Our capacity for reason empowers us to overcome the bad side of our characters.

I believe that there is human nature, and that good . . . what we consider to be good or virtuous, and what we consider to be bad are all in us – in each and every individual. But that as conscious beings, we are able to discern what we consider good and to develop that, and to suppress the bad side in us – the jealousy, the unkindness, the desire to dominate and, you know, kill. All these desires are in us. But the more we become aware of them, the more we are able to control them, to restrain them. And that that is part of reason, we end up with reason. There are more and more people coming up and attacking reason and saying that’s not the case; but I do believe that that’s . . . all of us are born with it. It doesn’t mean to say we are all born reasonable, but the faculty is there. Recorded on: 8/15/07