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Sunday, September 19, 1999

Human Nature Constant in Changing World
By Wilson Hurley
Guest Essay
Albuquerque artist Wilson Hurley is New Mexico's Renaissance man. Widely acclaimed for his Western landscapes, he also has had a successful law career, served in the National Guard, was an enginer at Sandia Corp. and a banker who helped organize Citizens Bank. He is a graduate of West Point and George Washington University Law School. He too takes a look at the future.

The year 2000 is unusual because of its number. Outside that singularity, it marks no watershed in our lives or culture.
All through history we have changed as technology advanced. Thus the 20th-century culture started a change from 1960 to 1980 with advances in birth control and the invention of the transistor. The resulting revolution in morals, computations and communications is incomplete, and no one can yet estimate how much of the structure of our civilization will be made obsolete or become more treasured and relevant. Yet, for all the uncertainty, there are a few things we can predict.
Human nature has not changed and will not change. It still pleases us to be treated justly, to be free, to be safe, to eat, dress and sleep warm. We find joy in fellowship and society. There will always be people with open hearts and minds willing to commit themselves to others wholly and for life with love.
There are many who for no personal advantage will cling to what is good, kind, pure and just, and understand that truth is more complex and solid than a mere personal opinion. This was evident in Plato's time. It will be evident 1,000 years hence.
There will still be the joy of life, the pure laughter of frivolous play and the excitement of games, parties and fun.
And yes, in the next 1,000 years there will be born new people -- some with beautiful faces that will lift the hearts of all who see them, and others who will carry a love and glory in their bosoms that will heal all who encounter them. There will be new minds to deal with problems you and I have not even imagined.
There will also be people who will be driven to control, grasp, change and dominate. History is essentially a constant litany of those who lust for power. This appetite can come armed and cruel, with overt evil, or softly with high purpose and honeyed words. And, bless us, many of us will succumb to it. The misery in our history is perhaps testimony to our gullibility.
As for the natural and material sides of our future, all things that live are parasites. That is, we each live on something else. Therefore, we must live off our environment even as the minnow, tree or songbird. The future will continue to be controlled by this inescapable fact pitted against various movements to protect nature against our thoughtless destruction of it.
Control of wealth will still cause strife. Property ownership by individuals is the basic prerequisite of freedom. If you disagree, ask how free you are when someone else controls your money. The amazing thing about wealth is that it can be created where nothing existed before and is limitless when human ingenuity and labor are unfettered. Yet for everyone who creates wealth, there will be another to say, "You create it, I will decide how to use it." Be it slavery, divine right of kings, a ruling class of merchants, priests, soldiers or socialists, the principle remains the same. Only the arguments change.
Despite that, think of what a gift it is for all of us to be alive, to be aware of one another and our universe. What a pleasure it is to explore and reward our curiosities. What a comfort to love and be loved.
And you may be sure that the world will still present us with the same beauty -- each leaf as it turns up in the breeze, each cloud as the sun shimmers on it high in the limitless vault of blue. Each will slowly roll under the benign glow of our sun for yet this future time to give us and those who come after at least a chance at this priceless miracle we call life.