Suffering Is Self-Manufactured
？利昂·J.索尔博士 / Dr. Leon J. Saul
I believe the immediate purpose of life is to live， to survive. All known forms of life go through life cycles. The basic plan is： birth—maturing—mating—reproducing—death.
Thus the immediate purpose of human life is for each individual to fulfill his life cycle. This involves proper maturing into the fully developed adult of the species.
The pine tree grows straight unless harmful influences warp it. So does the human being. It is a finding of the greatest significance that the mature man and woman have the nature and characteristics of the good spouse and parent and the ability to enjoy responsible working and loving.
If the world consisted primarily of mature person—loving， responsible， productive， toward family， friends and the world—most of our human problems would be resolved.
But most people have suffered in childhood from influences which have warped their development. Hence， as adults they have not realized their full and proper nature. They feel something is wrong without knowing what it is. They feel inferior， frustrated， insecure， and anxious. And they react to these inner feelings just as any animal reacts to any hurt or threat： by readiness to fight or to flee. Flight carries them into alcoholism and other mental disorders. Fight impels them to crime， cruelty， war.
This readiness to violence， this inhumanity of man to man， is the basic problem of human life—for， in the form of war， it now threatens to extinguish us.
Without the fight-flight reaction， man would never have survived the cave and the jungle. But now， through social living， man has made himself relatively safe from the elements and wild beasts. He is even learning to protect himself against disease. He can produce adequate food， clothing and shelter for the present population of the earth. Barring a possible astronomical accident， he now faces no serious threat to his existence， except one—the fight-flight reaction within himself. This jungle readiness to hurt and to kill is now a vestigial hangover like the appendix， which interferes with the new and more powerful means of coping with nature through civilization. Trying to solve every problem by fighting or fleeing is the primitive method， still central for the immature child. The later method， understanding and co-operation， requires the mature capacities of the adult. In an infantile world， fighting may be forced upon one. Then it is more effective if handled maturely for mature goals. Probably war will cease only when enough people are mature.