the fact that this is a defence for our behaviour, and take up arms against, even though it is, I suggest, a completely rational, accountable biological explanation that is being presented.
I would go further, and not only suggest it stands up to scrutiny, but that its ability to explain all aspects of our life will dumbfound you. With Griffith's explanation of the human condition in hand, behaviour that had been shrouded in mystery and confusion becomes transparent - think religion, or politics, or men and women. And you can test it for yourself - familiarise yourself with Griffith's explanation of the human condition through this little introductory book, and view any aspect of human behaviour that you want through it, and just see how easily understandable it becomes. But be ready for a backlash, because while you are enjoying making sense of everything around you, this same light will be showing you aspects of yourself that you might not be ready for. The key at this point is presence of mind: don't get overwhelmed and throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just have the presence of mind to remember it is a defence of human behaviour that is being presented, yours included, and hold on to that, because what is being offered here - the ability to understand ourselves at last - is precious beyond any measure.
It is very important to bear in mind this confronting aspect of Griffith's work. Griffith says that all our actions and behaviour spring from a core of insecurity about not being able to answer the one fundamental question in our lives: the question of are we good or are we bad? In other words, why are we human's so brutal, greedy, indifferent and selfish when the ideals of life are to be cooperative and loving? Being unable to answer this great question of questions, this ultimate question, Griffith says we have been been so insecure in our self-worth that we haven't even been able to admit that we are insecure; moreover we have learnt to devote every second of every day to proving our worth.
The point is, when Griffith starts walking around in this arena, and talking about our core insecurity, it is very exposing, and for some people, it can be too confronting, even though the whole point of Griffith's work is to defend our behaviour! Indeed, if you were to sum up Griffith's work, you would describe it as the biological defence for our angry, aggressive, selfish behaviour; the defence for our 'dark' side! Unfortunately, in the shock of having light shone on this 'forbidden' realm, some people can lose sight of the fact that this is a defence for our behaviour, and take up arms against, even though it is, I suggest, a completely rational, accountable biological explanation that is being presented.
I would go further, and not only suggest it stands up to scrutiny, but that its ability to explain all aspects of our life will dumbfound you. With Griffith's explanation of the human condition in hand, behaviour that had been shrouded in mystery and confusion becomes transparent - think religion, or politics, or men and women. And you can test it for yourself - familiarise yourself with Griffith's explanation of the human condition through this little introductory book, and view any aspect of human behaviour that you want through it, and just see how easily understandable it becomes. But be ready for a backlash, because while you are enjoying making sense of everything around you, this same light will be showing you aspects of yourself that you might not be ready for. The key at this point is presence of mind: don't get overwhelmed and throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just have the presence of mind to remember it is a defence of human behaviour that is being presented, yours included, and hold on to that, because what is being offered here - the ability to understand ourselves at last - is precious beyond any measure.
November 1, 2016
Despite it’s small size, Jeremy Griffith’s new book 'Transform Your Life And Save The World' contains the essence of his biological explanation of the human condition and is the perfect introduction to the comprehensive 'FREEDOM: The End Of The Human Condition'. It’s another gem from Griffith’s rare, unevasive mind – simple, truthful, logical and visionary.
The book is broken into 3 small parts and Griffith begins in Part 1 by leading us through a set of imaginings as a way of asking us to consider the possibility that the way we have been taught to view the world and our development as a species may actually be wrong. He begins by asking us to ‘imagine that it is true that our distant ancestors did live cooperatively and lovingly, the instinctive memory of which is our “moral sense” or conscience that Darwin recognised distinguishes us from other animals.’ He continues on in this way taking us step by step through the logic, giving us the opportunity to mentally tick off each step in our minds as we read. This helps me a lot because, for anyone who has read Griffith’s work you know the scale of it and it’s confronting nature can be quite overwhelming at times. We have just known not to let our minds wander freely around in this deep and difficult psychological terrain for fear of the terror we know is there (our until-now unexplained dark side, our 2 million year old human condition) despite our ‘supposedly normal and reasonably healthy and happy world’. The terror is captured so vividly in Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the end of Part 1. Immersing yourself in that extraordinary work of art makes it hard to refute, which I know is why I find my mind wanting to drift off into superficial thinking so quickly and with such ease. This method of taking us by the hand and guiding us through the steps of logic is so helpful in keeping the mind engaged in this difficult subject matter, because it’s now safe to do so. It’s reassuring and so rewarding as you can see clearly how this biological explanation works, opening the door on the enthralling deeper workings of our world which are so truthfully explained in Part 2, making your desire to want to understand more and more about this fascinating and liberating new paradigm grow and grow.
So if you want the answer to the meaning of life, why we’re all here and what it’s all about or if you’ve read Griffith’s work before but found it a bit impenetrable, give Transform Your Life a go. It’s a beautiful little book that explains the ‘biological truth about humans’ with the happiest of endings for all of us in Part 3. To not be preoccupied with ourselves, ruled by our insecurities and fears and our need for reinforcement, to live in a world that is truly free and understood and safe and secure for absolutely everyone! To be able to transform our species from a ‘human-condition oppressed and depressed’ state to an ‘exhilarated, ecstatic, enthralled-with-existence’ state through understanding our biology is what jumps out from these pages. In a world that’s undeniably gone mad with greed, brutality, indifference, materialism, superficiality and pseudo idealistic dogma it’s so exciting that this path for humans is possible and is fast becoming a reality.
The book is broken into 3 small parts and Griffith begins in Part 1 by leading us through a set of imaginings as a way of asking us to consider the possibility that the way we have been taught to view the world and our development as a species may actually be wrong. He begins by asking us to ‘imagine that it is true that our distant ancestors did live cooperatively and lovingly, the instinctive memory of which is our “moral sense” or conscience that Darwin recognised distinguishes us from other animals.’ He continues on in this way taking us step by step through the logic, giving us the opportunity to mentally tick off each step in our minds as we read. This helps me a lot because, for anyone who has read Griffith’s work you know the scale of it and it’s confronting nature can be quite overwhelming at times. We have just known not to let our minds wander freely around in this deep and difficult psychological terrain for fear of the terror we know is there (our until-now unexplained dark side, our 2 million year old human condition) despite our ‘supposedly normal and reasonably healthy and happy world’. The terror is captured so vividly in Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the end of Part 1. Immersing yourself in that extraordinary work of art makes it hard to refute, which I know is why I find my mind wanting to drift off into superficial thinking so quickly and with such ease. This method of taking us by the hand and guiding us through the steps of logic is so helpful in keeping the mind engaged in this difficult subject matter, because it’s now safe to do so. It’s reassuring and so rewarding as you can see clearly how this biological explanation works, opening the door on the enthralling deeper workings of our world which are so truthfully explained in Part 2, making your desire to want to understand more and more about this fascinating and liberating new paradigm grow and grow.
So if you want the answer to the meaning of life, why we’re all here and what it’s all about or if you’ve read Griffith’s work before but found it a bit impenetrable, give Transform Your Life a go. It’s a beautiful little book that explains the ‘biological truth about humans’ with the happiest of endings for all of us in Part 3. To not be preoccupied with ourselves, ruled by our insecurities and fears and our need for reinforcement, to live in a world that is truly free and understood and safe and secure for absolutely everyone! To be able to transform our species from a ‘human-condition oppressed and depressed’ state to an ‘exhilarated, ecstatic, enthralled-with-existence’ state through understanding our biology is what jumps out from these pages. In a world that’s undeniably gone mad with greed, brutality, indifference, materialism, superficiality and pseudo idealistic dogma it’s so exciting that this path for humans is possible and is fast becoming a reality.
November 3, 2016
What is life all about? Can we ever actually understand what is going on in ourselves and on our planet? Is humanity good or evil? Am I good or evil? Can I and all the people I love, or indeed the whole world, ever be truly happy and peaceful? Can the world be saved and all the problems we face solved? You won't believe this but all these questions, and so many more, are answered in this little book, a condensed version of Jeremy Griffith's definitive biological explanation of the human condition that is presented in his 2016 book "Freedom: The End of The Human Condition". This is truly the manual to life! No longer shrouded in mystery, your world, and the world around you, will become transparent before your eyes. Brace yourself though, as we have been stumbling around without it for millions of years, so as you would expect, there are many new concepts and confronting truths to absorb, and pre-understanding strategies obsoleted. Good old fashioned persistence and patience will reward you a million fold however as you realise the full picture and power of Jeremy Griffith's amazing biological treatise. The bottom line of this is humanity is a tremendously heroic species, our 'dark side' or ‘upset’ is finally understood and defended. In fact it is revealed that the greatest story ever told is our own. With full understanding of our human condition we can move forward as a mature and transformed species into a whole new utterly joyous and cooperative existence (and not in the new age sense). If you don't read it now you will soon, as I kid you not, every human on the planet will have a much adored copy of this book in their top pocket before too long. It will never leave mine.
October 31, 2016
This is a really special little book. It is so accessible because it is small but it beautifully explains the issue of the human condition and how us humans cope with the confronting but relieving truth about ourselves. This is a perfect way to introduce yourself to the work of Jeremy Griffith, which you will discover provides the answer to solving all the problems on the planet by addressing the underlying cause, which is us! It really is such a fascinating story about our idyllic soulful heritage, and then how we developed consciousness and with that the human condition. About how we coped with the human condition when we didn't understand it (this is what is causing the mess the world is in at the moment) and now how with understanding we can fix it all. Take the time to read this book for yourself, but also for those you love, and your children and grandchildren, because this is the key to giving everyone a wonderful happy future.
November 19, 2016
The title of this extraordinary little book is actually true. This book does solve our psychologically troubled human condition, it can transform your life and it can stop all the terrible suffering on this planet and save the world. That is the power of this biological explanation and the confronting but liberating truth it reveals.
It is the book that answers all the real questions about life. It can finally stop the unspeakable distress in children trying to cope with our messed up world. It reconciles the huge chasm that exists between men and women and the distressing polarities in politics. It reconciles our troubled selves, it defends us and finally humanity is dignified in the most profound way.
Written by Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith - it is his powerful condensation of his definitive treatise on the human condition and it opens up the most wonderful future for the human race. It brings about the moment in history when all humanity's hopes and dreams finally come true and it can make your life instantly glorious and meaningful! This is the book humans have been waiting for to arrive...
It is the book that answers all the real questions about life. It can finally stop the unspeakable distress in children trying to cope with our messed up world. It reconciles the huge chasm that exists between men and women and the distressing polarities in politics. It reconciles our troubled selves, it defends us and finally humanity is dignified in the most profound way.
Written by Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith - it is his powerful condensation of his definitive treatise on the human condition and it opens up the most wonderful future for the human race. It brings about the moment in history when all humanity's hopes and dreams finally come true and it can make your life instantly glorious and meaningful! This is the book humans have been waiting for to arrive...
December 28, 2017
This gave me a new perspective on the human condition and, with that, a clearer, kinder, more optimistic view of self and others.
August 9, 2020
Great read and truly soul food.
November 13, 2016
Packed Full of Positives!
I’m not a newcomer to the ideas of Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith. I have read most of his books about the human condition, its resolution, and the exciting future for humanity which now opens up. But I’ve got to say that I was amazed by his latest short book “Transform Your Life and Save the World” because, at only around 80 easy-to-digest pages, it really packs a punch! Comprising 3 Parts:- The Dishonest Biology; The Truthful Biology; and The Resulting Transformation of the Human Race, this book is a condensation of Griffith’s previous book “Freedom: The End of the Human Condition”. Even though it’s a short book, it is still difficult to sum up in a brief review due to the variety and depth of topics covered. So, given there is so much negativity around us these days, I thought I would just give you a little taste of the positive future for humans now that the human condition has been fully explained with these quotes from the book:-
“Humans can finally return from a tormented psychotic existence to health and happiness.” (p.58)
“Can humans give up a highly habituated existence from living competitively and selfishly to living cooperatively and lovingly…? The answer is a resounding yes…” (p.59)
“…a peaceful revolution through the power of logic, knowledge, understanding.” (p.64)
“…the adoption of this way of living is also made irresistible by the absolutely wonderful transforming effect it has on people.” (p.64)
“With the world’s preoccupation with finding self-understanding now resolved, and all the associated need for self-aggrandisement satiated, our lives and the world’s resources will be freed to finally look after each other and our world.” (p.65)
“So while you might have seen some wonderful things in your life, like fields of flowers or gorgeous sunrises or music festivals of people dancing, you won’t have seen anything even remotely as incredible, wonderful and joyous as the human race coming home together to peace and happiness!” (p.65)
What can I possibly add to that!? How about: Enjoy!
I’m not a newcomer to the ideas of Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith. I have read most of his books about the human condition, its resolution, and the exciting future for humanity which now opens up. But I’ve got to say that I was amazed by his latest short book “Transform Your Life and Save the World” because, at only around 80 easy-to-digest pages, it really packs a punch! Comprising 3 Parts:- The Dishonest Biology; The Truthful Biology; and The Resulting Transformation of the Human Race, this book is a condensation of Griffith’s previous book “Freedom: The End of the Human Condition”. Even though it’s a short book, it is still difficult to sum up in a brief review due to the variety and depth of topics covered. So, given there is so much negativity around us these days, I thought I would just give you a little taste of the positive future for humans now that the human condition has been fully explained with these quotes from the book:-
“Humans can finally return from a tormented psychotic existence to health and happiness.” (p.58)
“Can humans give up a highly habituated existence from living competitively and selfishly to living cooperatively and lovingly…? The answer is a resounding yes…” (p.59)
“…a peaceful revolution through the power of logic, knowledge, understanding.” (p.64)
“…the adoption of this way of living is also made irresistible by the absolutely wonderful transforming effect it has on people.” (p.64)
“With the world’s preoccupation with finding self-understanding now resolved, and all the associated need for self-aggrandisement satiated, our lives and the world’s resources will be freed to finally look after each other and our world.” (p.65)
“So while you might have seen some wonderful things in your life, like fields of flowers or gorgeous sunrises or music festivals of people dancing, you won’t have seen anything even remotely as incredible, wonderful and joyous as the human race coming home together to peace and happiness!” (p.65)
What can I possibly add to that!? How about: Enjoy!
June 30, 2020
This book in its 82 pages of wonder provides such a clear and well presented, detailed explanation of what, why and how the Human Condition emerged in humans!
Through a clear 3 parts, one of the major elements present by Jeremy is the Adam Stork Story which explains how the human condition emerged and the resulting effects it had on our behaviour.
Ultimately humans have moral instincts that operate on the basis of love, selflessness and cooperation. However when consciousness emerged in humans, we had to understand why we had to behave in certain ways and therefore we performed experiments. As we performed more experiments, the more seemingly ‘bad’ acts we did, defying our instinctive expectations even more, resulting in our instincts criticism to our bad behaviour. This lead to humans becoming angry, alienated (blocking out the critics from our instincts/soul) and egocentric (proving our self worth through striving for power, fame, fortune and glory often in the means of materialism in today’s modern world).
However through Jeremy Griffiths all revealing explanations, he exposes the wonderful truth that all humans are FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD! We are not bad at all and to accept that truth will change your life forever!
He further supports our cooperative and loving heritage through the evidence of our loving ancestors, Bonobos and also presents to the readers the marvellous outcome that can be achieved through understanding the Human Condition.
This is TRANSFORMATION! All Humans through this explanation can achieve a life of meaning and purpose with the freedom and relief and wonderful joy that awaits everybody at the other end of this information.
I encourage everybody to read this book and follow on with the larger version FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition to access the answers that humans have been longing desperately for, for over 2 million years and become the realest version of yourself to help save you and the whole world!
Through a clear 3 parts, one of the major elements present by Jeremy is the Adam Stork Story which explains how the human condition emerged and the resulting effects it had on our behaviour.
Ultimately humans have moral instincts that operate on the basis of love, selflessness and cooperation. However when consciousness emerged in humans, we had to understand why we had to behave in certain ways and therefore we performed experiments. As we performed more experiments, the more seemingly ‘bad’ acts we did, defying our instinctive expectations even more, resulting in our instincts criticism to our bad behaviour. This lead to humans becoming angry, alienated (blocking out the critics from our instincts/soul) and egocentric (proving our self worth through striving for power, fame, fortune and glory often in the means of materialism in today’s modern world).
However through Jeremy Griffiths all revealing explanations, he exposes the wonderful truth that all humans are FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD! We are not bad at all and to accept that truth will change your life forever!
He further supports our cooperative and loving heritage through the evidence of our loving ancestors, Bonobos and also presents to the readers the marvellous outcome that can be achieved through understanding the Human Condition.
This is TRANSFORMATION! All Humans through this explanation can achieve a life of meaning and purpose with the freedom and relief and wonderful joy that awaits everybody at the other end of this information.
I encourage everybody to read this book and follow on with the larger version FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition to access the answers that humans have been longing desperately for, for over 2 million years and become the realest version of yourself to help save you and the whole world!
July 22, 2020
Humans are one big paradox with the great question being - good or bad, what are we? I suggest this book finally answers this burning question, and in the process provides a solution to all our own and all the world's problems.
And it's researched and written by an Australian biologist - Jeremy Griffith - and this great question is about human behaviour, so ultimately this is a question for biologists. It provides the non-abstract, non-mystical, completely rational and thus understandable, scientific, biological explanation of us humans and you can't ask for more than that.
It's only short so it's easy to quickly read and you can get it free on Amazon Kindle and at www.humancondition.com
And it's researched and written by an Australian biologist - Jeremy Griffith - and this great question is about human behaviour, so ultimately this is a question for biologists. It provides the non-abstract, non-mystical, completely rational and thus understandable, scientific, biological explanation of us humans and you can't ask for more than that.
It's only short so it's easy to quickly read and you can get it free on Amazon Kindle and at www.humancondition.com
February 17, 2025
This condensation of Jeremy Griffiths definitive book FREEDOM The End Of The Human Condition, brilliantly provides a solid understanding of the human condition and the repercussions it has had on the human race since our rise to consciousness.
This biological explanation for the human condition is what liberates humanity, it is the essential understanding we need as a species to evolve into a better, brighter future for all, that brings peace, equality and prosperity to each and every human around the globe.
This knowledge is key, it is essential, it is relieving and it is the therapy needed to heal the human race from its psychological turmoil.
This biological explanation for the human condition is what liberates humanity, it is the essential understanding we need as a species to evolve into a better, brighter future for all, that brings peace, equality and prosperity to each and every human around the globe.
This knowledge is key, it is essential, it is relieving and it is the therapy needed to heal the human race from its psychological turmoil.
September 4, 2022
All of Jeremy's books are the greatest books in the world. If there's any medicine out there its in his books and only his books. Everyone needs to at least give it a shot and read it. I am so blessed to have found Jeremy's insights and understandings. Im 23 years old have dived deep into books, podcasts, courses, meditation and explored psychedelics for the last 4-5 years either trying to cope or manage my life or try to make sense of this human existence and life's deepest questions and i have only ended up more confused and upset and that was only intensifying the more down the rabbit hole i went. Until i came across this incredible book which makes sense of all human life and our seemingly contradictory nature. Makes sense of the non-sensical. The more you read the better it gets. Thankyou immensely Jeremy and the World Transformation Movement, Eternally Grateful. Absolutely SATISFIED & FULFILLED on the deepest level from this material. LETS GO !!
September 6, 2021
Transform Your Life and Save the World is a powerful, uplifting and healing little book that is just great to have it with you at all times. Australian biologist, Jeremy Griffith provides exceptional insight into human behaviour and he present this information as the completely redeeming and full explanation of humanity's core mystery about our human condition! This is truly world-saving information that everyone should read as it is the 'road map' to rehabilitation and the transformation of our lives that saves the whole world.
January 7, 2022
This is the first time that science is really used in an interdisciplinary manner!
Believing in something was necessary yesterday - now it is time to truthfully discover our nature and the world around us, to understand our own behavior and to understand negative entropy.
The short version of FREEDOM makes it possible!
Absolutely verifiable, testable, takes getting used to, confronting and empathetically liberating!
Believing in something was necessary yesterday - now it is time to truthfully discover our nature and the world around us, to understand our own behavior and to understand negative entropy.
The short version of FREEDOM makes it possible!
Absolutely verifiable, testable, takes getting used to, confronting and empathetically liberating!
July 12, 2025
Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition is both scientific and deeply compassionate, it truly looks into our souls and brings them back to life. Yes the world is full of chaos but after Griffith, the chaos isn't mad or bad or awful, there is a reason for it meaning to it all and best of all a path for humanity to leave it behind. It’s a turning point.
July 23, 2020
Basic introduction to FREEDOM. An OK overview, but better to read the full FREEDOM book instead.
August 8, 2022
Excellent introduction to Griffith's work
October 30, 2016
I’ve been studying the writings of Jeremy Griffith for over 25 years. You may wonder why I would take such an interest in the writings of a man whose books I give one star ratings to. If his ideas are no good, why waste my time on them?
The truth is that I agree with much of what Griffith says and I’ve always felt that there is something in his theory which is essential to addressing humanity’s most serious problems. On the other hand, I think he is wrong in many ways. If he presented his theory as a theory to be assessed like any other, I would give his books five stars, because they are a passionate and original exploration of very deep issues. But he doesn’t present it as a theory. He claims that he is presenting the holy grail of liberating knowledge which all humanity has been striving towards since the dawn of human consciousness. Anyone who has dipped into his books or even read the blurbs on the back covers will know what I mean when I say he goes the hard sell. And he sometimes gets carried away when expressing his disagreement with others. He has labelled fellow biologist Edward O. Wilson “the anti-christ” and described the rejection of one of his articles by Scientific American : “…the most serious crime that could possibly be committed in the whole of humanity’s 2-million-year journey to enlightenment…” This kind of behaviour may lead many people to view Griffith as some random nut-case, but there are those for whom the combination of the self-hype and the fact that Griffith genuinely delves deep and acknowledges aspects of human psychology most of us would be more comfortable denying leads to an unwavering commitment to these ideas. So I value his writings as a catalyst for my own thinking, but have to rate his works with a single star because I believe that, while he has the best of intentions, the way he presents his ideas is wrong and dangerous.
If you want to know what his central theory is you are better off reading it here than trying to wade your way through his massive tome Freedom: The End of the Human Condition to which this booklet is intended to be an introduction.
The basic concept is that we have a genetic orientation to selfless behaviour which is what we experience as our conscience. Most other animals are genetically selfish. The change in our genetic orientation from selfish to selfless occurred through a process called “love indoctrination” whereby the mothers of our proto-human ancestors nurtured their infants for genetically selfish reasons, but to the infants it seemed like selflessness. Thus they were “indoctrinated” into the idea that selflessness is the meaning of life. Over many generations this orientation to selflessness became encoded in our genes. But, as our conscious mind developed, it needed to experiment with self-management, rather than blindly follow the guidance of the selfless instincts. When this led to us acting in ways which our instincts interpreted as selfish, they criticised us. Our conscious mind became insecure in the face of this criticism - we became angry (against the criticism), egotistical (always needing to assert our worth in the face of our instincts condemnation of us) and alienated (blocking out any aspects of reality which might seem to support the criticisms coming from our conscience.) Thus we had a loving cooperative beginning as a species (which we mostly retain an orientation to in our genes) and our dark side since then has been a psychological byproduct of the emergence of consciousness.
I’m willing to believe we had a cooperative beginning as a species and I definitely believe that our propensity for selfishness, competition and aggression is a psychological phenomenon. I also believe that the critical nature of idealism is the root cause of the psychological insecurity (or neurosis) which drives our dark side.
Where I disagree with Griffith is on the source of idealism. He sees it as something genetic, whereas I see it as a social phenomenon - a product of the conscious mind, not the instincts.
A clear distinction has to be made here between idealism and love. I don’t feel that Griffith makes this distinction and thus he goes very far wrong. He identifies our conscience with this genetic orientation, but at the same time he says that this genetic orientation is the source of our capacity for love and cooperativeness. The conscience is something which tries to control our behaviour by making us feel bad if we go against it. Love on the other hand cannot be forced. If it is not freely given then it isn’t love. Cooperation in a superficial sense can be forced. People can be made to cooperate. But this isn’t cooperation in the fullest sense of the word - to work with - they may be with us physically, but if there is compulsion then they will not be with us in the relational sense.
I have no problem with the idea that we have a genetic orientation to being loving and cooperative. We see these qualities in young children and we can often see the evidence that emotional disturbance of one kind or another lies behind deviation from such a nature. But, unlike the conscience, love is not dictatorial. In it’s purest form it is all-accepting and all-forgiving. The conscience is certainly not that.
It seems clear to me that the conscience is a part of the ego - the conscious thinking self - in which we store our learned moral principles. How else do we explain that what makes us feel guilty differs from person to person and culture to culture? If our conscience were genetic we would see no such diversity. Guilt can be understood as the sense of psychological pain which accompanies the withdrawal of self-acceptance.
I see no need for the theory of “love indoctrination”. Nature at base is integrative - competition occurs within a cooperative framework. The motivation for we animals is the pleasure principle - to seek that which makes us feel good and try to avoid what makes us feel bad. (In humans this gets very complicated because of our ability to make decisions based on predictions about the future, our psychological needs and our metaphysical belief systems.) For animals, good and bad feelings are the messengers for the genes. An animal which experiences maximised pleasure when mating with a healthy member of his species and is willing to compete for that pleasure may prove more fit in the process of natural selection. And a female member of a species who feels enough discomfort at the prospect of losing her infant to fight to protect it will also be likely to have an advantage. And where there is not enough food for everyone, those who are most motivated to compete will pass on their genes. But these animals compete when there is an advantage, in terms of achieving pleasure or avoiding suffering, in competing.
Griffith places a lot of emphasis on the bonobos as an example of what our cooperative past may have been like. Bonobos are peaceful, cooperative and matriarchal, while chimpanzees are more aggressive, competitive and patriarchal. The chimpanzees developed in an ecosystem where food was less plentiful. The bonobos spend a lot of their time rubbing genitals with each other fairly indiscriminately. Why would the bonobos not be cooperative and peaceful? Everyone has enough food. Living cooperatively means living in a peaceful supportive community and spending much of your time rubbing genitals. Where is the pleasure advantage in competition?
As for our ancestors, if they lived in an environment where there was plenty of food to go around, then the only source of competition would be mating. But would competing for mates in such an environment confer a significant evolutionary advantage? It would in a more hostile environment with a high infant mortality rate. There it would be a numbers game. But if most infants grew to adulthood, then environmental advantage would go to those who were best nurtured and thus healthiest. In this kind of ecological niche, genetic advantage would favour nurturing as it does with the bonobos. And there would be no genetic drive to compete which needed to be “indoctrinated” out of us. All that was needed was a space where competition was not advantageous. Maybe the chimpanzees too would like to be living cooperatively and spending their time rubbing genitals, but if there isn’t enough food to go around they have to stick with their less pleasant lifestyle.
So how did it all go wrong? I think Griffith is right that a conflict arose between the instincts and the intellect, but not in the way he thinks. If our instincts are to be loving and cooperative then they would have to be forgiving and uncritical. Forgiveness is essential to love and necessary if ongoing cooperation is to be facilitated. Idealism on the other hand is unforgiving and is a divisive influence. Idealism encourages us to judge ourselves or others against a standard which is, by definition unreachable. Ideality and reality are opposites, thus ideals can never be achieved in the real world. The ideals produce just the kind of response in the insecure ego that Griffith attributes to them. But they originate in the conscious mind, not in the instincts. They are a product of the conscious mind’s attempt to understand the world and manage it’s own behaviour.
How did we arrive at the concept of idealism? To have an idea of good and evil we would need something with which to contrast our loving cooperative behaviour. The behaviour of predatory animals would have provided that contrast. The role of protecting the tribe against them would have fallen to men as women needed to concentrate on nurturing the infants. In hunting against them we would have had to cultivate our own competitive and aggressive potential. While necessary, this would have had a disruptive effect on the group, something which the women would have had to try to control. So we have behaviour labelled “bad” and other behaviour labelled “good” and social pressure to restrain the former and cultivate the latter. A moral system. In time individuals would have begun second-guessing criticism. They would have internalised the moral system. They would have gained a conscience.
Of course this was necessary, but the problem is that idealism has a tendency to undermine self-acceptance. We end up feeling guilty about our transgressions and the resultant insecurity makes it harder for us to open up to our deeper loving nature. Our wounded ego becomes a bigger and bigger barrier to improving our behaviour. We become, as Griffith says, angry, egocentric and alienated.
Griffith likes to use his theory as a way of explaining the myth of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but there are some aspects of that story which can be explained by what I have just said which he does not attempt to explain. Eve was the first to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and she was tempted to do so by a snake. If predatory animals were what led us to the origin of idealism, then that explains the snake. If women were the first ones to insist on a moral system, that explains how Eve ate first. And it was not simply the Tree of Knowledge (as Griffith often says in support of his theory that conscious thought in general was the key factor), but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (i.e. knowledge of morality or idealism). We can quite safely use our minds to explore and experiment wherever we don’t arrive at hurtful self-criticism. It was not the search for knowledge which corrupted us, as Griffith claims, but the idealism which we played with along the way.
Griffith’s placing of idealism in the genes leads him to this absurdity : “…but we have never before been able to ‘heal our soul’, to truthfully explain to our original instinctive self or soul that our fully conscious, thinking self is good and not bad…” If our instinctive self resides in our genes, then how can we explain anything to it? How can genes listen and understand? But if the split is one which idealism has caused within our conscious mind, then a healing integrity of understanding is possible.
I could go on and on analysing and criticising Griffith’s attempt to explain the human condition, and I have done that elsewhere, but here I just wanted to deal with the central issue as all other failings proceed from there.
I care about Jeremy Griffith and his followers and I care what happens to the human race. My motivation is the pleasure principle. It would be pleasant for me to see the members of the World Transformation Movement liberated from the impasse caused by their support of a faulty theory. And it would be pleasant to live in a world where the human race has a chance to survive, whether they are a part of making that possible or not.
The truth is that I agree with much of what Griffith says and I’ve always felt that there is something in his theory which is essential to addressing humanity’s most serious problems. On the other hand, I think he is wrong in many ways. If he presented his theory as a theory to be assessed like any other, I would give his books five stars, because they are a passionate and original exploration of very deep issues. But he doesn’t present it as a theory. He claims that he is presenting the holy grail of liberating knowledge which all humanity has been striving towards since the dawn of human consciousness. Anyone who has dipped into his books or even read the blurbs on the back covers will know what I mean when I say he goes the hard sell. And he sometimes gets carried away when expressing his disagreement with others. He has labelled fellow biologist Edward O. Wilson “the anti-christ” and described the rejection of one of his articles by Scientific American : “…the most serious crime that could possibly be committed in the whole of humanity’s 2-million-year journey to enlightenment…” This kind of behaviour may lead many people to view Griffith as some random nut-case, but there are those for whom the combination of the self-hype and the fact that Griffith genuinely delves deep and acknowledges aspects of human psychology most of us would be more comfortable denying leads to an unwavering commitment to these ideas. So I value his writings as a catalyst for my own thinking, but have to rate his works with a single star because I believe that, while he has the best of intentions, the way he presents his ideas is wrong and dangerous.
If you want to know what his central theory is you are better off reading it here than trying to wade your way through his massive tome Freedom: The End of the Human Condition to which this booklet is intended to be an introduction.
The basic concept is that we have a genetic orientation to selfless behaviour which is what we experience as our conscience. Most other animals are genetically selfish. The change in our genetic orientation from selfish to selfless occurred through a process called “love indoctrination” whereby the mothers of our proto-human ancestors nurtured their infants for genetically selfish reasons, but to the infants it seemed like selflessness. Thus they were “indoctrinated” into the idea that selflessness is the meaning of life. Over many generations this orientation to selflessness became encoded in our genes. But, as our conscious mind developed, it needed to experiment with self-management, rather than blindly follow the guidance of the selfless instincts. When this led to us acting in ways which our instincts interpreted as selfish, they criticised us. Our conscious mind became insecure in the face of this criticism - we became angry (against the criticism), egotistical (always needing to assert our worth in the face of our instincts condemnation of us) and alienated (blocking out any aspects of reality which might seem to support the criticisms coming from our conscience.) Thus we had a loving cooperative beginning as a species (which we mostly retain an orientation to in our genes) and our dark side since then has been a psychological byproduct of the emergence of consciousness.
I’m willing to believe we had a cooperative beginning as a species and I definitely believe that our propensity for selfishness, competition and aggression is a psychological phenomenon. I also believe that the critical nature of idealism is the root cause of the psychological insecurity (or neurosis) which drives our dark side.
Where I disagree with Griffith is on the source of idealism. He sees it as something genetic, whereas I see it as a social phenomenon - a product of the conscious mind, not the instincts.
A clear distinction has to be made here between idealism and love. I don’t feel that Griffith makes this distinction and thus he goes very far wrong. He identifies our conscience with this genetic orientation, but at the same time he says that this genetic orientation is the source of our capacity for love and cooperativeness. The conscience is something which tries to control our behaviour by making us feel bad if we go against it. Love on the other hand cannot be forced. If it is not freely given then it isn’t love. Cooperation in a superficial sense can be forced. People can be made to cooperate. But this isn’t cooperation in the fullest sense of the word - to work with - they may be with us physically, but if there is compulsion then they will not be with us in the relational sense.
I have no problem with the idea that we have a genetic orientation to being loving and cooperative. We see these qualities in young children and we can often see the evidence that emotional disturbance of one kind or another lies behind deviation from such a nature. But, unlike the conscience, love is not dictatorial. In it’s purest form it is all-accepting and all-forgiving. The conscience is certainly not that.
It seems clear to me that the conscience is a part of the ego - the conscious thinking self - in which we store our learned moral principles. How else do we explain that what makes us feel guilty differs from person to person and culture to culture? If our conscience were genetic we would see no such diversity. Guilt can be understood as the sense of psychological pain which accompanies the withdrawal of self-acceptance.
I see no need for the theory of “love indoctrination”. Nature at base is integrative - competition occurs within a cooperative framework. The motivation for we animals is the pleasure principle - to seek that which makes us feel good and try to avoid what makes us feel bad. (In humans this gets very complicated because of our ability to make decisions based on predictions about the future, our psychological needs and our metaphysical belief systems.) For animals, good and bad feelings are the messengers for the genes. An animal which experiences maximised pleasure when mating with a healthy member of his species and is willing to compete for that pleasure may prove more fit in the process of natural selection. And a female member of a species who feels enough discomfort at the prospect of losing her infant to fight to protect it will also be likely to have an advantage. And where there is not enough food for everyone, those who are most motivated to compete will pass on their genes. But these animals compete when there is an advantage, in terms of achieving pleasure or avoiding suffering, in competing.
Griffith places a lot of emphasis on the bonobos as an example of what our cooperative past may have been like. Bonobos are peaceful, cooperative and matriarchal, while chimpanzees are more aggressive, competitive and patriarchal. The chimpanzees developed in an ecosystem where food was less plentiful. The bonobos spend a lot of their time rubbing genitals with each other fairly indiscriminately. Why would the bonobos not be cooperative and peaceful? Everyone has enough food. Living cooperatively means living in a peaceful supportive community and spending much of your time rubbing genitals. Where is the pleasure advantage in competition?
As for our ancestors, if they lived in an environment where there was plenty of food to go around, then the only source of competition would be mating. But would competing for mates in such an environment confer a significant evolutionary advantage? It would in a more hostile environment with a high infant mortality rate. There it would be a numbers game. But if most infants grew to adulthood, then environmental advantage would go to those who were best nurtured and thus healthiest. In this kind of ecological niche, genetic advantage would favour nurturing as it does with the bonobos. And there would be no genetic drive to compete which needed to be “indoctrinated” out of us. All that was needed was a space where competition was not advantageous. Maybe the chimpanzees too would like to be living cooperatively and spending their time rubbing genitals, but if there isn’t enough food to go around they have to stick with their less pleasant lifestyle.
So how did it all go wrong? I think Griffith is right that a conflict arose between the instincts and the intellect, but not in the way he thinks. If our instincts are to be loving and cooperative then they would have to be forgiving and uncritical. Forgiveness is essential to love and necessary if ongoing cooperation is to be facilitated. Idealism on the other hand is unforgiving and is a divisive influence. Idealism encourages us to judge ourselves or others against a standard which is, by definition unreachable. Ideality and reality are opposites, thus ideals can never be achieved in the real world. The ideals produce just the kind of response in the insecure ego that Griffith attributes to them. But they originate in the conscious mind, not in the instincts. They are a product of the conscious mind’s attempt to understand the world and manage it’s own behaviour.
How did we arrive at the concept of idealism? To have an idea of good and evil we would need something with which to contrast our loving cooperative behaviour. The behaviour of predatory animals would have provided that contrast. The role of protecting the tribe against them would have fallen to men as women needed to concentrate on nurturing the infants. In hunting against them we would have had to cultivate our own competitive and aggressive potential. While necessary, this would have had a disruptive effect on the group, something which the women would have had to try to control. So we have behaviour labelled “bad” and other behaviour labelled “good” and social pressure to restrain the former and cultivate the latter. A moral system. In time individuals would have begun second-guessing criticism. They would have internalised the moral system. They would have gained a conscience.
Of course this was necessary, but the problem is that idealism has a tendency to undermine self-acceptance. We end up feeling guilty about our transgressions and the resultant insecurity makes it harder for us to open up to our deeper loving nature. Our wounded ego becomes a bigger and bigger barrier to improving our behaviour. We become, as Griffith says, angry, egocentric and alienated.
Griffith likes to use his theory as a way of explaining the myth of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but there are some aspects of that story which can be explained by what I have just said which he does not attempt to explain. Eve was the first to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and she was tempted to do so by a snake. If predatory animals were what led us to the origin of idealism, then that explains the snake. If women were the first ones to insist on a moral system, that explains how Eve ate first. And it was not simply the Tree of Knowledge (as Griffith often says in support of his theory that conscious thought in general was the key factor), but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (i.e. knowledge of morality or idealism). We can quite safely use our minds to explore and experiment wherever we don’t arrive at hurtful self-criticism. It was not the search for knowledge which corrupted us, as Griffith claims, but the idealism which we played with along the way.
Griffith’s placing of idealism in the genes leads him to this absurdity : “…but we have never before been able to ‘heal our soul’, to truthfully explain to our original instinctive self or soul that our fully conscious, thinking self is good and not bad…” If our instinctive self resides in our genes, then how can we explain anything to it? How can genes listen and understand? But if the split is one which idealism has caused within our conscious mind, then a healing integrity of understanding is possible.
I could go on and on analysing and criticising Griffith’s attempt to explain the human condition, and I have done that elsewhere, but here I just wanted to deal with the central issue as all other failings proceed from there.
I care about Jeremy Griffith and his followers and I care what happens to the human race. My motivation is the pleasure principle. It would be pleasant for me to see the members of the World Transformation Movement liberated from the impasse caused by their support of a faulty theory. And it would be pleasant to live in a world where the human race has a chance to survive, whether they are a part of making that possible or not.
October 13, 2025
Transform Your Life and Save the World has given me a good introduction to Jeremy Griffith’s work on the human condition. I believe it distills the essence of his larger work FREEDOM which I’m yet to read. I found it inspiring and hopeful — especially in explaining that self-understanding is the key to transforming both personal psychology and the wider world.
I’m not fully resolved on some of the deeper questions I’m still grappling with but it was most definitely an inspiring take on our troubles with hopefully more clarity to come.
I’m not fully resolved on some of the deeper questions I’m still grappling with but it was most definitely an inspiring take on our troubles with hopefully more clarity to come.
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