Human Traits & Follies
Excerpts from Arthur Thormann’s book called Human Traits & Follies
Preface
This book explores how human beings may have been created, how they united themselves, built and lost empires, reached the present stage of development, and now head towards possible destruction.
The Chinese people are probably the earliest group of human beings who have successfully united and who have stayed successfully united. Furthermore, the Chinese people successfully assimilated with other groups of people. The Americans of the U.S.A. reached a similar success, of course.
However, the Europeans have a dismal record. It is interesting how early Europeans, many hundreds of years back, split themselves apart, and are now trying to reunite themselves, despite their differences and mutual hates that separated and still separate them. The Europeans could do much better if they set aside their warring history and united themselves to their mutual advantage.
Particularly, the book explores some human traits that either support or hinder human development.
Human beings are able to use their traits remarkably better than other animals. Take the way humans reason; the way they consciously create; the way they send themselves messages; the way they plan their future; to list a few; also, how these traits affected history, and how they affect contemporary actions. It is wise to remember that all actions, even inactions, send messages — often unintended messages. Therefore, all actions must be carefully considered.
The ability to appraise human traits is especially important in our time. In the final analysis, human traits, and actions caused by human traits, will always form the basis of either beneficial or destructive consequences.
The titles of the chapters, like Empire Builders, Aspiration to be President, Follow the Leader, and Majority & World Control, give some indication of the traits that are being explored. Take majority rule: though favored by democracies, it must be questioned, because it also led to the execution of Socrates in Athens, and the election of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Hopefully, the study of these human traits, and various topics, will lead us to some useful insights.
I chose a sleeping Chinaman for the front cover. Don’t you love the old fellow? I certainly do. He’s been sleeping for a long time, and when he awakes, we will all know it. The back cover depicts a possible ancestor of the human race. Treat him kindly.
Arthur O.R. Thormann
January 2015
Appendix — The Group of Twenty-Two
At the end of a book, I usually pass on some notable or strange observation to my readers, and this book is no exception.
I had a strange dream recently. A small number of us took refuge in a hut from an angry mob that was trying to kill us. After locking the door, we sat around quietly, contemplating our fate, when a small man with a large, bald head — not shaven, just naturally bald — caught my attention. He had a serene expression, with a slight smile, and I asked him why he was not afraid. He said, “Because I belong to the group of twenty-two.” Why twenty-two? I don’t know. It was never explained to me, but there will always be twenty-two men and women in the world who have attained wisdom beyond the rest of us; if one of them gets killed, or dies of natural causes, another one will take his or her place.
After this dream, I was wondering: who in the world might have the wisdom to be part of this group of twenty-two? As you know, I try to follow the actions of our world leaders, and the one that came to mind was Angela Merkel. I would advise you to follow her actions for a while, and see if you will agree with me. Also, follow the actions of other world leaders, and try to determine who might fit the bill to be part of the group of twenty-two — not one who is famous, or powerful, but one who has attained wisdom beyond the rest of us.
