What Is Human Nature?

It’s one of the oldest questions we’ve asked ourselves:

Are we born selfish or kind?
Violent or peaceful?
Greedy — or good?

Philosophers, scientists, and storytellers have all offered answers.
But maybe the truth is simpler — and more profound.

Human nature isn’t one thing.
It’s a spectrum. A paradox. A potential.

We are capable of both cruelty and compassion. Of destruction — and deep care.

Which side we express depends less on our biology… and more on our awareness, environment, and choices.

⚖️ We Are Not Born Evil — or Perfect

From birth, we are equipped with instincts, emotions, and drives. We can protect or attack. Hoard or share. But how we use those tools depends on what we learn.

A child raised in love and safety will likely grow generous.
A child raised in fear and mistrust may grow aggressive.

Our nature is flexible.

If nothing else, human nature is adaptable.

This is self-evident. Just look at how we’ve survived — and even thrived — in every environment on Earth. From icy tundras to concrete megacities, we’ve found ways to live, create, and evolve.

But adaptability has a shadow side.

Over time, we’ve adapted too well to our systems built on fear, ego, and separation.
We’ve normalized inequality, competition, and destruction — because those were the rules of the game.

And now, maybe for the first time, we’re seeing the cost of feeding that part of our nature for too long.

We’ve adapted to a world that is now threatening to collapse — not because of some fatal flaw in human nature… but because we’ve been feeding the wrong wolf.

🐺 The Wolf We Feed

You may have heard the Cherokee story:

“Inside every person, there are two wolves.
One is fear, greed, anger, and ego.
The other is love, peace, compassion, and unity.
Which one wins?
The one you feed.”

And for much of history — especially the last few centuries — we’ve been feeding the wrong wolf.

We’ve built systems that reward fear, dominance, and accumulation.
We’ve glorified competition, glorified war, glorified control.

Not because we’re evil — but because we’ve been afraid.

Afraid there won’t be enough.
Afraid of difference.
Afraid of not being enough.

And fear feeds the ego which again feed fear in a negative spiral.
The ego builds systems in its image, and this is the world we see today. A world of fear, war and conflict.

💪 The Science Says: We’re Wired for Goodness

In spite of our fearful ego-created world, modern research across psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology paints a hopeful picture:

Even babies show empathy and fairness.

Infants prefer helpful characters in fiction. Toddlers offer help without being asked.

Our brains reward generosity.
Giving to others lights up pleasure centers in the brain — the same as food or music.

Cooperation helped us survive.

Early human groups that shared and cared outlived those that didn’t.

Peaceful societies have always existed.

From the !Kung of the Kalahari to various indigenous communities, mutual aid and sharing were often the norm.

Even today, society runs on trust.

Every moment we’re in traffic, in line, in conversation — we’re cooperating. When we walk down the street without a gun in our pocket we trust our fellow humans not to attack us. And not only in everyday life — even in commerce, we depend on trust. When a contract is signed, we trust that the other party will uphold it.

So why does the world so often look like the opposite?

🎮 Hollywood and the Ego-Wolf

One place this is most visible is Hollywood.

Blockbusters have long been built on stories of violence, vengeance, domination, and apocalypse.
Heroes as lone saviors. Enemies as pure evil. Love as a subplot — or a tragedy.

Why? Because fear sells. Drama sells. Ego sells.

But this isn’t the full picture of human nature.
It’s just the version that turned the biggest profit.

Lately, even that is shifting.

More films are exploring themes of connection, healing, and inner awakening — Avatar, Interstellar, Arrival, Barbie, and more.
Hopeful visions are starting to reach the mainstream.

Maybe this reflects something deeper.

🌍 A Turning Point?

All around the world, people are questioning the story we’ve been told about ourselves.

They’re realizing we are not doomed by our nature — we are shaped by our systems.
And if we change the systems, we can change the outcome.

If we stop feeding fear, and start feeding trust.

If we stop glorifying the ego, and start honoring our shared humanity.

Maybe human nature has always included love.
We’ve just been afraid to trust it.

But now — we have a choice.

What if our next great adaptation isn’t physical or technological — but spiritual?
What if the most powerful thing we can do now… is remember who we really are?

Want to explore a future where our better nature leads the way?

Waking Up: A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity is a bold vision of a world beyond fear and scarcity — One where we have started to feed the wolf of light and love. Order the book HERE.