Introduction
Parenting can be one of life's most beautiful journeys, but also one of its most challenging. Many parents feel an unspoken guilt—the sense that, despite loving their children deeply, they're still not giving enough. What's holding them back? According to Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith, the answer lies not in individual shortcomings, but in a deeper biological explanation of the human condition. For thousands of parents, his insights are not just enlightening—they're life-changing, and they're supported by a growing chorus of respected scientists, philosophers, and mental health professionals who are recognizing the significance of his work.
The Real Reason Parenting Has Been So Hard
At the heart of Jeremy Griffith's work is a simple yet profound explanation of why parenting—and the essence of what it means to be human—feels so difficult. He calls it the "Instinct vs Intellect" explanation of the human condition.
Griffith explains that when our ancestors became fully conscious some 2 million years ago—able to think, reflect, and manage life through understanding—our emerging conscious mind entered into conflict with our already established, gene-based instincts, which could only orientate us, not offer insight. To illustrate his theory, Griffith asks us to imagine what would happen if we gave a migrating bird a fully conscious mind. As he writes:
"The bird is following the instinctive flight path its species had acquired over thousands of generations of natural selection, but it now has a conscious mind that needs to understand how to behave, and the only way it can acquire that understanding is by experimenting in understanding—for example, thinking, 'I'll fly down and explore that island.' But such a deviation from the migratory flight path would naturally result in the instincts resisting the deviation, leaving the intellect no choice but to defensively retaliate against the instincts, try to prove the instincts' unjust criticism wrong, and try to deny or block from its mind the instincts' unjust criticism."
Since it was us humans who developed this instinct-defying, knowledge-finding conscious mind, it was us humans who became sufferers of this psychologically upset, angry, egocentric, and emotionally alienated human condition.
Most importantly, Griffith's explanation doesn't blame—it redeems and ends the need for the defensive, upset behavior; it lifts the "burden of guilt" that has haunted humanity. As Professor Harry Prosen, a former President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, put it: "I have no doubt that Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith's instinct vs intellect explanation of the human condition is the holy grail of insight we have sought for the psychological rehabilitation of the human race."
For parents, this understanding brings immense relief. The guilt and shame that have so often surrounded their best efforts to nurture are now finally explained and resolved.
Griffith's work makes it clear that modern parents aren't failing; they've been striving to nurture while burdened by the unresolved pain of this species-wide historic conflict, which we now have the redeeming and healing understanding of.
Why Parenting Books Aren't Enough
In the absence of this deeper understanding, many parents have turned to child-rearing manuals for guidance—hoping to feel more connected, more loving, more "natural." But as Jean Liedloff wrote in The Continuum Concept, the real barrier parents face isn't a lack of knowledge but alienation from our instinctive selves.
Liedloff wrote that "We have had exquisitely precise instincts, expert in every detail of child care, since long before we became anything resembling Homo sapiens." She observed that while traditional societies like the Yequana raised emotionally secure children by instinctively meeting their evolutionary expectations for closeness, in the "developed world," we have become so disconnected from these instincts that "we now employ researchers full time to puzzle out how we should behave towards children, one another and ourselves."
What Liedloff identified decades ago, Griffith has now biologically explained: the human condition has blocked our access to the nurturing core of who we are. It's a situation, he says, that could only be overturned by finding the explanation of the human condition that ends our intensely preoccupied state.
It's Not Your Fault
Admitting parenting struggles is one of the hardest things to do. As the bestselling author and educator John Marsden once wrote:
"The biggest crime you can commit in our society is to be a failure as a parent and people would rather admit to being an axe murderer than being a bad father or mother."
Jeremy Griffith's explanation, laid out in his acclaimed book FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition, makes it safe to be honest. He shows that the inability to nurture children fully is not a moral failure—it's a legacy of our species' psychological struggle.
"Parents can now understand that their inability to adequately love their offspring is not their fault, but the product of the ever-accumulating levels of upset in the human race as a whole."
Real Change in Real Families
This new understanding is having a profound impact on families around the world, with many parents now exploring this explanation through the World Transformation Movement (WTM), a global not-for-profit organization founded to support and share Griffith's insights into the human condition.
The WTM has Centres throughout the globe, led by individuals who have experienced personal and parental transformation through this understanding.
Fabiana Hargreaves da Costa, of the WTM Oslo Center, shared that "The battle inside ourselves as moms is unbearable. Understanding why that is, through Jeremy's explanation, is the best gift a mom and our species can dream of."
Karen Boon, from WTM Staffordshire, was equally honest: "I knew my children needed more than I had to give. But once I understood the human condition, everything changed."
While Norma Alge, of WTM Bregenz, spoke of the greater bond it forged with her children: "When I read Jeremy's explanation it resonated so deeply. I connect with my boys on a more empathetic level."
Jeremy Griffith's Work Is Backed by Science
Beyond this anecdotal evidence, Jeremy Griffith's work has been recognized as a major scientific breakthrough by respected experts, including, in addition to Professor Prosen, the following.
Professor Scott D. Churchill, a former chair of the psychology department at the University of Dallas, said that FREEDOM is "the book all humans need to read for our collective wellbeing."
Responding to a documentary proposal based on Griffith's work, Joseph Chilton Pearce, the author of Magical Child, said, "I am simply overwhelmed...I find it astonishing and impressive."
Professor David Chivers, a former president of the Primate Society of Great Britain, said it was "the necessary breakthrough" in understanding ourselves.
While ecologist Stuart Hurlbert, professor emeritus of ecology at San Diego State University, is on record as saying, no less, that he is "stunned and honored to have lived to see the coming of 'Darwin II.'"
Conclusion: A Future Worth Living For
Parenting will always have its challenges. But with Jeremy Griffith's explanation of the human condition, parents no longer have to carry the burden of guilt and confusion. They now have a framework that explains why nurturing has been so hard—and why it's not their fault.
What Liedloff observed, Griffith has now explained scientifically. And that understanding gives families the chance to reconnect—with their children and with themselves.
