We would like to live happy lives. Long ones if possible. We would like to experience joy. We would like to be surrounded by friendly people. We might run into the occasional bad guy, but one that we could easily overcome and have a good time.
But over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, we carry the genes of those who have managed to pass on their genes. And whose lives may have been short, unhappy, and full of conflict (even relative to what was achievable and normal at any given time). Darwin’s original idea that those who are happy, wealthy and successful pass on their genes the most have proved somewhat naive on closer analysis.
We carry this bifurcation within us. No wonder that sociologists and psychologists in our generation so often return to the old writings where “the soul argues with the body”. It’s as if a person has two personalities within him or her and alternately one or the other gets the upper hand.
Whole nations and civilizations are dealing with the same problem. In fact, an expansive mentality and conquering abilities do not necessarily mean that one lives well in that environment at all (as we see in extreme form in Islam). And vice versa.
The challenge for the 21st century is to find a model that allows a combination of comfortable happy lives and civilizing power. This is not as incompatible as it might seem at first sight, because we have modern Western inventions such as science, rationality and the political nation.
In the meantime, however, a different combination has been found – one in which it is impossible to live properly and at the same time has no ability to defend itself.