Evolution Diverted How a Forgotten Intrusion Is Driving Us to Self-Destruct

Inspired by a fresh reading of humanity’s oldest tales, in this book we’ve journeyed to a place from which we’ve glimpsed a route of escape from the tragic condition of humankind. We began with a question. Looking first at civilization’s horrors, then directing our gaze to the splendor of the natural world, we wondered: how could it be that the most evolved species on Earth is so destructive of itself, other life forms, and the planet … since nature does not make mistakes of such scale? This wasn’t merely a question of philosophy, but of survival, for despite all our efforts to change our ways, the mayhem continues. We’ve bought some time, that’s all. The consensus among scientists is that the outlook is dark.

A second question logically followed. Could our evolution or our early existence have been unnaturally disrupted? We learned that they both were. Neuropsychology clarified our dilemma, revealing that our self-destructive behaviors are perpetuated by systems in the human brain that developed in three phases of evolution, each one, ironically, meant to insure our survival: the threat responses, the emotions, and the cognitive abilities. Over-activation in the three protective brain systems keeps us, respectively, in trauma, emotional imbalance, and confusion. (The process has a parallel in the immune system: when it’s swamped by threats to the body, over-reacts, and produces an autoimmune condition.) But how was it that we got so traumatized, imbalanced, and perplexed in the first place?

Over a hundred years ago, archaeologists and linguists began uncovering the ultimate causes of our plight … literallyuncoveringthe vital information, for it was in the form of writings and carvings buried in the ruins of Mesopotamian cities.