The Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Modern Myths

This new book by John Gray is a meditation on how we deal with the world when our faith in progress and human betterment deserts us. It explores the theme through the prisms of literature, art, philosophy, and to a lesser extent, psychology rather than being a scientific or historical study. As with all of Gray's work, it has some telling insights and observations, and ranges over a fascinating mix of the familiar and obscure to give depth and substance to his ideas.The Silence of Animals is arranged in three parts. The first looks at the idea of progress and how people's belief in it has disintegrated when faced with human barbarity. The two world wars left ruin in their wake and Gray looks at the reactions of writers such as J G Ballard, Norman Lewis and Stefan Zweig to the rapid disappearance of civilised behaviour in the brutality of war. Barbarism can also emerge from economic crisis: the Great Depression and the inflation in inter-war Germany, and the financial crash of 2008, each destroyed the wealth of countless families. They rendered years of faith in saving and building a future utterly meaningless, even as the alchemists of finance breathed a sigh of relief over their canapés at finding their own fortunes unscathed.Gray was previously an academic political theorist and he sees authoritarian politics, whether of the left or right, as an attempt to deny the chaos of reality and to fake a sense of order. People like certainty and the dream of a better day to come, and therein perhaps lies the appeal of those charlatans who would have us believe that they can plan and control our future.In the end, progress is a myth because evolution is about survival, not about constant improvement. Gray characterises evolution as a process of drift rather than a rise to ever greater heights of rationality, peace and order.In the second part of the book Gray looks at the ideas of Sigmund Freud and in particular his views on myth creation. Freud saw the internal self as forever at war between the forces of Eros (love, creativity) and Thanatos (hatred, destruction). Psychoanalysis can be seen as a process of coming to terms with this perpetual disorder. We might be driven by unconscious forces over which we have no control, but by accepting and trying to recognise them we can attain some degree of autonomy in our lives.All our constructions of the world are myths of one kind or another. Gray rejects Jung's idea of universal myths and notes that museums are full of old gods that people once thought were eternal and immortal. Our stories about the world change all the time, as do we, and part of Freud's work was to reconcile us with our ever-emergent selves.Science appears to be different and Gray makes a neat distinction between scientific method, which tests our beliefs against facts, and the way we usually operate which is to select the facts that reinforce our beliefs. We are an incorrigibly irrational lot. But even science is myth-like: any scientific theory only works for a certain period of time before being replaced by another or being rendered irrelevant by a new paradigm. Our understanding of the world is thus made up of changing theories and stories, often inconsistent and sometimes plain barmy, and none of them ever fully explains everything. Spending your days searching for a theory of everything? Get a life.Given that the world is chaotic and that our stories and theories about it are patchy and ephemeral, how can we best engage with the world? This is the theme of the final section of the book. Here Gray investigates how people have sought to look at the world from different perspectives and analyses two extraordinary books by J A Baker, who tried to see the world through the eyes of animals. He also looks at how people have pursued silence and used meditation, exercises that try to take us out of the hubbub of the world and the manic chatter in our heads. The value of these activities is that they change us and our perceptions of (and enjoyment of) the world.The world view depicted by Gray might seem to presume pessimism and often Gray's thoughts appear this way, but accepting the chaos of the world and our inability to fully grasp it can also be refreshing and liberating, and can heighten our enjoyment of ourselves, other people and the world about us. Being alive becomes interesting in itself.There is no discussion of the French existentialist philosophers, and surprisingly no discussion of Buddhism, even though these two have a lot in common with Gray's perspective. The final section of the book felt incomplete as a result. There is also far too little about the human need for certainty in life and how this blinds us to the greater joys of the world. In the first part of the book he consigns the progress myth to the rubbish bin, but if we have to live by myths is the progress one so bad? Public policy, education systems and charitable aid are all built on the lie of progress but they have produced some positive social results. Gray never considers whether some myths might be preferable to others and how we might decide that.There is a wealth of engrossing detail in this book, supplemented by extensive notes. His exploration of some of the lesser known byways in literature whetted my appetite to pursue them further. Even if you find Gray's views unconvincing, the journey with him is well informed and never dull. This work will inspire you to reflect on how you understand yourself and the world in which you have randomly arrived.

There are very few interesting books written by philosophers these days, and this one of them. To say the least, it is not written like most philosophy books. It is something like a stream of consciousness narrative, but the author is very clear in citing various sources to make his points, and he takes us on an atypical tour of history and intellectual history. Let's say he relates the thoughts of many disparate authors to promote his views, and he is mostly convincing. One example of this is relating the Buddhist idea of nirvana to Freud's idea of the death instinct.It took me two weeks after reading John Gray's book to understand why he titled it the way he did, but more of that later. He has two main theses. First, the idea that humanity is progressing to a better world is a myth. The myth of progress started in the nineteenth century and has picked up steam since then. It originally had to do with advances in science and technology, and that is probably what still propels it to this day. But while, as my father once said, even middle class people today live better than kings lived in the past, we still have the stubborn problem of human nature. And while we read articles about how things are really better in the world right now than they have been in many years, the events of the twentieth century by themselves should make us cautious in our optimism about the future. As Gray points out, it does not appear that human nature has changed over the course of the millennia. Humans are capable of doing good and evil, and it seems that the balance of these things in the world tips back and forth. Mark Twain, in his now little read "The Mysterious Stranger," has that stranger teach his erstwhile students that the history of humanity is a history of war. And if one studies recorded history which goes back 5000 years, the only times wars were not fought in particular areas was when the closest peoples were isolated from one another by forbidding land; in other words, it didn't pay. We know who the bad actors are in the world today, both individuals and governments, and there is no reason to think that such actors will disappear in the future.As a part of discussing his claim that humans can have no ultimate understanding of life or the world, Gray's second main idea has to do with seeing the world as other animals do. Humans are the only beings on the planet who have language (regardless of what some scientists who have been working with a particular chimpanzee for 10 years want us to believe). Language may be a wonderful thing, but it is very difficult for humans to get away from it. When we are not talking with others we tend to carry on what are usually called inner dialogues, but are really inner monologs. He tells us about several people who have tried to see the world the way other animals do, that is , without the monolog, and he recommends that we try to follow their example.As far as Gray is concerned, there is no special spiritual insight here. There is no seeing yourself as part of a greater whole, an all-encompassing unity. As he writes on page 206, "Contemplation can be understood as an activity that aims not to change the world, or understand it, but simply to let it be." Thus the title of his book. He is not saying we should live like the other animals; rather we should from time to time look at the world as they do, without language getting in the way. It's a good thing to do in itself.As someone who practices Buddhist techniques of meditation and promotes all esoteric spiritual paths, I do not think people who seek nirvana are, in effect, seeking death. Rather they are seeking to go beyond their egos or psychophysical individualities for a little while. I believe we are part of something bigger than our little selves, and we can become aware of that something. While Gray does not share this view, nothing in his book counts against it. And if reading his book can persuade people like him to try looking at the world wordlessly for a little while, so much the better.

I'm glad I read it. It is not better than Straw Dogs but it carries the same themes about the human condition. What I like most was the short chapters introducing the reader to different writers and thinkers from history to make his points. The poetry of Wallace Stevens and Friederich Holderlin.. the autobiographs of Arthur Koestler and Sebastian Haffner. Well written prose extolling the best of poetry, insights into the human condition, and the myths we tell ourselves to hide our ignorance behind a façade of pretended knowledge. I had already known about Conrad, Nietzsche, Schoppenhauer, Orwell, Freud, Jung, Socrates, and their ideas about the human condition, so I was glad to be introduced to these 'new' (to me at least) authors and poets that deserve to be read.

A thought provking examination of how we have come to think about the world and our place in it. Encompassing the otherworldly and spiritual beliefs of succeeding generations and the great thinkers of their day.Anyone who is remotely flexible in their thinking is bound to gain an understanding of this subject from the range and clarity of perceptions discussed in this text. Also a real opportunity to enlighten and elucidate one's own thinking.Not a difficult read with many interesting and useful references to seminal literature through the ages in an accessible conversational style.

Utterly thought provoking. I suggest Gray's tenets here should be read in conjunction with the viewing of three films which seem to strongly reflect the revised way of thinking/seeing the world he suggests we should adopt: Le Quattro Volte, Uzak, Sleep Furiously. In these films, as in The Silence of Animals, what is promoted is nothing less than 'the reinvention of perception'.

After reading this one I bought others. John Gray is a penetrating thinker who causes one to reassess assumptions. He has eroded my residual religious faith more than Richard Dawkins. Some criticise him for being an ex-Thatcherite. There is more rejoicing in heaven for one repentant sinner etc. etc.

Simply stunning. What could be a thoroughly pessimistic tome which suggests that humans are merely animals that think too much of themselves is actually rather freeing. John Gray dissects philosophy, religion and humanism and shows that all of these are distractions from a simple truth: 'There is no redemption from being human. But no redemption is needed.'