"For the further emancipation of humanity"

Copyright 2006. 2012

Eric F. Magnuson

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What follows is not a textbook on Evolutionary Psychology, but something very different. Although new dimension is given to the facts of evolution, there is nothing in conflict with what we already know. Everything presented is consistent with current science and will be supplemented as science advances. The reader is nowhere asked to go against anything empirically proven, but will find here a completely different comprehension of the meaningful interrelatedness of known data, a truly exhilarating conceptualization of what it all means.

This volume is intended for open minded people sophisticated enough not to buy into popular religious fantasy, and yet still capable of conceptualizing something beyond themselves. Dogmatic nihilists or frantic knee-jerk "empiricists" will stumble here. Because of the unique approach, the reader is asked to proceed with unusual patience and to reserve judgment. Some of this material demands a great deal of the reader. Anyone, however, who makes it through the first two chapters is home free. What will slowly emerge is a viable and heroic spirituality completely in keeping with all known facts, "the methods of science applied to the goals of religion" for the liberation of the individual and society.

In this context the term "spirituality" is differentiated from "religion" in that it represents something much larger. It includes all of a person's values as these are reflected by actual conduct over the course of a lifetime, rather than merely by the parroting of doctrine with only partial adherence as we usually find in religion. A person's spirituality comprises everything in life. This may include religious activity or no religion at all. The author, in fact, is not a religioner, but an Eclectic Freethinker. Unspecified quotes are from the author's other writings

"Most philosophy is merely the 'explanation' that people lacking facts offer to justify their own particular emotional reaction to their environment. The only worthwhile 'philosophy' is a comprehensive overview of all available factual data fused by love, heroic idealism, good moral character, and courage. This involves an eclectic approach to the attainment of wisdom, not a slavish adherence to 'isms' of any kind, including the fashionable zeitgeist of well entrenched science."

"The only 'creed' a truth seeker needs is a loving and just reaction to the total of his knowledge. This should be well organized, systematically increased, and periodically contemplated. It is appropriate to have an area of belief which seems to be the most plausible extrapolation beyond factual data. This area however, must never fall prey to dogmatism and must be subject to immediate revision to accommodate new factual data."

To be adequately understood this book should be read very carefully in the sequence presented. Every idea should be mastered before going on to the next. Each chapter builds upon the previous. The volume is scholarly and well documented. Many common terms are meticulously clarified and much unfamiliar new information is included. The very small amount of theory offered is clearly identified as such and appears in footnotes. One short chapter or part of one long chapter at a time is appropriate. In this way there is opportunity to digest and reflect. An immediate second reading is recommended for Chapters 1-5, 10, 11.

This entire book is actually a collection of self-contained aphorisms written at different periods of high emotional inspiration and later put into meaningful sequence. The reader should not allow himself to be distracted here by what has been described as a "presumptuous" style of writing. The writer makes only token apology for this, having been influenced by the inspired and lofty tone of many of those whose works he has been privileged to read.

Special thanks to our many friends at University of Nevada Reno and Las Vegas for their valuable help and support. Especially to Gary Ogren in the graduate division. Known to me as the Ogre of UNLV, Gary wears exotic Hawaiian shirts, teaches psychology by day, and moonlights as a conga drummer by night.

Thanks also to Matthew Alan Grace for his knowledge of physics and for editorial assistance, especially on Chapter One.

Special tribute to Dirk A. Lokison, known to many as the "Sun Warrior," for his righteous sarcasm occasionally paraphrased here. He was a good friend, who in 1985 with his wife and parents, was murdered by radical Socialists in Canada because of an unfailing commitment to individual liberty.

Footnote:

In popular historical fiction this book has been referred to as
"The Doctrine of Uninhibited Moral Living".