THE NEXT REVOLUTION

Revolutions, Nature teaches, can lead to wonderful outcomes. One of the greatest revolutions in Earth's history took place when a group of extremist fish couldn't take it any longer and moved onto land, becoming the ancestors of amphibians and other future land-based animals. Another big revolution was the one set afoot by the dinosaur-destroying Yucatan comet of 65 million years ago, ultimately leading to the ascension of mammals and their brains, which in the case of certain species, including humans, enabled empathy and other complex emotions.

Right now a revolution is igniting every bit as momentous as those earlier ones. As fish crawling onto land posed the question, "What'll happen when animals escape the limitations of the sea?" the revolution just now beginning asks this:

"What'll happen when humans escape the servitude imposed on them by their genetic heritage?" The background is the fact that humanity's genes were wonderfully fine-tuned for early primates on the African veld, but human cultural, intellectual and spiritual evolution has proceeded much faster than its biological evolution. Consequently, nowadays humanity's genetic programming continually sabotages further human advancement -- in fact threatens all Life on Earth.

The revolution beginning right now demands that self-destructive, Life-on-Earth-threatening values and manners of living dictated to us by our genes be replaced by values and manners of living based on rational thought. Our genes say eat high-calorie foods until sated, but rational thought counsels that we eat only what the body needs. Genes formulated to assure compulsive hunting and gathering among our ancestors now predispose us for gross materialism and overexploitation of resources, while rational thought reveals that for the sake of the biosphere humans must be content with a minimum of material goods. Our genes predispose us to follow the home-area's flag wherever it goes, but rational thought demands that no flag be followed carried by madmen, demagogues and the ignorant.

There's no flag for this current revolution. There's no leader, no Little Red Book or Bible, and no cigar at the end of the ride. There's only one individual at a time spread here and there across the surface of the planet asserting his or her personal will over negative, genetically based impulses arising from within. The revolution will succeed when enough of us, despite our natural urges, begin choosing healthy, psychically satisfying, sustainable living patterns.