On an individual level, people are suffering from tremendous stress, loneliness, depression, and deteriorating health. On a community level, the nuclear family is on the decline and many parents lack the resources and support they need to manage a home and raise a family. On a global level, our politics and economic systems divide us and fail to hold anyone accountable for stewarding our planet and our species into a sustainable future.

When we think of the ideals we want for our children, we may say we would like them to grow into mature adults, capable of negotiating relationships with others with clear boundaries and healthy detachment rather than codependence. We may recognize that a clear sense of inherent self-worth is necessary for them to develop responsibility and personal power and agency. We may even be able to agree that this is best facilitated through a community of support from healthy role models who provide guidance and a secure sense of belonging.

However, few of us are truly able to embody these qualities ourselves to be able to pass them on, and we lack any form of community model that would bolster our abilities or fill in the gaps. We have no difficulty agreeing that “it takes a village,” but we lack any way to implement this idea, and instead are only able to pass on our own legacy of dysfunction.

We’ve tried to charge individuals with stepping up and taking care of themselves, but willpower and personal accountability alone have not been enough. We’ve tried to offer spiritual guidance and faith as a way to create community and reconnect with divinity, but many find mainstream theologies insufficient. Even the science-based solutions we try to provide, such as psychotherapy and health guidance, fail to make an impact on our lives as it becomes more and more evident that the greatest predictor of health outcomes is not just the choices we make, but the quality of our social relationships.

We are overdue for a new model: one that simultaneously affirms and bolsters each individual’s worth and independence while enveloping them in robust and stable community support structures; one that elevates us by enhancing and honing our personal radiance, sparking excitement and motivation to engage with others and stimulating them to do the same; one that delivers us into a life characterized by confidence, abundance, and flourishing, rather than fear, scarcity, and struggle.

The guideline proposed here, the Evolutionary Way, incorporates the deep roots of what we intuitively know from our long evolutionary past with a scientific perspective on what our species needs to thrive and unlock our full human potential.

THE EVOLUTIONARY WAY

Most religions began, long ago, as explanations for phenomena people considered mysterious and inexplicable. As Arthur Clark stated, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Since then, our understanding of the world has expanded such that, while there are still many things we cannot claim to know, we have much less need to rely on magic for explanations for how the world around us came to be and how to relate to it healthfully.

Theodosius Dobzhansky’s famous quote says, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” In fact, evolution is the single most reliable source of information available to us. Its beauty lies in its simplicity as an undeniable process in which, over long periods of time, that which is successful persists, and that which is not successful is systematically chipped away.

Instead of relying on supernatural faith to explain the state of the world and what we should do about it, the Evolutionary Way is a scientific and natural philosophy based on beliefs which inherently make sense, both logically and when held up to our lived experience. It focuses on asking better questions to find the truth behind what we see in our everyday lives, with the goal of making lives better while we are here, rather than deferring to mythology and a world beyond this one.

Instead of seeing ourselves as the “chosen ones,” the favorites of some mysterious and mystical creator, evolution gives us the perspective of ourselves not as an end goal (with entitlements attached), but as living reservoirs of the processes we went through to reach our current state. Our spiritual connection with one another, furthermore, resides in this evolutionary heritage we have in common: the essence of all that is in you is in me, and vice versa.

In addition to a common evolutionary heritage, this also produces a shared experience of what it is like to be human, resulting in one of our most powerful tools: Empathy. Rather than relying on external authority for moral guidance, we possess a far more powerful internal compass. Empathy allows us to see others as we see ourselves and realize that we’re all in the same boat, with the same human shortfalls, navigating toward the same ultimate goals.

With a basis in scientific understanding and empathy, we can see past theological and other contradictions, recalibrating our paradigms and methods to more effectively achieve the kinds of goals and personal fulfillment we long for. Critically, we can finally get to the real roots of struggle and address them effectively, instead of focusing only on alleviating surface-level symptoms.

Physiological mismatches describe the dysfunctions that result when our genetic programming is at odds with modern environments and activities it isn’t prepared for. These “mismatch diseases” are readily alleviated when we bring our programming and our environment back into alignment.

In the same way as physiological mismatches occur within the body, psychological mismatches result when we use poor models for guidance (and believe that we’re broken when they don’t work), creating unmet expectations, frustration, and shame. These are similarly alleviated when we utilize a method of life and spiritual guidance which offers real clarity and congruence.

Solving problems through the Evolutionary Way, therefore, is not centered around “fixing” anyone, but about eliminating the mismatches that prevent us from accessing and embodying the state of flourishing that should be within all our grasp to achieve. 

HUMANITY’S BIRTHRIGHTS

You were born into humanity, here on earth, in this time of opportunity. In our limited and finite experience, there are many things we still don’t know, but here is what we do know:

You are one of us.

The Evolutionary Way provides a guideline for you…

• … to feel at home in your own skin and whole and intact in your identity.
• … to know you are loved and accepted and an integral being in the universe.
• … to live from a stable foundation of cooperation and independence within the collective human tribe.
• … to wake up each day with a sense of purpose, meaning, and drive.
• … to have your talents and skills appreciated and your contributions valued.
• … to walk in compassion and to carry optimism, hope, and clarity wherever you go.
• … to take charge of your life and accomplish the goals you set forth.
• … to shine with the light of your internal and external radiance and to have it seen, felt, and reciprocated.
• … to fulfill your desires for ecstatic romance and joyous, vibrant relationships, with a freedom and depth previously only imagined.
• … to unlock (y)our full human potential.

We are here to hold the door open for you.