THE NEED OF HUMAN NATURE

The Need of Human Nature ~ 22 ~ THE NEED OF HUMAN NATURE As a result of the soul being separated from the body and God being separated from the rest of life, man was confronted with a new problem: despite his worldly affluence he still felt as if something within him was lacking. Modern man has been given everything in life, but he shows no signs of true happiness. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) begins his book, The Conquest of Happiness, with these words: “Animals are happy so long as they have health and enough to eat. Human beings, one feels, ought to be, but in the modern world they are not, at least in a great majority of cases.” The reason for this is that modern civilization, despite its impressive achievements, has been able to provide man with only half of what he is looking for. It was provided for his body, but it has been unable to provide for the needs of his soul. Man desires a world full of meaning, but modern civilization gives him only a piece of stone with no meaning attached to it. Man desires life, but modern civilization gives him only a replica of life. Man