Eat or Be Eaten : The Truth About Our Species - The Marriage of Darwin and Machiavelli
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" -WB Yeats
"The people - that great beast." -Alexander Hamilton -
You are a wild animal. You live by your innate instincts. You awaken from a deep sleep and discover that you are without teeth and claws. You continue to be an inhabitant of the wilderness. What do you do? Stripped of all your natural defenses you begin to develop the art of intrigue and subterfuge - you become a master of deception.
This book is about deception. It is about the deception of self and of our relationship to our environment. It is a narrative of a species that once lived side-by-side with all the other animals only to find itself one day as the master of death and destruction. How we got to where we are is the beginning of our story.
Long ago we were part of a collective that lived out of instinctual wisdom. The emergence of the cerebral cortex led our species to a life of codified behavior. We became disenfranchised. We created a style of living that was contrary to the essence of being vital and alive. While not a single member of the species has been able to live by the laws and codes we established it became necessary to create the illusion of doing so. It is not the species but the laws and codes that have perverted our deep animal nature.
"EAT OR BE EATENThe Truth About Our Species - The Marriage of Darwin and Machiavelli" does not anthropocentrize the world of animals or the world of humans. Our book asks, as Angela Carter suggests, "Humans would be better off identifying with the primates rather than with the angels." It asks that we appreciate Picasso's quote, "The ultimate event of the cerebral cortex is Hiroshima." Over three hundred million fellow human beings were slaughtered in the twentieth century in war and genocide by anthropocentrism. Since the emergence of the cortex we have disassociated ourselves from the Animal Kingdom and we have spent an isolated lifetime searching for meaning. We demand order where chaos prevails. Humanity has established intellectual models to explain the universe and each of these models has ultimately failed: Aristotle contradicts Plato; Aquinas contradicts Augustine; Marx contradicts Hegel. The following quote by Albert Camus presents the human dilemma, "It is not the universe that is absurd. It is not human beings that are absurd. It is the human being living within the universe that is absurd. While the universe is random, human beings demand order: thus lies the absurdity."
About the Author
Jim Gibson
"Life is too important to be taken seriously." -Oscar Wilde
Jim Gibson makes people laugh. Most people around him, even his patients, leave with a big grin. Jim Gibson also makes people think. As a graduate school professor he was the catalyst for his students pondering their way to a metamorphosis: waking up one day as psychotherapists. While he does not take himself seriously he takes his commitment to writing and lecturing with great resolve. It is the air he breathes. Concepts and formulation of the concepts are his lifeblood.
Jim has presented over one hundred workshops, most by popular demand. His workshops are stimulating and thought provoking. His writing is stimulating and thought provoking. He has had a private practice in psychotherapy for over twenty-six years. He has taught Human Behavior and the Social Environment for eighteen years on the graduate level at The School of Social Work, State University of New York at Stony Brook. He and Patricia Brozinsky have been in collaboration for the past ten years.
Pat Brozinsky
"The two most beautiful words in the English language are: 'Check enclosed.'" -Dorothy Parker
After raising a family Pat Brozinsky began to mature into a fine wine. Her insatiable curiosity expanded out into the world where she discovered her version of paradise. Pat lives and breathes curiosity. Throughout her academic career her professors identified her as the inquisitive mind. She received her associate's degree, her bachelor's degree and her Master's of Social Work degree (MSW) in rapid succession. Seven years later she earned her Ph.D. in Human Behavior.
Upon receiving her MSW degree, her alma mater hired her as an adjunct faculty member to teach a full-range of courses in psychology. She simultaneously began a full-time private practice in psychotherapy. It was in both these endeavors that Pat discovered her gift of inspiring people to flights of curiosity.
Dissolving stereotypical perceptions and moving quickly into the essence of an object is one of her greatest gifts. Pat's Piscean-intuitive abilities guide her into places the uninitiated have never ventured, opening a formerly unforeseen world for her patients, her students and her readers.
Pat has conducted many workshops since receiving her MSW and Ph.D. As a result of these workshops Pat appeared on a local television series in which she shared her philosophy of human behavior. Both she and Jim Gibson have established excellent reputations that make them sought after speakers in the Long Island-New York area. Pat is an expert on playfulness.
Eat or Be Eaten : The Truth About Our Species - The Marriage of Darwin and Machiavelli
Eat or Be Eaten : The Truth About Our Species - The Marriage of Darwin and Machiavelli,James Aloysius, Ph.D. Gibson,Patricia-Bravata, Ph.D. Brozinsky,Jake & Charlie Productions,0970097204,Emotions,Psychology,Science / Evolution,Sociology,Animal nature,Evolution,Evolution (Biology),Man,Science
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