One of the questions that I have received the very most over the years is: What are mankind’s greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses? I’m going to answer that question for you today. And I’m going to do so with the hopes that by gaining this awareness, people will take ownership of what they need to appreciate and amplify as well as what they need to change. I am going to tell you the top three negative things (weaknesses) and top three positive things (strengths) of humans, therefore mankind.

If a person were to disidentify with human kind enough to be able to objectively look at it from the outside, the top three weaknesses are the following:

1. Negative Manifestations of the Ego (Self Concept).
   Mankind has developed self-concept. A self-concept is an idea of the self that is constructed from the beliefs that a person holds about themself and from their environment, including the responses of others. Contrary to popular thought, the Ego is not something to be gotten rid of. It is something to be owned and integrated. It is in fact a beneficial tool for awareness and awakening. For lack of a better way of putting it, there is such a thing as a healthy state of Ego and an unhealthy state of Ego. But to the negative, humans are a perfect example of unhealthy Ego. They fall prey to all of the potential negative manifestations of the Ego. Such as: A sense of separateness and therefore disconnection and aloneness from everyone/everything else. There is a huge issue if we live on a planet with 8 billion people and the reality is that most everyone feels alone. 
   Some other negative manifestations of Ego include but are not limited to: Only being concerned with one’s own best interests, unhealthy identification, control, manipulation, unhealthy pursuit and use of power, unhealthy pursuit and engagement with pleasure/desire, unworkability and the refusal to change, seeking and creating conflict, denial, fear, greed, illusion, avoidance, negative competition, envy, superiority and inferiority, dysfunctional patterns, dysfunctional relationships, fear of death, survival focus, and ironically, lack of self-awareness. To understand more about this, you can watch my video titled: Self Concept, The Enemy of Awakening.      
2. Narcissism and with it, the Failure to Create Healthy Relationships and Symbiotic Win-Win Scenarios.
   The term narcissism, as we are using it in this context, means to perceive oneself and therefore one’s best interest as separate and divisible from the best interests of all that is “other”. And to act in one’s own best interests regardless of the negative impact on others. Mankind is in a very severe state of Narcissism. Individual people demonstrate this relative to one another and humanity demonstrates this relative to the other species of the world, indeed the very system that they live in.
   People have wildly dysfunctional relationships with each other and with other things. In fact, dysfunctional relationship is the norm. They play zero sum games, which means they have an I win, you lose approach to their relationships with all things and they believe erroneously that there is no consequence for this.
   Because of this Narcissism, by far the single biggest source of suffering for people on the planet is not some external threat, it is other people. Relational trauma is the biggest source of human suffering on earth. And by far the greatest source of suffering for many other species on earth is also humans. It is only natural for someone to want the source of their suffering to vanish. And so, what do we find?  We find that there is a desire emanating from many species of earth for humans to vanish.
   To hit you with a very harsh reality check, a cancer cell behaves narcissistically in the physical system. People are currently behaving like cancer cells within the greater system of earth. A cancer cell has disconnected from the rest of the system and is doing its own thing, regardless of the negative impact on all other parts of the system. And this may lead to death. So too, this extreme state of narcissism exhibited by the human race may just lead to the extinction of the species itself, as they are destroying each other and they are destroying the very system upon which they depend. If you need proof of this Narcissism, look no further than the hurt in your own life. Look no further than the never-ending list of wars throughout history and even now. Look no further than the practice of interspecies slavery that is all around you, only most people call them ‘pets’ and ‘livestock’. Look no further than businesses caring more about financial gain than the actual wellbeing of those who they are supposed to serve. Look no further than the destruction of the environment. Look no further than the agenda of the media and its impacts on the collective mind. Look no further than how hard it is once you become conscious of all of this to live in a way that does not add to suffering on this planet. It is as if the entire society is set up to perpetuate pain. The manifestations of this narcissism are all around you, creating suffering for all on a daily basis.
3. Lack of Awareness; Especially Self-Awareness.
   Mankind is a very complex species. It is a species with undeniable intellect. However, that intellect is not coupled with awareness. Instead, it is often coupled with ignorance. Mankind lacks information and knowledge and awareness that is crucial. They especially lack awareness of themselves. Much of which is due to the human ego. This is why they can do things like create weapons, having no awareness of the actual implications of doing so. Or farm in a way that is uber productive, but that ultimately depletes the soil to the point where human health and even survival is at risk. They can do amazing things, but without seeing the impact or ripple effects of doing those things.
   The human ego protects a person from seeing anything ‘bad’ about themselves, which is why almost everyone will watch this very video and agree that “people” are this way, but not see themselves as this way. It hasn’t occurred to people that if humanity is this way, individuals are this way. And that means you may be this way without realizing that you are this way. There is a great deal of hypocrisy amongst humans.
   People lack awareness of what is not working and of what is a problem, often defending the problem instead. You can’t fix what you don’t realize is broken. People normalize and justify and maintain what isn’t working, succumbing to complete ignorance that it is working. If you need proof of this, look no further than the coping mechanisms that people maintain. Look no further than so much of the dysfunction in relationships. Look no further than the way people parent. Look no further than the lack of empathy and lack of change people display on account of how unaware they are of what the experience is like on the other side. Look no further than people eating what they eat today and then being confused about why they are growing increasingly more and more unhealthy. Look no further than the disease-based model of medicine. Look no further than science claiming that things of a “spiritual” nature do not actually exist on account of not being able to prove it. Look at people behaving in ways that create the very problem that they feel a victim to.

What all of this adds up to is the fact that currently, humans create pain. They create massive amounts of suffering for themselves, for each other and for other beings that are part of the system that they are a part of. And the worst part is, most people still don’t realize it. In fact, they defend the very things that are bringing about that pain in themselves and others. They defend the very things that are bringing about their own demise. And now, perhaps you understand why the focus of spiritual leaders throughout history has been what it has been.

And if a person were to disidentify with human kind enough to be able to objectively look at it from the outside, the top three strengths are the following:

1. Creator Nature, The Ability to Bring Forth and Actualize New Thought.
   People, more so than any other species on earth, are creators. They have tapped into and become manifestations of Source’s creator nature. They can conceptualize of what does not yet exist. And they can bring it into physical manifestation. Because of this, they are truly inventive and innovative. They are endlessly creative. They have used this creator nature to compensate for their shortcomings in ways that are advantageous for them. And this creator nature makes them future oriented in such a beautiful way. People are focused on what could be and on bringing what could be into existence.
   One of the best ways to conceptualize of this incredible strength is to imagine another species, say a crocodile. If you watch the species over the course of history, not much has changed in the life of the crocodile. In contrast, when you look at humans over the course of history, so much has changed in the life of a human, because of what they, themselves create. In fact, the physical human itself can hardly keep up with it. People create rich stories. They create tools and strategies. They mold the earth and everything in it to suit themselves.
   It is this trait that enabled them to farm instead of to gather. To tame animals so as to ride them. To craft clothing and move into new environments on earth. To build more and more complex structures to withstand the elements and make it so that they no longer have any true predators anymore. To create art. To invent ways that despite possessing no wings, they could fly. To create ways to scientifically understand the world that they live in. And the list goes on and on.
2. The Individuality from which Free Will Arises and from which a Person Chooses his or her own Meaning in Life.
   Many of us are familiar with the story of William Wallace that was immortalized in the movie titled: Braveheart. He was a national hero who fought for his country’s independence from England. What we see in this character is the power to exercise his free will to make a choice for what personally mattered most to him, regardless of what other people were doing and regardless of the pressure that was put on him to conform. With the power of his free will, he chose meaning for his life and it was something that mattered enough to die for.
   The reality is that this character trait is inherent within all people. Some people are simply more in touch with it and exercise it more than others. The capacity for self-concept and self-awareness brings the gift of individuality. The human can powerfully exercise personal choice. And by doing so, use his or her own will, regardless of what others are doing or are not doing. Having this individuality, including this personal choice, brings with it the truth that a person chooses what has importance and meaning for themselves. This can lead a person beyond the simple cycle of pleasure seeking and pain avoidance. It can lead them to the truth that some things have more meaning than one’s own survival. And with that comes great bravery and also great power. It makes one person truly capable of greatness. It makes one person capable of changing the collective. Some of you may have heard about the concept of the hundredth monkey, when a new idea or behavior spreads to the collective. The hundredth monkey depends on this human strength.
   This strength is part of what makes people so complicated. And also confusing to other species. If you look at people through the eyes of an elk for example, one person wants to hunt and kill you. Another would stare at you in awe for an hour and protect you from the other person with their own life.
   There are so many examples of people who were able to positively alter their own lives and also the lives of others because of their choice and ability to think and speak and act in alignment with what was meaningful to them individually, regardless of what everyone else was doing or not doing. You could say that every great social change came about because of some person or many exercising this strength.
3. Curiosity… The Quest to Understand, Learn, Find the Truth, Gain Knowledge and Find Meaning.
   People are so curious that it is precious. It is a strength that is as adorable as it is deeply commendable. It has been said that curiosity is the engine of achievement. And it is curiosity that has led people to the knowledge that has enabled them to bring about their various creations as well as to achieve what they have set out to achieve. Curiosity accounts for a great deal of the human intellect. This insatiable curiosity causes people to expand and expand and therefore facilitate so much universal expansion. You might be able to go so far as to say that curiosity is the essence of human existence on earth.
   People don’t just exist in the universe; they strive to comprehend the universe that they live in. They want to know. They want to understand. They have a thirst for learning. And people have an innate drive to find meaning. People must find meaning in everything that is and in everything that happens. And when they cannot find it, they make up and add that meaning to the things that exist or the things that happen.

Human beings have the capacity to extract the most out of their life experience because of their curiosity and their zest for learning. The universe’s mysteries have a way of revealing themselves to the curious mind. Great learners also always end up teaching others what they have learned. In this way, the collective mind of mankind keeps growing and growing and growing. And it is truly correct, what Einstein said, that a mind that opens to a new idea, never returns to its original size.