I was struck by a strange juxtaposition of readings this morning. First of all, I was reading a piece by Raymond Tallis (excellent, by the way, read it here!) where he quotes Professor John Gray, from the London School of Economics
For Gray the animal nature of man leads him to the chilling conclusion that ‘human life has no more meaning than the life of slime mould’. Man (whom he re-names Homo rapiens) ‘is only one of many species and not obviously worth preserving.’
Then I read Antonovsky’s definition of “coherence” –
We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (ie sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment
Well, what do you think? Do you think human life has no more meaning that a slime mould? Or do you find Antonovsky’s definition of a healthy life more appealing?
Frankly, and this is the thrust of Tallis’ argument I believe, attempts to dehumanise what it is to be human by excluding the rich reality of consciousness, is not only unappealing, even frightening, but it diminishes the potential for compassion, and, hence, the potential for a better world.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Thank you. Good post as always.
Aaron Antonovsky was a really great man. He bought up a new approach of Salutogenesis, which focuses on abilities of human beings to stay healthy. The word “salutogenesis” comes from the Latin salus = health and the Greek genesis = origin. Aaron Antonovsky developed the term from his studies of “how people manage stress and stay well”. He observed that stress is ubiquitous, but not all individuals have negative health outcomes in response to stress. Instead, some people achieve health despite their exposure to potentially disabling stress factors. My teacher prof. Nossrat Peseschkian was always supporting his ideas. Now we teach salutigenesis at our master courses.
Here is another important subject comes up – “Image of man”, which in psychotherapy becomes a question №1. Here is my RT: http://bit.ly/opzAv2
what a thouroghly bleak outlook Professor John Gray has. I wonder what motivates him to get up in the morning?
Couldn’t agree more with your summation