The Unnatural Suffering of Civilized Man and why We are Blind to Its Cause

MESA, Ariz. - May 3, 2026 - PRLog -- Evolution's Masterpiece
The human spirit born of emotional intelligence is evolution's masterpiece, designed to guide us into serving the life of our species, through interdependent living. It rewards us with contentment when we place the needs of our sisters and brothers above our own and burdens us with guilt when we don't. Yet, civilization has replaced this inner guidance with the pursuit of personal ambitions, deeming interdependence a threat to civil order, and legally binding us to promises that imprison the soul. Spiritual freedom and the care of our species require fidelity to present feelings, rather than past commitments. But civilization demands the opposite, forcing us to repress the very feelings that would lead us to serve life. In that repression, we suffer, then seek comfort in the illusion of a promised land that will appear if everyone keeps their promises. The tragedy is that the promised land does not exist and so we suffer without ever recognizing the cause. This essay is an attempt to reveal that cause, and to show how simple life is meant to be, and will be again if we trust it.

Consciousness and the Prioritization of Needs
To understand why we exist in an unnatural state of suffering, we begin by referring to the brain diagram specifically, the function of the conscious and subconscious minds. The subconscious mind, which reveals its awareness through feelings, is multi-minded.  It attends to all the organism's needs. On the other hand, consciousness is single-minded. When multiple feelings surface at one time, indicating there is more than one need to be satisfied, the conscious mind attends to the strongest feeling, thus, to the greatest need first. For example, if an animal is grazing in open terrain as a blizzard approaches, the drive for shelter intensifies while hunger wanes. Once the desire for shelter outweighs the desire to satisfy hunger, the conscious mind starts evaluating its options, by "what-iffing" its circumstances what if I go here, what if I go there to determine how best to satisfy its need.

Built-In Rewards and Punishment
There is a reason why spiritually free people do not reward one another with trophies or punish each other with imprisonment: All the rewards and punishments required to maintain the social order that sustains our species' life are built in. They occur instantly and are thus unavoidable contentment for doing what feels right and guilt for doing what feels wrong.

Guilt, I believe, can be as severe a punishment for a spiritually free person as prison is for a civilized one.

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