Human Nature

 “The tendency of man’s heart is towards evil from his youth.”  (Genesis 8:21)

I kept a set of wooden building blocks in my office. Watching children play with those blocks I learned much about human nature. 

Watch a young child with a set of blocks, and notice that there is a destructive side of human nature.  A tower built with the blocks is there to be knocked down.  The child will laugh, smile, and wait for you to build the tower again so that it may once again be knocked down.  Notice the child’s delight as the blocks are scattered helter-skelter, the louder the better.

As the child gets a bit older you may notice the child getting into a cycle of stacking blocks, knocking them down, and then stacking anew.  Then comes a time when the child hesitates, stops and looks.  This represents a subtle shift, an internal tension, to knock down or to let stand.  The child now allows the tower to remain erect, adding to it, wanting it to be taller and more elaborate.  You see, beginning to emerge, that there is a creative side of human nature.

Not only does the child admire the now standing tower, but the child seeks out others to notice what has been created.  There is an approval-seeking, praise-seeking side of human nature.

The child will defend their tower from destruction by siblings and other children. If asked by adults to put away the blocks, the child may request that the tower be allowed to remain standing.  There is a possessive and protective side of human nature.

There is a competitive and aggressive side of human nature.  One’s own tower is protected, but another’s tower is looked at with jealousy and envy.  Another builder is a feared rival, especially if the other is a sibling.  The child may want to destroy the tower of their rival.  Parents step in. “You want to knock down your brother’s tower, but you are not allowed to do that.” To live peaceably with others, that child must be taught social rules and constraints.  Nurture must now modify nature. It is okay to have the feelings, but it is not okay to destroy.  Human nature must be kept in check.

With time, the destructive side of human nature will become internally regulated, no longer requiring the external prohibiting parental voice.  But somewhere, deep within, there often remains an echo of that early destructive nature.  There is pleasure in the crash of a Jenga tower falling, the crash of bowling pins scattering, the crash of bumper cars colliding, the crash of bodies playing football, the crash of buildings imploding during demolition.  Fortunately, for most, the destructive side of human nature recedes into the largely unconscious background as the creative side grows and develops.

Watch two children with a set of blocks and they may discover pleasure in sharing, building, and creating cooperatively with one another.  Good news, there is a social and affiliative side to human nature.