"Given the endless cruelty and violence reported in the media, we naturally wonder: are humans inherently cruel and violent? Drawing from recent neuroscience, neurocardiology, cultural anthropology, and brain development research, Pearce explains how without our awareness, culture imprints a negative force-field that blocks the natural rise of the spirit toward its innate nature of love and altruism. He identifies religion as the primary cultural force behind this negative imprinting, and shows how it can be reversed through conscious interaction between infants and adults. 304 pp."