There is a general misapprehension that people are disinclined to say or believe things that are not true.
However, it seems that people are often motivated to say or believe things for a variety of different reasons, operating singly or in combination.
For the Sake of a Good Story
We all participate in the “willing suspension of disbelief” that is necessary in order to appreciate a story that is being told.
2.
What does it mean to be human?
Human nature seems to me to be characterized by the following primary traits.
When Darwin first suggested that humans shared a common ancestry with apes and other animals, many people were shocked by the notion. But Darwin’s principles of evolution are now considered to be scientific fact by the vast majority of responsible scientists in biology and related fields.
A number of authors and systems of thought have proposed the concept of a series of developmental levels that represent basic value systems or levels of consciousness and culture.
Chief among these are Spiral Dynamics, as espoused by Clare W. Graves, Don Beck and Chris Cowan, and Integral Theory, as espoused by Ken Wilber.
These developmental levels can be seen in the fields of psychology, sociology, economics and organizational development, among others.
