4 Reasons why Humans Find it So Difficult to Live in Peace

As the war between Russia and Ukraine which has been developing over the past month, it seems like the right time to ponder or consider why this is happening.

I strongly believe that no matter how you feel about this war, it is not a fight between two countries. You may be wondering why I’d say that. I state that because people start wars not countries. And we know who is the ‘mind’ behind this war don’t we?

So, let’s look at the ‘mind’ of ‘Vlad the Bad’ as many people have nicknamed him. What would cause a leader of a massive country to want to destroy everything that the Ukrainian people have built and done since the Soviet Union collapse?

Why would Russia invade the Ukraine?

When Vladimir Putin started the war on Ukraine’s 44 million people, his justification was that modern, Western-leaning Ukraine was a constant threat and Russia could not feel “safe, develop and exist”. It has become clear that ‘Vlad the Bad’ has been fixated on reclaiming some form of the former Soviet Union. I state that because he always talks about the Ukrainian’s and the Russian’s as being one people. Although he continues to peddle the threat of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the European Union (EU).

I am fortunate to be married to a woman of Ukrainian descent, who was born in Canada. And for me to hear that the Ukrainian people call themselves Russians as ‘Vlad’ states is a lie. The Ukrainian people are a very independent people that have very strong personal values, and have such fondness of their ‘home country’.

I think what is rather revealing is when you look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the two countries. According to Albert Cava of Acus Consulting the GDP per capita of Russia is $10,127 (U.S.) whereas in the Ukraine it is $3,725. What do those numbers mean?

Russia has a population of 144.1 million people. The Ukraine has a population of 44.1 million people. Russia’s GDP is $1,483.5 billion U.S. dollars, while the Ukraine’s GDP is $155.5 billion. That is roughly 10% of what Russia’s Gross Domestic Product is, with only about 30% of the population. So, there is more to the story.

According to evolutionary psychologists it is natural for human groups to wage war because we are selfish. So, then it’s natural for us to try to grab the resource’s others have that help us survive. And when other groups possibly endanger our survival, and so we have to fight with them.

There have been many attempts to explain war. For example, it is because of testosterone that men are biologically primed to fight wars because it is widely believed that testosterone is linked to violence. In fact, violence has also been linked to a low level of Serotonin, this is because there is evidence that when animals are injected with Serotonin, they become less aggressive. However, these descriptions are highly debatable, as they do not explain the apparent lack of warfare in early human history. Anthropologist R. Brian Ferguson has amassed convincing evidence to show that warfare is only around 10,000 years old, and only became frequent from around 6,000 years ago.

So, let’s turn to psychology or what makes humans tick.

It is my understanding that the first psychologist to investigate war was William James, who in 1910 wrote the influential essay “The Moral Equivalent of War”. In this essay, James proposed that warfare was so prevalent because of its positive psychological effects on the individual and on society as a whole. For this blog I want to concentrate on the potential reasons why ‘Vlad the Bad’ started this war. To me it comes down to the needs that all humans can have. There are 6 human needs, with 4 of them being the needs of the personality and the final 2, the spiritual needs.

When you look at the needs of the personality they are;

• Certainty
• Uncertainty
• Significance, and
• Connection and Love

The spiritual needs are;

• Contribution, and
• Growth

To begin to answer the reasons why ‘Vlad the Bad’ is doing what he is doing it is not about contribution and growth. Because if he cared deeply about ‘being one people’ you don’t kill people if you are doing what you can to contribute to the betterment of others. Secondly, Putin is not growing anything for the Ukrainian people. He is leaving the cities as bombed out shells of what they were prior to February 24^th. Last but not least in this spiritual need area, ‘Vlad the Bad’ has proven that all people don’t have the spiritual needs. He appears to be only looking out for himself and his legacy.

To conclude, let’s examine the needs of the personality that Putin has shown us, and why humans find it so difficult to live in peace;

1. He wants certainty for himself, knowing that Ukraine will not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the European Union (EU).
2. He appears to like uncertainty because war is all about creating uncertainty for others.
3. If there was a number one need that he is working hard on achieving it is significance, this is because he is being featured all over the world on the news, and finally
4. He likes the connection and love that he hopes to get from the people of Russia for what he is doing for ‘them’.

While we know that he may not be getting all of those needs of the personality he is obtaining enough of them to keep him driving forward with his plan.

I hope this explanation will help you understand your human needs and how at times these needs can distract you from what is really important, and why us humans find it so difficult to live in peace at times.

If you have any questions about The Six Human Needs give me a call at 519-539-2267.