Unravelling the mystery of crime and corruption

There is no other species on earth that has the capacity that humans have to develop themselves and transform their environment.

Just imagine what this world would be like if humans did not have the intelligence and skill to transform their environment: there would be no roads, no skyscrapers, no street lights at night and no decent clothes to wear.

Of all the species that inhabit Mother Earth, only humans can transform their environment, build nations and develop civilisations. This is because humans alone in our world are made in the image of an all-powerful and highly intelligent God, and because of this, humans continue to develop while other species remain at practically the same level of development as the Creator made them.

The development of the human race has been a preoccupation of the human mind since time immemorial. When the Romans conquered much of Europe and the Mediterranean regions of Africa, for example, they considered themselves to be bringing civilisation, peace and decent living to the peoples they conquered.

Similarly, when European powers acquired colonies in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, they believed they were harbingers of civilisation and progress in all these regions of the world.

In many ways this was true: In Western Europe, the process of modernisation was accelerated by three 16th century movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution; and colonisation speeded up the same process of modernisation in Africa and elsewhere.

Today the symbols of modernisation and development are visible everywhere. We no longer fear the beasts of the jungle because we have subdued the earth, tamed wild animals in zoos, and erected beautiful modern houses for our comfort and safety; everywhere we go in our cities we see skyscrapers that pierce the skies; the fear of disease has been greatly reduced by advances in medicine; journeys that in the past took months or years now take a matter of hours as science and technology have empowered us to traverse oceans and continents by air; Internet communication has done away with the limitations of space and distance so much so that people living as far away as China can see in an instant what is happening in America.

Indeed our minds have been so developed it is amazing what we know about humanity and the cosmos. So clever have we become that some of us even scoff at the idea that we are made in the image of God, arguing that there is no being that is superior to humans— meaning that there is no God!

However, there is a tragic side to human development. True, we have overcome the fear of wild animals and of many diseases, but we have exacerbated the fear of a most unnatural and unlikely enemy.

Let me put it this way: most species are not afraid of their own kind, but for our kind it is true to say that the worst enemy of human beings is fellow humans; and it is also true to say that there is a sense in which the more “developed” human beings are, the more they are a threat to one another.

Consider the following: Millions of people die in wars. Any modern woman who does not want a baby can get rid of her pregnancy and kill the foetus. No doubt rape did take place in traditional societies, but the extent to which women are violated in our modern democracies is so alarming that no woman, no matter how old, can guarantee her own safety in her own home!

We can spend years and years fighting heroic wars of liberation, but wake up the following day to find that the heroes of our liberation struggle are the worst enemies of our freedom.

Yes, oppression, murder, theft, corruption and crime have become our daily bread in our “civilised” societies.

The question then is: why is it that human development is not balanced? Why do we enjoy the symbols of modernity and development, but find that developed human beings are not any better, and are in many ways even worse, than our primitive forebears?

This article is the first in a series that seeks to unravel the puzzle, and to find answers to the problematic of unbalanced human development.