Humans cause their own suffering as an insane matter of course

In the past century dreadful diseases like diphtheria, leprosy and typhoid were halted; sterile women have been given children; numerous devices have been developed to let handicapped people participate in society. Many of the things we prayed for during ages have been achieved by means of expensive scientific research.

What is hard to understand however is that humans spent even more scientific efforts and even more finances to destroy all those benefits. For each disease we have overcome, we have created weaponry to introduce more and worse. For every feeble child we brought to life in a sophisticated hospital, we killed thousands of children in wars of hysteric madness. A few blind we gave sight and a few paralysed we made walk, but we have willingly crippled millions for reasons no sound reasoning can grasp.

This is more than just an interesting academic enigma, a profound religious mystery, or a rewarding literary subject: It is a matter of everyday survival, and the most urgent question of this century.

People are accustomed to violence for a long time. Throughout history, wars seemed to be natural misfortunes, like plagues, famine or hurricanes. In all civilisations people have been tortured and sacrificed; from the swamps of early Mesopotamia to the manufactories of modern times, humans were chased, deported, abused, starved and destroyed as cattle, and left to die on battle fields or from exhaustion – all by other humans. The victims were slaves and workers...

Humans cause their own suffering as an insane matter of course

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