In the reality of life, we are interested only in the values of the function of the phenomena by themselves and to arrive at right conclusions we have to use units appropriate to the phenomena. The intermixing of units gives us a wrong conception of the values of each phenomenon; the results of our calculations are wrong and the outcome is a misconception of the process of human life. The fact once realized, we will cease applying animal measures to man; even theology will abandon the monstrous habit.
Animal units and standards are to be applied to animals, human standards to man, “Divine” standards to “God.”
In the dark ages, with the complete innocence or misunderstanding of science, the “why” of things was explained by the “who” of things; therein investigation culminated; man was regarded as homo sapiens and homo sapiens = animal × spark of supernatural; this monstrous formula was accepted as a final truth—as an answer to the question: What is Man? This type of answer became in the hands of church [pg 152] and state a powerful instrument for keeping the people in subjection.
The tendency of the masses to let others think for them is not really a natural characteristic—quite the opposite. The habit of not thinking for one's self is the result of thousands of years of subjection. Those in authority, in general, used their ingenuity to keep the people from thinking. The most vital reason why many humans appear to be, and are often called, “stupid,” is that they have been spoken to in a language of speculation which they instinctively dislike and distrust; thus there arose the proverb that speech was made to conceal the truth. It is no wonder that they appear “stupid,” the wonder is that they are not more “stupid.” The truth is that they will be found to be far less stupid when addressed in the natural language of ascertainable fact. My whole theory is based upon, and is in harmony with, the natural feelings of man. The conceptions I introduce are based on human nature. Natural language—so different from the speech of metaphysical speculation—will lead to mutual understanding and the disappearance of warring factions.
“Discrimination, as the proverb rightly teaches, is the beginning of mind. The first psychic product of that initial psychic act is numerical: to discriminate is to produce two, the simplest possible example of multiplicity. The discovery, or better the invention, better still the production, best of all the creation, of multiplicity with its correlate of [pg 153] number, is, therefore, the most primitive achievement or manifestation of mind.... Let us, then, trust the arithmetic instinct as fundamental and, for instruments of thought that shall not fail, repair at once to the domain of number.” (C. J. Keyser, Loc. Cit.)
The thinking few knew the power there is in “thinking”; they wanted to have it and to keep the advantage of it for themselves; witness the late introduction of public schools. Belief in the inferiority of the masses became the unwritten law of the “privileged classes”; it was forced upon, rubbed into, the subconscious mind of the masses by church and state alike, and was humbly and dumbly accepted by the “lower orders” as their “destiny.” Ignorance was proclaimed as a bliss.
As time went on, this “coefficient of ignorance” became so useful to some people and some classes of people that no effort was spared to keep the world in ignorance. It gave a legalistic excuse to imprison, burn and hang people for expressing an opinion which the ruling classes did not like. The elimination from church, from school, from universities, of any teacher, any professor or any minister who dared to exemplify or encourage fearless investigation and freedom of speech became very common. It is less common in our generation, but there remains much to win in the way of freedom.
Freedom, rightly understood, is the aim of Human [pg 154] Engineering. But freedom is not license, it is not licentiousness. Freedom consists in lawful living—in living in accord with the laws of human nature—in accord with the natural laws of Man. A plant is free when it is not prevented from living and growing according to the natural laws of plant life; an animal is free when it is not prevented from living according to the natural laws of animal life; human beings are free when and only when they are not prevented from living in accord with the natural laws of human life. I say “when not prevented,” for human beings will live naturally and, therefore, in freedom, when they are not prevented from thus living by ignorance of what human nature is and by artificial social systems established, maintained, and protected by such ignorance. Human freedom consists in exercising the time-binding energies of man in accordance with the natural laws of such natural energies. Human freedom is thus the aim of Human Engineering because Human Engineering is to be the science of human nature and the art of conducting human affairs in accordance with the laws of human nature. Survival of the fittest, where fittest means strongest, is a natural law for brutes, for animals, for the class of mere space-binders. Survival of the fittest, where fittest means best in science and art and wisdom, is a natural law for mankind, the time-binding class of life.