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A Species in Denial
A Species In Denial (2004) is the revolutionary bestseller by Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith. In it the author presents a series of essays addressesing the crux issue before us as a species of the human condition, our capacity for good and evil, describing how humans have coped with the dilemma of the human condition by living in denial of it. Griffith then explains the biological reason for the human condition, thus ending the need for the denial and maturing humanity to psychological freedom from its historic insecure human-condition-afflicted state. With a foreword by Templeton Prize winning biologist Charles Birch, this book provides a deeply insightful examination of science, religion, politics, men and women, psychiatry and mythology.
526 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
9 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Griffith
13 books183 followersJeremy Griffith (1945-) is an Australian biologist who has dedicated his life to bringing fully accountable, biological understanding to the dilemma of the human condition–the underlying issue in all human life of our species’ extraordinary capacity for what has been called ‘good’ and ‘evil’.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 9, 2014
I reviewed this incredible book on another site (ReadDreamRelax.com) so thought I’d just paste it here (link below to original):
The title of this bestseller is itself as bold a comment on the mental state of humanity that you’re likely to find in your local bookstore! Griffith’s decisive book on the origins, explanation and amelioration from the human condition is a fascinating and confronting series of essays on the answers to the great questions that have plagued mankind since consciousness. The width and depth of subject matter in this book traverse well beyond the boundaries of a standard investigation into human behavioural science. In fact, to neatly encapsulate the contents and flavour of this book in a short review has proven quite difficult because it just downright explains so much about human nature it is astonishing!
A foreword from biology Professor Charles Birch, now deceased, is the book’s opening (Birch won the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1990). And, aside from the Introduction, the book is broken into 5 main essays: Deciphering Plato’s Cave Allegory, Resignation, Bringing Peace To The War Between The Sexes, The Denial-Free History Of The Human Race and The Demystification Of Religion. So, obviously, a flick through the contents pages gives the reader an idea about the scope of the journey they are about to go on!
At the heart of these essays, and indeed the core theme of Griffith’s many other publications, lies the explanation of our so-called human condition. This condition is the underlying insecurity associated with being unable to fundamentally explain and understand our worth and meaning in life. Summed up as “…if the universally accepted ideals are to be cooperative, loving and selfless…why then are humans competitive, aggressive and selfish? What is the reason for humans’ divisive nature?” The inability to answer this question; the lack of explanation as to why humans are divisively instead of cooperatively behaved has been “the particular burden of human life. It has been our species’ particular affliction of condition, the ‘human condition’.” (pg 25).
Griffith goes on to elaborate that, in lieu of no explanation to this situation we have had to live in complete and total denial of the human condition and instead find alternate ways to prove our worth as humans, namely through seeking power, fame, fortune and glory (the basis for many human behavioural traits including greed, materialism, egotism etc.). If this book seems heavy going at times, it certainly is. The concepts are on such a holistic scale and the nature of the material so original that the reader can be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. Responsively, Griffith has anticipated this obstacle and dedicated several sections in the Introduction to this very problem, which he terms “the deaf effect”.
Progressing through the following essays is a unique and intriguing experience and one that is described in a review by well-known media personality Brian Carlton as “a must read for every human”. There’s the philosophy of Plato, the psychology and angst of teenage life and the eventual transition to an “adult” world via “Resignation”, the reconciling explanation between men and women, explaining religious faith in non-abstract terms, a denial-free (denial-of-the-human-condition free) history of the human race as well as a small section on the charity and organisation where these ideas have taken hold in Australia (the World Transformation Movement).
Reading this book I really had the curious feeling of actually going on a journey. It was such an engaging mental experience – I would often find the concepts hard to grasp yet upon some recess and contemplation (sometimes over a few days) I would return to the book with a sharper understanding of what was being said. It almost felt like the book was reading me and not the other way around!! So if you’re curious about human nature, have an interest in philosophy and/or are a religious person or if you’re looking for a holistic perspective on humanity then prepare yourself for a rare and fulfilling experience. As Griffith rightly points out on the very first page “You are about the embark on a journey where humans have never been able to venture before, right into the very heart of the issue of what it is to be human.” Enjoy.
From: http://www.readdreamrelax.com/book-re...
The title of this bestseller is itself as bold a comment on the mental state of humanity that you’re likely to find in your local bookstore! Griffith’s decisive book on the origins, explanation and amelioration from the human condition is a fascinating and confronting series of essays on the answers to the great questions that have plagued mankind since consciousness. The width and depth of subject matter in this book traverse well beyond the boundaries of a standard investigation into human behavioural science. In fact, to neatly encapsulate the contents and flavour of this book in a short review has proven quite difficult because it just downright explains so much about human nature it is astonishing!
A foreword from biology Professor Charles Birch, now deceased, is the book’s opening (Birch won the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1990). And, aside from the Introduction, the book is broken into 5 main essays: Deciphering Plato’s Cave Allegory, Resignation, Bringing Peace To The War Between The Sexes, The Denial-Free History Of The Human Race and The Demystification Of Religion. So, obviously, a flick through the contents pages gives the reader an idea about the scope of the journey they are about to go on!
At the heart of these essays, and indeed the core theme of Griffith’s many other publications, lies the explanation of our so-called human condition. This condition is the underlying insecurity associated with being unable to fundamentally explain and understand our worth and meaning in life. Summed up as “…if the universally accepted ideals are to be cooperative, loving and selfless…why then are humans competitive, aggressive and selfish? What is the reason for humans’ divisive nature?” The inability to answer this question; the lack of explanation as to why humans are divisively instead of cooperatively behaved has been “the particular burden of human life. It has been our species’ particular affliction of condition, the ‘human condition’.” (pg 25).
Griffith goes on to elaborate that, in lieu of no explanation to this situation we have had to live in complete and total denial of the human condition and instead find alternate ways to prove our worth as humans, namely through seeking power, fame, fortune and glory (the basis for many human behavioural traits including greed, materialism, egotism etc.). If this book seems heavy going at times, it certainly is. The concepts are on such a holistic scale and the nature of the material so original that the reader can be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. Responsively, Griffith has anticipated this obstacle and dedicated several sections in the Introduction to this very problem, which he terms “the deaf effect”.
Progressing through the following essays is a unique and intriguing experience and one that is described in a review by well-known media personality Brian Carlton as “a must read for every human”. There’s the philosophy of Plato, the psychology and angst of teenage life and the eventual transition to an “adult” world via “Resignation”, the reconciling explanation between men and women, explaining religious faith in non-abstract terms, a denial-free (denial-of-the-human-condition free) history of the human race as well as a small section on the charity and organisation where these ideas have taken hold in Australia (the World Transformation Movement).
Reading this book I really had the curious feeling of actually going on a journey. It was such an engaging mental experience – I would often find the concepts hard to grasp yet upon some recess and contemplation (sometimes over a few days) I would return to the book with a sharper understanding of what was being said. It almost felt like the book was reading me and not the other way around!! So if you’re curious about human nature, have an interest in philosophy and/or are a religious person or if you’re looking for a holistic perspective on humanity then prepare yourself for a rare and fulfilling experience. As Griffith rightly points out on the very first page “You are about the embark on a journey where humans have never been able to venture before, right into the very heart of the issue of what it is to be human.” Enjoy.
From: http://www.readdreamrelax.com/book-re...
September 12, 2013
This book is kept interesting by the way the history and comparisons are written. It initially made me a bit depressed because of how true it represents society but also made me realise a lot of things I hadn't thought about before. Wouldn't mind reading his other books.
April 13, 2016
I so wish everyone could read this book but especially the chapter titled 'Resignation'. The insight and sheer depth of compassion and understanding that Jeremy Griffith has for all humans but especially teenagers in the midst of their angst is just so profoundly moving that when, in your quieter moments, you really really deeply feel and remember, then you really appreciate what this understanding of the human condition is really about and how very very important it is.
To quote a few of my favourite passages about Resignation:
"Young adolescents struggled mightily with the dilemma–essentially the question of the human condition, the question of why the world was not ideally behaved when they instinctively expected it to be. This struggle continued for a number of years until eventually, at around the age of 15, they realised there was no answer to the question and they had no choice but simply to deny the problem existed. They resisted this desertion from the truth for as long as possible, but finally accepted that the only sensible way of coping was to resign themselves to a life lived in denial of the depressing issue of the human condition–and of all the associated states and truths that reminded them of it. They accepted that the only way to cope with the problem was to block out those expectations of ideality, namely their loving, idealistic soul and the condemning truth of integrative meaning, and take up an attitude of denial like countless generations had done before them."
"While the issue of the human condition, the issue of the imperfection of the world around them, was devastatingly depressing for nearly all young adolescents, the loneliness of what they were going through was almost as difficult...Young adolescents in each new generation tried to understand the paradox and hypocrisy of human life that was visible to them everywhere they looked. For a while they asked their parents why the world wasn’t ideal. They asked, ‘Mum, why do you and Dad shout at each other?’ and ‘Why are we going to a lavish party when that family down the road is poor?’ and ‘Why is everyone so unhappy and preoccupied?’ and ‘Why are people so artificial and false?’ and ‘Why do men kill each other?’ Basically they were asking the fundamental question ‘Why isn’t the world ideal?’ Parents, unable to explain the riddle of the human condition and fully resigned to a life dedicated to denying and evading the whole depressing subject, have not, until now, been able to answer these questions. In fact such questions have always made parents feel so awkward that young people soon learnt to stop asking. Nevertheless these questions are the truly important questions about human life, as George Wald pointed out ‘The great questions are those an intelligent child asks and, getting no answers, stops asking.’...
The silence practiced by the resigned adult world produced an extremely confusing state of affairs for young adolescents to cope with, adjust to and try to understand. In fact the silence, the denial, was so great they almost invariably could not defy it. Eventually, the coercive effect of the silence combined with the pain of the depression that arose from trying to confront the human condition forced them to resign. Once resigned, the answer to the question of why the falseness existed became self-evident and they became part of the lie and problem encountered by the next generation. As the late Page 196 of
Print Edition Jim Morrison of the rock band, The Doors, said, ‘Nobody gets out of this world alive’ (by ‘alive’ he meant alive psychologically, not physically). The situation is described in the Bible metaphorically in the words, ‘the sins of the father carry on from generation to generation’ (see Exodus 20:5, Deut. 5:9). (It should be emphasised here that, from the greater perspective and tragic as it was, adults’ resigned dishonest way of living was unavoidable and thus not a ‘sin’ in the sense of being something bad, evil or wrong. Understanding the human condition allows humans to understand themselves; it brings healing compassion into their lives; it lifts the historic burden of guilt from the human situation.)
Once resigned to living evasively you could no longer see the evasion, but in their unresigned state children and young adolescents were able to see the full horror of the human condition. The 19th-century novelist, George Eliot (the pen-name of Marian Evans), acknowledged the situation when she wrote that, ‘Childhood is only the beautiful and happy time in contemplation and retrospect; to the child, it is full of deep sorrows, the meaning of which is unknown [to adults living in denial of the human condition].’
To quote a few of my favourite passages about Resignation:
"Young adolescents struggled mightily with the dilemma–essentially the question of the human condition, the question of why the world was not ideally behaved when they instinctively expected it to be. This struggle continued for a number of years until eventually, at around the age of 15, they realised there was no answer to the question and they had no choice but simply to deny the problem existed. They resisted this desertion from the truth for as long as possible, but finally accepted that the only sensible way of coping was to resign themselves to a life lived in denial of the depressing issue of the human condition–and of all the associated states and truths that reminded them of it. They accepted that the only way to cope with the problem was to block out those expectations of ideality, namely their loving, idealistic soul and the condemning truth of integrative meaning, and take up an attitude of denial like countless generations had done before them."
"While the issue of the human condition, the issue of the imperfection of the world around them, was devastatingly depressing for nearly all young adolescents, the loneliness of what they were going through was almost as difficult...Young adolescents in each new generation tried to understand the paradox and hypocrisy of human life that was visible to them everywhere they looked. For a while they asked their parents why the world wasn’t ideal. They asked, ‘Mum, why do you and Dad shout at each other?’ and ‘Why are we going to a lavish party when that family down the road is poor?’ and ‘Why is everyone so unhappy and preoccupied?’ and ‘Why are people so artificial and false?’ and ‘Why do men kill each other?’ Basically they were asking the fundamental question ‘Why isn’t the world ideal?’ Parents, unable to explain the riddle of the human condition and fully resigned to a life dedicated to denying and evading the whole depressing subject, have not, until now, been able to answer these questions. In fact such questions have always made parents feel so awkward that young people soon learnt to stop asking. Nevertheless these questions are the truly important questions about human life, as George Wald pointed out ‘The great questions are those an intelligent child asks and, getting no answers, stops asking.’...
The silence practiced by the resigned adult world produced an extremely confusing state of affairs for young adolescents to cope with, adjust to and try to understand. In fact the silence, the denial, was so great they almost invariably could not defy it. Eventually, the coercive effect of the silence combined with the pain of the depression that arose from trying to confront the human condition forced them to resign. Once resigned, the answer to the question of why the falseness existed became self-evident and they became part of the lie and problem encountered by the next generation. As the late Page 196 of
Print Edition Jim Morrison of the rock band, The Doors, said, ‘Nobody gets out of this world alive’ (by ‘alive’ he meant alive psychologically, not physically). The situation is described in the Bible metaphorically in the words, ‘the sins of the father carry on from generation to generation’ (see Exodus 20:5, Deut. 5:9). (It should be emphasised here that, from the greater perspective and tragic as it was, adults’ resigned dishonest way of living was unavoidable and thus not a ‘sin’ in the sense of being something bad, evil or wrong. Understanding the human condition allows humans to understand themselves; it brings healing compassion into their lives; it lifts the historic burden of guilt from the human situation.)
Once resigned to living evasively you could no longer see the evasion, but in their unresigned state children and young adolescents were able to see the full horror of the human condition. The 19th-century novelist, George Eliot (the pen-name of Marian Evans), acknowledged the situation when she wrote that, ‘Childhood is only the beautiful and happy time in contemplation and retrospect; to the child, it is full of deep sorrows, the meaning of which is unknown [to adults living in denial of the human condition].’
September 22, 2014
If you want to be introduced to a whole new way of looking at our human condition that will challenge everything you thought you knew, turn the lights on in your mind and erode your historic denial, then read this book. If you want to understand the true significance of Plato’s Cave Allegory that explains the metaphor of the sun and fire and the reason for our cave-like existence and why we are 'A Species in Denial', then read this book. If you want to understand why when we’re little we all go through a process of loosing our innocence and resigning to a world full of compromise and numb acceptance of reality, then read this book. If you want to truly get to the honest bottom of the battle between men and woman, understand our immense differences and work towards true reconciliation, then read this book. If you really want a demystifying explanation of religions and their incredibly important role in humanity’s heroic journey to find understanding, then read this book. If you want to understand WHY??? and through that understanding find true happiness and meaning for yourself and for everyone else on the planet, and, let’s face it, only rational answers to our questions can lead to real solutions to the massive problems we face, if you want a future for humanity that is exciting and free and full of potential and life, no more pain and suffering, no more mystery and superstition, no more loneliness and hatred, then you know what to do…read this amazing, utterly wonderful, life-changing book!
September 23, 2014
A Species In Denial by Jeremy Griffith is a controversial book because it dares to look into the issue of human alienation; it dares to confront the issue of self. The book is titled "A Species In Denial" because humans have been unable to deal with the issue of self, the issue of the human condition, the extent of our divided, alienated, 'fallen' state.
What is so extraordinary and important is that this bringing to the surface of the issue of our incredibly divided selves is made possible by the central thesis of the book which is the biological explanation for WHY this divided self has been highly necessary. The book doesn't condemn humans, it dignifies them. It explains that they are 'good' and not 'bad' afterall. It explains the origin of, so called 'sin' or 'evil', and by so doing lifts the 'burden of guilt' from humanity. I suggest people are offended by the honesty of this book and fail to reach this deeper, all-important reconciling understanding in the book that makes the honesty in it both possible and necessary.
To go outside the historic denial of the human condition necessitates heresies on many fronts. The orthodoxies are everywhere challenged in this book, but challenged they need to be. I suggest that a book of such fundamental honesty is overdue.
When Charles Darwin presented his book, the Origins of Species, and demystified humans by linking them with animals, the establishment or orthodoxy was so angered by the heresy that it took a great deal of courage for people to focus on the science of the idea and discover its validity. Science now accepts Darwin's Theory and in fact a great deal of scientific knowledge has been built upon it.
I am an honours graduate in biology and have been assessing the ideas that Griffith presents in A Species In Denial and his earlier books about the human condition since 1992. I see that A Species In Denial is about human biology, about how humans evolved from an instinctive animal to a fully conscious being and how that resulted in us having to live in denial of our contradictory natures. It is this dilemma of the human condition, this issue of good and evil in the human makeup, that A Species In Denial at last reconciles. For all its audacity in exposing the extent and variety of human alienation, it is an incredibly brave & important book.
The science behind this book is so simple that it could be assessed, evaluated and verified by school children, yet I have seen some respected scientists and academics become so offended by the outright honesty of this book, that they fail to even consider the basic scientific processes described in it.
Response to this book is extremely polarised. We must ask ourselves why many eminent and qualified people can see such merit in A Species In Denial and others attack it so ferociously without ever tackling the ideas.
I strongly recommend you read the book and see for yourself if this book isn't almost unbearably honest and discover the real reason behind the extreme animosity from some people. Denials naturally resist exposure because they are so embedded, especially a denial of this scale where virtually all of humanity is involved, but our freedom as a species lies beyond living in our dungeon state of denial. More power to this book.
What is so extraordinary and important is that this bringing to the surface of the issue of our incredibly divided selves is made possible by the central thesis of the book which is the biological explanation for WHY this divided self has been highly necessary. The book doesn't condemn humans, it dignifies them. It explains that they are 'good' and not 'bad' afterall. It explains the origin of, so called 'sin' or 'evil', and by so doing lifts the 'burden of guilt' from humanity. I suggest people are offended by the honesty of this book and fail to reach this deeper, all-important reconciling understanding in the book that makes the honesty in it both possible and necessary.
To go outside the historic denial of the human condition necessitates heresies on many fronts. The orthodoxies are everywhere challenged in this book, but challenged they need to be. I suggest that a book of such fundamental honesty is overdue.
When Charles Darwin presented his book, the Origins of Species, and demystified humans by linking them with animals, the establishment or orthodoxy was so angered by the heresy that it took a great deal of courage for people to focus on the science of the idea and discover its validity. Science now accepts Darwin's Theory and in fact a great deal of scientific knowledge has been built upon it.
I am an honours graduate in biology and have been assessing the ideas that Griffith presents in A Species In Denial and his earlier books about the human condition since 1992. I see that A Species In Denial is about human biology, about how humans evolved from an instinctive animal to a fully conscious being and how that resulted in us having to live in denial of our contradictory natures. It is this dilemma of the human condition, this issue of good and evil in the human makeup, that A Species In Denial at last reconciles. For all its audacity in exposing the extent and variety of human alienation, it is an incredibly brave & important book.
The science behind this book is so simple that it could be assessed, evaluated and verified by school children, yet I have seen some respected scientists and academics become so offended by the outright honesty of this book, that they fail to even consider the basic scientific processes described in it.
Response to this book is extremely polarised. We must ask ourselves why many eminent and qualified people can see such merit in A Species In Denial and others attack it so ferociously without ever tackling the ideas.
I strongly recommend you read the book and see for yourself if this book isn't almost unbearably honest and discover the real reason behind the extreme animosity from some people. Denials naturally resist exposure because they are so embedded, especially a denial of this scale where virtually all of humanity is involved, but our freedom as a species lies beyond living in our dungeon state of denial. More power to this book.
April 11, 2016
I don't know what the GRs concesus is on reviewing before finishing? But if you're not going to, finish that is, or at least not for while, then i never would would I? Rhetorical.
The thing is this book just confused me, not confused becuase I couldn't understand, confused becasue of how it made me feel. I'm a pretty spriritual (emotionally intelligent i like to call it) guy. I try not to flail with my reactions, let's just say this didn't come naturally but via a fair bit of time 'on the couch' so to speak (Therapy, for those 'happy' people). Anyhoo I've learnt that such flailings are not necessarily legit, well not, not legit but you know viable, relevant, fair even. So my anger at this book i'm taking to be something 'triggering' me (that's what the therapists call it ('happy' people)). Then I read about some psycho chick wanting to tear it up and I figured she'd been pretty 'triggered' too. I mean sure tear up Mein Kampf but a book about the human condition from a guy who as far as I can see actually means well??? So I 'sat with my feelings' for a while, tried again and just found that I needed to step back. So I'll be back, I'll leave it on my 'still reading' shelf till i'm in a better place and even take councel from the author who says 'the benefit of persevering with this journey of discovering what it really is to be human will be to arrive at a state of extraordinary freedom. It has to be immediately emphasised that this is not the sort of feel-good freedom that New Age and 'self-imporvement' gurus promote through artificial forms of motivational reinforcement gained, for instance, from repeating mantras that 'you have every right to love yourself', and the like. This is afreedom achieved through being able to at last understand human nature, understand ourself'.
So god knows what my review means, I dont' even know how i feel. I feel something that's for sure but i'm not sure what.
UPDATE: READ HIS NEW BOOK 'FREEDOM' — LIFE CHANGER.
The thing is this book just confused me, not confused becuase I couldn't understand, confused becasue of how it made me feel. I'm a pretty spriritual (emotionally intelligent i like to call it) guy. I try not to flail with my reactions, let's just say this didn't come naturally but via a fair bit of time 'on the couch' so to speak (Therapy, for those 'happy' people). Anyhoo I've learnt that such flailings are not necessarily legit, well not, not legit but you know viable, relevant, fair even. So my anger at this book i'm taking to be something 'triggering' me (that's what the therapists call it ('happy' people)). Then I read about some psycho chick wanting to tear it up and I figured she'd been pretty 'triggered' too. I mean sure tear up Mein Kampf but a book about the human condition from a guy who as far as I can see actually means well??? So I 'sat with my feelings' for a while, tried again and just found that I needed to step back. So I'll be back, I'll leave it on my 'still reading' shelf till i'm in a better place and even take councel from the author who says 'the benefit of persevering with this journey of discovering what it really is to be human will be to arrive at a state of extraordinary freedom. It has to be immediately emphasised that this is not the sort of feel-good freedom that New Age and 'self-imporvement' gurus promote through artificial forms of motivational reinforcement gained, for instance, from repeating mantras that 'you have every right to love yourself', and the like. This is afreedom achieved through being able to at last understand human nature, understand ourself'.
So god knows what my review means, I dont' even know how i feel. I feel something that's for sure but i'm not sure what.
UPDATE: READ HIS NEW BOOK 'FREEDOM' — LIFE CHANGER.
September 18, 2014
I was given this which was odd because i'm hardly known as a deep thinker but I was very thank ful that I was considered worthy of such a book. Challenging but only becuase I'm used to reading novels. I was fascinated and think its something that everyone should take the time to read. As i'm not into philosophy i'm not sure if you'd say its a good introduction to philosophy but it feels like an easy book to read about the bigger apsects of life.
December 20, 2021
The most important and eye-opening book I’ve read, worthy of multiple re-reads. Griffith is on to something here.
September 10, 2025
This book is a series of Essays on the biggest and most unanswerable topics. Except Jeremy Griffith has now provided the answers in these essays. The human condition is difficult to start with but the more you get used to it the more every word blows your mind.
May 11, 2016
“A Species In Denial” – by author Jeremy Griffith
Before I begin I feels it’s important to state that I am not usually prone to ad hominem attacks, yet this book so repulsed my sensibilities that I simply cannot withhold my contempt. I am impelled to slander since the author of this work is so vainglorious nothing else could suffice.
I first came across the book “A Species in Denial” as I was perusing a used bookshop.
After flicking it over, I noticed that the author, Jeremy Griffith, was an actual biologist, which served only to pique my interest further. I love a good treatise on the failures of humanity, more so when it’s from, seemingly, a legitimate expert in an academic field. Had I known what lay ahead I would have burnt the entire store down to avoid the sheer mind numbing agony this book inflicted upon me.
If a time machine is ever created, I can state without hyperbole that its first use will be to erase all memory of this cursed ‘magnum opus’ of puerile vapidity from ever entering into my possession.
The fact it was also available for purchase for the tiny sum of three dollars should really have been an omen, but clearly one I chose to ignore in my excitement.
Shame on me.
The cover and presentation of the book paints it as professional and academic take on the complexities inherent to the human condition, an earnest empirical study of mans nature, existential angst and place in the universe.
Looks however, can be deceiving.
This author of this hefty tome claims to have unraveled the integrative nature of the natural world, how all biology forms itself into natural integrative systems and from this, how it can decipher the riddle of the human condition. He even goes as far to claim he has answered why our “metaphysical souls” become corrupted by the world, the true source of our great unhappiness.
Let that sink in for a moment.
The book purports to elucidate how we as a species can reclaim our true nature, one of being co-operative and “loving” (his words not mine, from a biologist no less) and attempts to do so via a lengthy form of stream of consciousness aphasia that is so repetitious in nature it is insulting.
The author claims that this repetition is to break down the “mental barrier of our accumulative negative life experience” that blocks us from comprehending his amazing ideas. Such claims however, soon seem fraudulent due to the litany of pop culture references that are liberally sprinkled throughout. These references are so common, one begins to feel the need to claim them as plagiaristic filler, this, despite the suitable referencing.
The book begins from some sound premises early on and for the first 50 pages, though poorly written, appear relatively cogent. However, as the reader moves ever so slowly to the 100th page and beyond, the book reveals itself to be everything it claims it is not.
Despite the constant repudiation throughout that it is not a new age or self help book, the writers insistence that his message is so simple and profound even a teenager can understand it becomes rather prophetic, since his work fits perfectly within the overly simplistic and feckless framework of the genre. Appeals to emotion, pseudo scientific claims and extreme leaps of logic abound.
Seemingly as a way to refute these accusations preemptively, the book contains quotes and examples from readers whose lives were changed by the ideas ensconced within. This was obviously a terrifying moment for me since it was clear that the books subject matter had gone through many revisions and had actually been republished in its current form.
These defensive examples of self validation include an unsolicited endorsement from a young girl, who claims a previous work from the author had changed her life, curing her depression and providing the metaphysical push to move forward. Her contentment manifesting by appropriating this work of fictions enlightened world view. We all live our own lie, I guess sometimes it’s easier to just steal someone else’s, regardless of its sterility?
Such poorly persuasive ideas would only find validation within a juvenile mind, one prone to the histrionic lamentations of inexperience combined with youth. While in some strange way complimentary, the sudden cure for this teenager’s moody depressive apathy merely speaks to the banality of her suffering. In no way could any genuine depression be alleviated by such meagre and unsophisticated ideas.
When one considers that the author believes most adults are unable or unwilling to listen to his core message, as he so fervently states time and time again in the text, they begin to realise this is simply because his ideas are so disturbingly callow as to be embarrassing.
No literate, educated adult would ever continue past the 100th page. Any attempt at real scientific inquiry or solid investigatory analysis is lost in an unending cycle of veiled insults and overdramatised guff.
This book reads like The Secret, if it were laced with grandiloquent faux scientific expropriations of academic terminology. Though, in all honesty I’ve never read The Secret, so maybe they are of comparable lexical forgery?
The problems with the book become ever clearer as the reader is mercilessly assailed, over and over again with the same concept framed in a hundred different ways. So much so, that to describe it as tedious would be disingenuous. I literally had to fight with myself every time the page required turning, such was the mental anguish I endured reading the aimless scrawls of this insufferable egotist.
Keep in mind that I have read internet fan fiction before so this simply reinforces the feculant content within this asinine treatise.
So bad was the prose within that it soon became a challenge of nihilistic endurance just to continue. So, continue I did.
What is more surprising than the hopeless attempts at cohesion within, is despite this oversight, the style soon takes on a completely antagonistic tone. One that was so outrageously misplaced it speaks to the authors total lack of introspective ability.
Often I found myself simply offended by the incredulous claims levelled at me in all my brainwashed adult maturity. I’m glad he continually repeats this accusation at the reader throughout since he was clearly seeing something I couldn’t. In truth, he is hopelessly delusional.
What I first interpreted as insulting presumptuousness on the authors part soon gave way to my own bizarre sense of ironic enmity, as if overcome with what I can only describe as patronising indulgence.
It’s hard to continue reading something when the writer has gone out of their way to impart to you the genius of their ideas, despite their incredible immaturity. You just end up feeling sorry for them.
Unfettered I battled on, allowing the author an opportunity for atonement or perhaps some conciliatory thematic shift. It never came.
One of the more contemptutious claims made within, is that the majority of human beings exist in some perpetual state of ignorance. While this does resonate for me, the self professed existential cosmicist that I am, he is clearly not afraid to elevate himself above his accused hapless victims of philosophic misanthropy.
After all, his simple message is incessantly reiterated in a litany of didactic examples one would have to be ignorant not to comprehend it.
The problem with all of this however, is despite his background in biology, the authors grandiose statements remain just that. Bereft of any honest attempt at substantiation via sound premises. These emotional outbursts of unscientific nonsense are a chilling indictment of an educated biologist who frankly, should know better.
Griffith claims in resolute and no doubt earnest seriousness that the “driving force in human evolution” was the increased “nurturing of offspring” or as he describes it, “love indoctrination”.
Stop laughing, this is legitimate science.
Such claims could almost be forgiven had the book provided any real insight, verifiable or anecdotal, but it soon reveals itself to be completely and utterly farcical. Only a self-aggrandising bipolar maniac could ever make the claims this man does with a straight face and I am a diagnosed self-aggrandising bipolar maniac.
As I read further I couldn’t help but feel that the author was so far off the mark that it was like someone left an undergrad to their own devices, unsupervised for several years as they wrote their PHD thesis on a subject they didn’t really bother to study. It is so laced with poor and overwrought phraseology that any chance for his message to come through falls immediately flat. After all how could a genius with such cerebral insight into the human condition write so artlessly? This channeling of Heidiggian obtuseness is merely another example of the paucity of intellectual value on offer within its pages.
Sadly the core message of this book falters under the weight of its own vacuity, a turgid protracted composition that even Nietzsche in his final days of syphalytic madness could have ever hoped to equal.
Had a more experienced author tackled the subject with the same core themes, even without the attempted ‘scientific’ methodology, perhaps some greater insight would have been uncovered.
Sadly this is just not the case. So bad is the work that at several points the author actually dares the reader to stop. This is not an attempt at humour, he does this repeatedly. After all, as he claims, if someone did stop reading, it would only prove him right. The reader just clearly isn’t ready to hear what he has to say.
In this instance, he displayed a surprising level of clairvoyance, as he was completely and utterly correct. The book was so stupefyingly intolerable I simply could not finish it, regardless of the antagonistic daring that permeates its hallowed pages. I inevitably surrendered around the 200 page mark, with only 328 more to go.
Part of me wanted to finish the book, just to disprove the authors accusations but this quickly subsided when I saw its chiding provocations for what they truly were. A childish attempt at justifying his terrible prose. Only a masochist could ever finish this book. I have derived more enjoyment lying face down in the gutter at 2am, vomiting uncontrollably and wishing for death.
The final and and most unnerving conceit contained within this work of overbearing verbosity was the authors sincere suggestion that it should be read twice or to my absolute astonishment, three times. A proposal so transcendently arrogant that I could not possibly entertain it.
This book punishes the reader with every turn of the page, treating them with such audacious contempt it is inconceivable. In the end, no unpacking of Plato’s Allegory of the cave, which covers almost 50 pages by the way, could ever save this work. It is simply poor in every respect.
Only after I failed the authors test of endurance did I care to investigate him further. As it turns out, his concepts have sprouted an entire new age pseudo religion. No longer a peddler of outdated print media, he and his indoctrinated cohorts have embraced the Internet. Undoubtedly in an effort to seek validation via its many denizens of gullibility. The site contains videos, presentations and unsurprisingly, free ebooks of all his conjectural gibberish thus far. Feel free to peruse the wealth of fictional absurdity at http://www.humancondition.com/
I got such a good laugh that it’s only fair he gets some traffic. After all, in another life, before I learned to temper my own delusions of grandeur with circumspection, I too could have been a kindred spirit. Luckily or perhaps unfortunately my lack of hubris prevents me from attempting such a grand all encompassing theory on the human condition.
This book and its related digital media is to quote, Orson Wells “Impossible, meaningless”
I am less intelligent for having read this. Readers beware and consume at your own risk.
A generous 2/5 stars for the laughter it provided.
Before I begin I feels it’s important to state that I am not usually prone to ad hominem attacks, yet this book so repulsed my sensibilities that I simply cannot withhold my contempt. I am impelled to slander since the author of this work is so vainglorious nothing else could suffice.
I first came across the book “A Species in Denial” as I was perusing a used bookshop.
After flicking it over, I noticed that the author, Jeremy Griffith, was an actual biologist, which served only to pique my interest further. I love a good treatise on the failures of humanity, more so when it’s from, seemingly, a legitimate expert in an academic field. Had I known what lay ahead I would have burnt the entire store down to avoid the sheer mind numbing agony this book inflicted upon me.
If a time machine is ever created, I can state without hyperbole that its first use will be to erase all memory of this cursed ‘magnum opus’ of puerile vapidity from ever entering into my possession.
The fact it was also available for purchase for the tiny sum of three dollars should really have been an omen, but clearly one I chose to ignore in my excitement.
Shame on me.
The cover and presentation of the book paints it as professional and academic take on the complexities inherent to the human condition, an earnest empirical study of mans nature, existential angst and place in the universe.
Looks however, can be deceiving.
This author of this hefty tome claims to have unraveled the integrative nature of the natural world, how all biology forms itself into natural integrative systems and from this, how it can decipher the riddle of the human condition. He even goes as far to claim he has answered why our “metaphysical souls” become corrupted by the world, the true source of our great unhappiness.
Let that sink in for a moment.
The book purports to elucidate how we as a species can reclaim our true nature, one of being co-operative and “loving” (his words not mine, from a biologist no less) and attempts to do so via a lengthy form of stream of consciousness aphasia that is so repetitious in nature it is insulting.
The author claims that this repetition is to break down the “mental barrier of our accumulative negative life experience” that blocks us from comprehending his amazing ideas. Such claims however, soon seem fraudulent due to the litany of pop culture references that are liberally sprinkled throughout. These references are so common, one begins to feel the need to claim them as plagiaristic filler, this, despite the suitable referencing.
The book begins from some sound premises early on and for the first 50 pages, though poorly written, appear relatively cogent. However, as the reader moves ever so slowly to the 100th page and beyond, the book reveals itself to be everything it claims it is not.
Despite the constant repudiation throughout that it is not a new age or self help book, the writers insistence that his message is so simple and profound even a teenager can understand it becomes rather prophetic, since his work fits perfectly within the overly simplistic and feckless framework of the genre. Appeals to emotion, pseudo scientific claims and extreme leaps of logic abound.
Seemingly as a way to refute these accusations preemptively, the book contains quotes and examples from readers whose lives were changed by the ideas ensconced within. This was obviously a terrifying moment for me since it was clear that the books subject matter had gone through many revisions and had actually been republished in its current form.
These defensive examples of self validation include an unsolicited endorsement from a young girl, who claims a previous work from the author had changed her life, curing her depression and providing the metaphysical push to move forward. Her contentment manifesting by appropriating this work of fictions enlightened world view. We all live our own lie, I guess sometimes it’s easier to just steal someone else’s, regardless of its sterility?
Such poorly persuasive ideas would only find validation within a juvenile mind, one prone to the histrionic lamentations of inexperience combined with youth. While in some strange way complimentary, the sudden cure for this teenager’s moody depressive apathy merely speaks to the banality of her suffering. In no way could any genuine depression be alleviated by such meagre and unsophisticated ideas.
When one considers that the author believes most adults are unable or unwilling to listen to his core message, as he so fervently states time and time again in the text, they begin to realise this is simply because his ideas are so disturbingly callow as to be embarrassing.
No literate, educated adult would ever continue past the 100th page. Any attempt at real scientific inquiry or solid investigatory analysis is lost in an unending cycle of veiled insults and overdramatised guff.
This book reads like The Secret, if it were laced with grandiloquent faux scientific expropriations of academic terminology. Though, in all honesty I’ve never read The Secret, so maybe they are of comparable lexical forgery?
The problems with the book become ever clearer as the reader is mercilessly assailed, over and over again with the same concept framed in a hundred different ways. So much so, that to describe it as tedious would be disingenuous. I literally had to fight with myself every time the page required turning, such was the mental anguish I endured reading the aimless scrawls of this insufferable egotist.
Keep in mind that I have read internet fan fiction before so this simply reinforces the feculant content within this asinine treatise.
So bad was the prose within that it soon became a challenge of nihilistic endurance just to continue. So, continue I did.
What is more surprising than the hopeless attempts at cohesion within, is despite this oversight, the style soon takes on a completely antagonistic tone. One that was so outrageously misplaced it speaks to the authors total lack of introspective ability.
Often I found myself simply offended by the incredulous claims levelled at me in all my brainwashed adult maturity. I’m glad he continually repeats this accusation at the reader throughout since he was clearly seeing something I couldn’t. In truth, he is hopelessly delusional.
What I first interpreted as insulting presumptuousness on the authors part soon gave way to my own bizarre sense of ironic enmity, as if overcome with what I can only describe as patronising indulgence.
It’s hard to continue reading something when the writer has gone out of their way to impart to you the genius of their ideas, despite their incredible immaturity. You just end up feeling sorry for them.
Unfettered I battled on, allowing the author an opportunity for atonement or perhaps some conciliatory thematic shift. It never came.
One of the more contemptutious claims made within, is that the majority of human beings exist in some perpetual state of ignorance. While this does resonate for me, the self professed existential cosmicist that I am, he is clearly not afraid to elevate himself above his accused hapless victims of philosophic misanthropy.
After all, his simple message is incessantly reiterated in a litany of didactic examples one would have to be ignorant not to comprehend it.
The problem with all of this however, is despite his background in biology, the authors grandiose statements remain just that. Bereft of any honest attempt at substantiation via sound premises. These emotional outbursts of unscientific nonsense are a chilling indictment of an educated biologist who frankly, should know better.
Griffith claims in resolute and no doubt earnest seriousness that the “driving force in human evolution” was the increased “nurturing of offspring” or as he describes it, “love indoctrination”.
Stop laughing, this is legitimate science.
Such claims could almost be forgiven had the book provided any real insight, verifiable or anecdotal, but it soon reveals itself to be completely and utterly farcical. Only a self-aggrandising bipolar maniac could ever make the claims this man does with a straight face and I am a diagnosed self-aggrandising bipolar maniac.
As I read further I couldn’t help but feel that the author was so far off the mark that it was like someone left an undergrad to their own devices, unsupervised for several years as they wrote their PHD thesis on a subject they didn’t really bother to study. It is so laced with poor and overwrought phraseology that any chance for his message to come through falls immediately flat. After all how could a genius with such cerebral insight into the human condition write so artlessly? This channeling of Heidiggian obtuseness is merely another example of the paucity of intellectual value on offer within its pages.
Sadly the core message of this book falters under the weight of its own vacuity, a turgid protracted composition that even Nietzsche in his final days of syphalytic madness could have ever hoped to equal.
Had a more experienced author tackled the subject with the same core themes, even without the attempted ‘scientific’ methodology, perhaps some greater insight would have been uncovered.
Sadly this is just not the case. So bad is the work that at several points the author actually dares the reader to stop. This is not an attempt at humour, he does this repeatedly. After all, as he claims, if someone did stop reading, it would only prove him right. The reader just clearly isn’t ready to hear what he has to say.
In this instance, he displayed a surprising level of clairvoyance, as he was completely and utterly correct. The book was so stupefyingly intolerable I simply could not finish it, regardless of the antagonistic daring that permeates its hallowed pages. I inevitably surrendered around the 200 page mark, with only 328 more to go.
Part of me wanted to finish the book, just to disprove the authors accusations but this quickly subsided when I saw its chiding provocations for what they truly were. A childish attempt at justifying his terrible prose. Only a masochist could ever finish this book. I have derived more enjoyment lying face down in the gutter at 2am, vomiting uncontrollably and wishing for death.
The final and and most unnerving conceit contained within this work of overbearing verbosity was the authors sincere suggestion that it should be read twice or to my absolute astonishment, three times. A proposal so transcendently arrogant that I could not possibly entertain it.
This book punishes the reader with every turn of the page, treating them with such audacious contempt it is inconceivable. In the end, no unpacking of Plato’s Allegory of the cave, which covers almost 50 pages by the way, could ever save this work. It is simply poor in every respect.
Only after I failed the authors test of endurance did I care to investigate him further. As it turns out, his concepts have sprouted an entire new age pseudo religion. No longer a peddler of outdated print media, he and his indoctrinated cohorts have embraced the Internet. Undoubtedly in an effort to seek validation via its many denizens of gullibility. The site contains videos, presentations and unsurprisingly, free ebooks of all his conjectural gibberish thus far. Feel free to peruse the wealth of fictional absurdity at http://www.humancondition.com/
I got such a good laugh that it’s only fair he gets some traffic. After all, in another life, before I learned to temper my own delusions of grandeur with circumspection, I too could have been a kindred spirit. Luckily or perhaps unfortunately my lack of hubris prevents me from attempting such a grand all encompassing theory on the human condition.
This book and its related digital media is to quote, Orson Wells “Impossible, meaningless”
I am less intelligent for having read this. Readers beware and consume at your own risk.
A generous 2/5 stars for the laughter it provided.
September 4, 2022
All of Jeremy's books are the greatest books in the world. If there's any medicine out there its in his books and only his books. Everyone needs to at least give it a shot and read it. I am so blessed to have found Jeremy's insights and understandings. Im 23 years old have dived deep into books, podcasts, courses, meditation and explored psychedelics for the last 4-5 years either trying to cope or manage my life or try to make sense of this human existence and life's deepest questions and i have only ended up more confused and upset and that was only intensifying the more down the rabbit hole i went. Until i came across this incredible book which makes sense of all human life and our seemingly contradictory nature. Makes sense of the non-sensical. The more you read the better it gets. Thankyou immensely Jeremy and the World Transformation Movement, Eternally Grateful. Absolutely SATISFIED & FULFILLED on the deepest level from this material. LETS GO !!
October 20, 2019
When it comes to Mr. Griffith's writings, there are really always two different things to review:
The first thing, is the core idea in all of his writings (every single book of his). He has admirably dedicated his life to explain the human condition, the core issue in human life/psychology/history.
The second thing, is his writings themselves and his writing style/way of communicating.
Regarding the core idea of instinct vs intellect, I would give it a 5/5, or a 10 out of 10. This NEW idea of how (non-forward-"thinking") instincts would have inevitably clashed with a newly emerging (forward-thinking, "image-associating") brain, is truly remarkable. I believe it is indeed the core idea that the human race has been pushing towards, ever since our emergence so many eons ago...
Whenever I encounter this core idea in Griffith's writings, I gain a fresh appreciation for how ridiculously simple it is, yet so important and elegant. And in this book, it is no different. I encourage everyone to look into it and persevere to the point where you "get it". Like many, I remember that point clearly, many years later. Indeed it was reading THIS book where it happened to me.
When it comes to Griffith's writing style, and his extrapolations of this idea, it sometimes becomes a very different thing. Don't get me wrong, I think many of his extrapolations/explanations are wonderful, and they have been really helpful to me.
But sometimes, his lack of explanation on basic matters (or his extremely cursory summaries) are just simply atrocious. So much so, that sometimes he really comes across quite naive, or even obtuse. This book is particularly bad for that. Many years ago, this book both simultaneously helped me, while also leaving me massively confused. Not so much about the main idea, or my own personal life, but rather just the basic, big-picture things it elaborates (or rather, doesn't elaborate).
And I would have to wait many years for his newer books to come out, where he finally addressed (some of) those things, and much of my confusion could then be dispelled. For me particularly, it was on the subject of religion (which I grew up in), and I address some of that in a different review of his latest book. For other people, it may be other topics.
Really, at the end of the day, this book can satisfy the questions you've always had, or it can't. If it does, you should get more into it. If it doesn't, you shouldn't (I myself don't care too much either way where you land).
But again, the core idea IS a breakthrough in my opinion, and an idea I highly recommend that people get into. And if people do have the balls to come to terms with the core idea, I think our world will become a much better place.
5/5 for the amazing core idea.
3/5 for his often frustratingly cursory explanations/lack of extraplotion.
so 4/5.
The first thing, is the core idea in all of his writings (every single book of his). He has admirably dedicated his life to explain the human condition, the core issue in human life/psychology/history.
The second thing, is his writings themselves and his writing style/way of communicating.
Regarding the core idea of instinct vs intellect, I would give it a 5/5, or a 10 out of 10. This NEW idea of how (non-forward-"thinking") instincts would have inevitably clashed with a newly emerging (forward-thinking, "image-associating") brain, is truly remarkable. I believe it is indeed the core idea that the human race has been pushing towards, ever since our emergence so many eons ago...
Whenever I encounter this core idea in Griffith's writings, I gain a fresh appreciation for how ridiculously simple it is, yet so important and elegant. And in this book, it is no different. I encourage everyone to look into it and persevere to the point where you "get it". Like many, I remember that point clearly, many years later. Indeed it was reading THIS book where it happened to me.
When it comes to Griffith's writing style, and his extrapolations of this idea, it sometimes becomes a very different thing. Don't get me wrong, I think many of his extrapolations/explanations are wonderful, and they have been really helpful to me.
But sometimes, his lack of explanation on basic matters (or his extremely cursory summaries) are just simply atrocious. So much so, that sometimes he really comes across quite naive, or even obtuse. This book is particularly bad for that. Many years ago, this book both simultaneously helped me, while also leaving me massively confused. Not so much about the main idea, or my own personal life, but rather just the basic, big-picture things it elaborates (or rather, doesn't elaborate).
And I would have to wait many years for his newer books to come out, where he finally addressed (some of) those things, and much of my confusion could then be dispelled. For me particularly, it was on the subject of religion (which I grew up in), and I address some of that in a different review of his latest book. For other people, it may be other topics.
Really, at the end of the day, this book can satisfy the questions you've always had, or it can't. If it does, you should get more into it. If it doesn't, you shouldn't (I myself don't care too much either way where you land).
But again, the core idea IS a breakthrough in my opinion, and an idea I highly recommend that people get into. And if people do have the balls to come to terms with the core idea, I think our world will become a much better place.
5/5 for the amazing core idea.
3/5 for his often frustratingly cursory explanations/lack of extraplotion.
so 4/5.
October 12, 2025
While my mom and I were tidying up my grans house we found a copy of A Species in Denial and it piqued my interest. Written before I was born, the book is old and gran had made a lot of marks through it. But the title draw me in and soon I was reading about the human condition. I've never read a book like it. I couldn't understand it all but when I read the section about 'Resignation' it was like my brain sighed with relief. Griffith explains that 'Resignation is the most important psychological event to occur in human life and yet it is very rarely acknowledged and almost never discussed and analysed.' Here's an example of what I had highlighted 'Young adolescents struggled mightily with the dilemma-essentially the question of the human condition, the question of why the world was not ideally behaved when they instinctively expected it to be. This struggle continued for a number of years until eventually, at around the age of 15, they realised there was no answer to the question and they had no choice but simply to deny the problem existed.' And this is one from my gran 'Now that it is possible to understand the human condition, understand that humans were actually good and not bad, were indeed part of 'God's' great plan..it can be understood that all human effort since time immemorial has been meaningful.' Just wow. It's a slow burn but I found the way the book is set-up in different sections with lots of subheadings was helpful while I was reading it. Worth a read.
January 31, 2026
This is a bold, provocative work that challenges readers to rethink human nature at its most fundamental level. Griffith combines evolutionary theory, psychology, and moral philosophy to present a sweeping argument about the origins of human conflict and guilt. Whether or not one agrees with all of his conclusions, the book is undeniably ambitious and thought-provoking, driven by a sincere attempt to make sense of humanity’s deepest contradictions and to offer a hopeful framework for understanding ourselves.
July 27, 2014
I've expressed my views on the writings of Jeremy Griffith in great detail in my review of Beyond The Human Condition, so I won't repeat myself here. However one passage of this book gives a particularly good illustration of what is wrong with Griffith's approach.
Here is what he has to say about homosexuality (pg. 336) :
It follows that the more corrupted a man is, the less naive he is and thus the more he is aware that women are not innocent. Therefore, if a man is extremely hurt and corrupted in his infancy and childhood, when he becomes sexually mature he will not be naive enough to believe that women are still innocent and he will thus not find women sexually attractive. The last bastion of 'attractive' innocence for such men is younger men, because they are not as exposed to sexual destruction as women have historically been.
While I find arguments that homosexuality is in inborn trait unconvincing, I find this explanation even less so. Note that there is no mention of bisexuality. Griffith seems to have a dualistic view of homosexuality and heterosexuality which contradicts the real-life experience of countless thousands of men who enjoy having sex with both men and women. And there is also no acknowledgement of sexual relationships between older men in which no younger man is involved. This seems to me to be symptomatic of his general approach, which is to search for "evidence" which can be taken out of context or misrepresented in order to support a pre-existing theory. This is not science.
He also says (pg. 337) :
With regard to whether homosexuals are 'born' or 'made', even without the ability to explain the human condition and thus defend the corrupted state of humans (i.e. explain that humans' various states of corruption are not 'bad' or evil but are in fact immensely heroic states), a decade-long research project completed at the Institute for Sex Research in Bloomington, Indiana, found that, 'a quarter of the gays interviewed believe [are prepared to acknowledge?] homosexuality is an emotional disorder' (Time magazine, 17 July 1978).
The scientific approach to interpreting this information needs to look at all possible explanations. If our beliefs about ourselves are largely dictated by the beliefs that are prevalent in the society in which we grew up, is it surprising that homosexuals who grew up within a society which believed that homosexuality was either a sin or an emotional disorder would often believe what they had been told?
He also quotes from Dr. Robert Kronemeyer, one of those psychologists who tries to help people change their sexual orientation :
'Homosexuality is a symptom of neurosis and of a grievous personality disorder. It is an outgrowth of deeply rooted emotional deprivations and disturbances that had their origins in infancy.' (Overcoming Homosexuality, 1980)
Most of the men who seek the services of individuals like Dr. Kronemeyer do so because they feel that their homosexuality is in contravention of their religion. It is not surprising that someone will end up emotionally disturbed if they grow up in a religion which shows an unhealthy intolerance for their possibly natural desires.
Of course I have my own views on these matters. I don't think the desire of one man to have sex with another man needs any explanation beyond the fact that we like to do things which are pleasurable. Tender affectionate contact between two or more humans is inherently pleasurable and rubbing one's penis in a warm tight place until orgasm is pleasurable. I haven't done these things with another man because I have an inhibition towards such activities. My attraction to women is far stronger, because a woman represents the denied aspect of myself (the feminine) with which I long to reconnect, so there is no need for me to contravene my learned inhibition in this area. The other fact that needs to be taken into account is that of fixations. If we feel that some aspect of ourselves is not accepted then we may fixate on it, because what we most long for is to be unconditionally accepted as we are. And I think that this is why exclusive homosexuality (as opposed to bisexuality) tends to grow in homophobic societies, i.e. societies which are intolerant towards the homosexual end of the spectrum or our essentially bisexual erotic nature. Usually it seems best to go with the simplest explanation for any phenomena, and the simplest explanation for the varieties of sexuality is to begin with the pleasure principle, that we tend to seek out what feels good and avoid what feels bad, and then add the factor of inhibitions and fixations both of which are responses to the beliefs of others, ranging out from those close to us to the whole of a society. It is where the pleasure principle is frustrated that anti-social feelings build and the desire to harm others arises.
There are quite a few individuals who have written books claiming to reveal the ultimate truth of life, the universe and everything. If someone actually achieved this, I don't think they would make such a song and dance about it. They would know that, as the truth, it would have the desired effect. It would be known by the fruit that it produced. Sometimes the vociferousness with which someone proclaims that they have the arrived at the ultimate truth is really evidence of a desperate need to convince themselves that they have, because they are too afraid to take the next step down that path, the step which takes them beyond their prejudices, their attachments and their self-image.
Here is what he has to say about homosexuality (pg. 336) :
It follows that the more corrupted a man is, the less naive he is and thus the more he is aware that women are not innocent. Therefore, if a man is extremely hurt and corrupted in his infancy and childhood, when he becomes sexually mature he will not be naive enough to believe that women are still innocent and he will thus not find women sexually attractive. The last bastion of 'attractive' innocence for such men is younger men, because they are not as exposed to sexual destruction as women have historically been.
While I find arguments that homosexuality is in inborn trait unconvincing, I find this explanation even less so. Note that there is no mention of bisexuality. Griffith seems to have a dualistic view of homosexuality and heterosexuality which contradicts the real-life experience of countless thousands of men who enjoy having sex with both men and women. And there is also no acknowledgement of sexual relationships between older men in which no younger man is involved. This seems to me to be symptomatic of his general approach, which is to search for "evidence" which can be taken out of context or misrepresented in order to support a pre-existing theory. This is not science.
He also says (pg. 337) :
With regard to whether homosexuals are 'born' or 'made', even without the ability to explain the human condition and thus defend the corrupted state of humans (i.e. explain that humans' various states of corruption are not 'bad' or evil but are in fact immensely heroic states), a decade-long research project completed at the Institute for Sex Research in Bloomington, Indiana, found that, 'a quarter of the gays interviewed believe [are prepared to acknowledge?] homosexuality is an emotional disorder' (Time magazine, 17 July 1978).
The scientific approach to interpreting this information needs to look at all possible explanations. If our beliefs about ourselves are largely dictated by the beliefs that are prevalent in the society in which we grew up, is it surprising that homosexuals who grew up within a society which believed that homosexuality was either a sin or an emotional disorder would often believe what they had been told?
He also quotes from Dr. Robert Kronemeyer, one of those psychologists who tries to help people change their sexual orientation :
'Homosexuality is a symptom of neurosis and of a grievous personality disorder. It is an outgrowth of deeply rooted emotional deprivations and disturbances that had their origins in infancy.' (Overcoming Homosexuality, 1980)
Most of the men who seek the services of individuals like Dr. Kronemeyer do so because they feel that their homosexuality is in contravention of their religion. It is not surprising that someone will end up emotionally disturbed if they grow up in a religion which shows an unhealthy intolerance for their possibly natural desires.
Of course I have my own views on these matters. I don't think the desire of one man to have sex with another man needs any explanation beyond the fact that we like to do things which are pleasurable. Tender affectionate contact between two or more humans is inherently pleasurable and rubbing one's penis in a warm tight place until orgasm is pleasurable. I haven't done these things with another man because I have an inhibition towards such activities. My attraction to women is far stronger, because a woman represents the denied aspect of myself (the feminine) with which I long to reconnect, so there is no need for me to contravene my learned inhibition in this area. The other fact that needs to be taken into account is that of fixations. If we feel that some aspect of ourselves is not accepted then we may fixate on it, because what we most long for is to be unconditionally accepted as we are. And I think that this is why exclusive homosexuality (as opposed to bisexuality) tends to grow in homophobic societies, i.e. societies which are intolerant towards the homosexual end of the spectrum or our essentially bisexual erotic nature. Usually it seems best to go with the simplest explanation for any phenomena, and the simplest explanation for the varieties of sexuality is to begin with the pleasure principle, that we tend to seek out what feels good and avoid what feels bad, and then add the factor of inhibitions and fixations both of which are responses to the beliefs of others, ranging out from those close to us to the whole of a society. It is where the pleasure principle is frustrated that anti-social feelings build and the desire to harm others arises.
There are quite a few individuals who have written books claiming to reveal the ultimate truth of life, the universe and everything. If someone actually achieved this, I don't think they would make such a song and dance about it. They would know that, as the truth, it would have the desired effect. It would be known by the fruit that it produced. Sometimes the vociferousness with which someone proclaims that they have the arrived at the ultimate truth is really evidence of a desperate need to convince themselves that they have, because they are too afraid to take the next step down that path, the step which takes them beyond their prejudices, their attachments and their self-image.
December 4, 2025
Fascinating read. I think the hypothesis of psychology of human race development is an excellent model. The evolution theory basis has no real evidence
November 21, 2014
From essays about Religion and Demystifying God to Reconciling Men & Women. I didn't know where to start. The individual chapters have merit and are worth reading but I didn't think the structure was up to scratch. That said, if you could remove each chapter and make them their own little individual books (maybe a series?) it might work and be more effective? The chapter on Plato's Cave I'd give 5 stars, that was the best description I've read yet, and that's saying something.
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