When we look at our world, should we be pleased with what we see, or should we be disappointed or even outraged with the world we have created?

It is fair to say that, due to major advances in science and technology, the standard of living, particularly in the western world, has substantially improved in the last three centuries. However, has the quality of life for a large proportion of the earth’s population improved to any significant degree during this time?

In our world today, 870 million people suffer from poverty and starvation. Of those 870 million people, about 21,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes – that’s approximately fifteen people every minute, ten of whom are children. When you add to these numbers, the people who are killed or left destitute due to the many wars and conflicts, I think it’s fair to say that, as a whole, the human race is a very dysfunctional family. Even in developed countries, approximately 18 million people live in abject poverty and a very large working class are struggling to survive.

The inequitable distribution of wealth is largely responsible for the high level of poverty and starvation in our world – 0.111 per cent of humanity control 81 per cent of the world’s wealth.  However, blaming the rich for being rich or the poor for being poor is a futile exercise. The only hope of escaping from this terrible reality is to understand why it exists.

The main reason for the existence of this inequitable distribution of wealth is the culture of selfishness, corruption, abuse of power, and greed (SCAG for short), which dominates in all the political, religious, public service, and financial institutions worldwide; and the fundamental source of this SCAG culture is the natural trait of selfishness that is innate in every human being. We therefore need to understand why selfishness is an innate trait and what we must do to overcome or balance it.

At present the scientific view is that life is a purely physical phenomenon. It is also a scientific fact that the natural propensity of matter (the physical) is to evolve to states of lower complexity. Therefore, since humans have a physical aspect, they naturally have a force pulling them to lower complexity.

If we consider human consciousness in terms of complexity, the lowest level of complexity is to offer care and compassion only to oneself. Examples of increasing levels of complexity are to offer care and compassion to family, community, society, country, and eventually to all of humanity; in other words, lower complexity equals lower inclusion, and higher complexity equals higher inclusion.

The innate urge of the physical aspect to move to lower complexity means that we naturally offer care and compassion only to ourselves. Therefore, this physical aspect of our being is naturally pulling us toward selfishness – to taking care of ourselves first and last. If life is purely physical, then we have no escape from selfishness, so SCAG will always dominate in our world.

However at a macro level scientists acknowledge that dark energy is responsible for the expansion of the universe. In my book, Dark Energy and Human Consciousness, I present logical arguments, based on scientific concepts, suggesting that dark energy also influences life and is responsible for the expansion of human consciousness. I further suggest that if we acknowledge and nurture this dark energy aspect of our being, it will balance the natural trait of selfishness and lead us to a more enlightened worldview where love, care, and compassion will be extended to all human beings.

In summary, the belief that life is purely a physical phenomenon is the fundamental reason for humanity’s downfall. However, we have within our make-up the potential to rise to a more enlightened paradigm – utopia is within our grasp.