Is This Wonder Hormone The Chemical Basis For Spirituality and Good Business Acumen?

Oxytocin has become known as the love hormone, and numerous studies have shown that doses of oxytocin in the brain can influence our empathetic instincts, or our ability to develop close relationships. It is only a small step from there to establishing a chemical basis for spirituality and heaven on earth. Spirituality is primarily about love and sharing, an invisible communal glue, and Christian spirituality is a living, working, powerful tool which encourages individuals to do good. Community spirit, good conscience, helpful attitude, concern for fellow man, all are popular terms often dismissed as woolly, liberal statements straight out of the do-gooder's manifesto. In fact, empathy is a real and useful quality which counteracts our selfish, self-seeking instincts. Decision makers loaded with empathy would come up with fruitful and satisfying initiatives that cater to the community as a whole.

Politics of the future will have to take into account such science based assessments of the human condition. While religion is easily dismissed as bigoted and inflammatory in today's politically correct environment, it is much harder to dismiss the evidence coming out of science labs. We are chemically geared towards co-operation, selflessness and the need for mutual assistance, in other words, good Christian values. While it would not be appropriate to build a society in the near future along Christian lines, it would be entirely appropriate to develop it along the lines demanded by benign hormones. This is an exciting prospect, that we should be able to look forward to communities run by oxytocin-led legislation, policies that are motivated by whatever is best for all not just a few.

This may just signal the end of the era of greed. Testosterone fuelled business boardrooms looking for profit driven solutions serve only themselves and not the community at large. An oxytocin-led company would be self-sacrificing, generous and a pleasant place to work. We should start injecting the stuff into CEOs immediately. High unemployment would offend our sensibilities. Massive redundancies would no longer be a reason for rejoicing. And what use for Trident or other weapons of mass destruction when we are all oxytocin-filled luvvies? What are we waiting for? Get the stuff bottled and on the shelves pronto.

Oxytocin could change the course of history, which till now has been noticeably lacking in empathy between fellow men. Of course sport will no longer be the exciting entertainment it has been till now. Helping the opposition score and letting your opponents win does not make for edge of the seat thrills. But the plus side is we no longer need to be concerned about stock market fluctuations.